The J-Notes
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Five replacements if Utah Jazz can’t retain free agents

By Jared Woodcox

May 2, 2017; Oakland, CA, USA; Utah Jazz forward Joe Ingles (2, left) and forward Gordon Hayward (20, right) sit on the bench during the fourth quarter in game one of the second round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Jazz 106-94. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
May 2, 2017; Oakland, CA, USA; Utah Jazz forward Joe Ingles (2, left) and forward Gordon Hayward (20, right) sit on the bench during the fourth quarter in game one of the second round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Jazz 106-94. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nov 27, 2016; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Rudy Gay (8) prepares to shoot the ball as Brooklyn Nets forward Bojan Bogdanovic (44) defends during the first half at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 27, 2016; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Rudy Gay (8) prepares to shoot the ball as Brooklyn Nets forward Bojan Bogdanovic (44) defends during the first half at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports /

Gordon Hayward Replacement: Rudy Gay

Gordon Hayward:

2016-17 Stats: 34.5 MIN, 21.9 PTS, 47.1 FG%, 39.8 3P%, 84.4 FT%, 5.4 REB, 3.5 AST, 1.0 STL

2016-17 Salary: $16,073,140

Rudy Gay:

2016-17 Stats: 33.8 MIN, 18.7 PTS, 45.5 FG%, 37.2 3P%, 85.5 FT%, 6.3 REB, 2.8 AST, 1.5 STL

2016-17 Salary: $13,333,333

To be perfectly honest, just the thought alone of having to find a replacement for Gordon Hayward is depressing. He’s come such a long way with the Jazz and there’s no questioning that he’s transformed into an All-Star and still has room to become better while elevating his team to even greater heights.

And unfortunately, with exception to Kevin Durant who is a free agent by merit of a player option and quite frankly will not be going anywhere this offseason, there’s no doubting that Hayward is the best free agent small forward available this summer. With that being the case, he’ll definitely have several suitors and if an organization other than the Jazz is able to woo him, then Utah will have to find a way to retool quickly to not waste some of the prime years of Rudy Gobert.

And if they’re faced with that daunting situation, there’s simply no way they’ll be able to instantly make up for the loss of Hayward, however, the best choice available would likely be Rudy Gay. Trust me, I’m among the first to realize that this is far from ideal, but when looking at players at Hayward’s position that will be free agents this season, there’s few if any that could be categorized as better than Gay.

The good thing about him is that he is without a doubt a prolific scorer. His ability to put up points would certainly be helpful for a Jazz team that struggled to score at times last season. Gay has size and athleticism, and with the right supporting cast around him, he could be an excellent piece for the Jazz.

Nevertheless, he’s also less than a willing passer, will be coming off of a ruptured Achilles which is one of the more difficult injuries to recover from, is already 30-years-old and as such there’s a chance that he has already plateaued skill-wise. The fact of the matter is Gay is a solid player, but not an up-and-comer like Hayward or a guy who can lead a team to elite status.

The other thing I worry about with Gay, or any potential Hayward replacement for that matter, is that it’s very likely that Utah would have to overpay for them. With the expected $30 million+ reserved for re-signing Hayward, if he were to leave the Jazz would have to find someone else to spend that money on and unfortunately there’s really no better option than Gordon himself.

The only way that losing Hayward and adding Gay might end up working out for the Jazz would be if there was a league-wide hesitancy regarding Gay due to injury and possible attitude concerns and thus Utah was able to get him at a relatively affordable price while adding a second solid guy (perhaps a power forward, for example) to try to fill the void left by Hayward’s absence by committee.

Still, that’s a long-shot as well and certainly isn’t ideal by any means. If Utah loses out on Hayward, Gay would make for a very respectable consolation prize, but at the end of the day, any potential Hayward replacement would be nothing more than that. It might sound somewhat cliche, but considering Utah’s limited options at the position in free agency, Gordon truly is irreplaceable.

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If one thing is clear, it’s that the Utah Jazz have several decisions to make this offseason and, depending on how the dominoes fall, could have a completely revamped squad next year. As I mentioned before, the ideal scenario would be that Utah can hold on to Gordon Hayward and at least one of either George Hill or Joe Ingles, because trying to find viable replacements would be quite a challenge.

Each of these five guys that I’ve mentioned are nothing more than best-case scenario replacements (and of course adding some of them in place of a lost Jazz player would be far from the “best case”). With all of them being free agents, they’d of course have to agree to come to Utah themselves and we all know that has been a difficult sell in the past. Especially if Hayward abandons ship, convincing top-tier players that the Jazz are the team to join will be even harder.

Nevertheless, guys like Boris Diaw and Joe Johnson who are well reputed across the league have had nothing but positive things to say about Utah, so hopefully their words combined with Gordon’s return, which will maintain the Jazz’s favorable winning situation, will be enough to aid the organization in bringing in the best possible replacements if they should end up losing any of their own free agents this offseason.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com. All payroll figures courtesy of HoopsHype.

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