Gordon Hayward has been quietly biding his time to strike the ballot box for the All-Star game. Well, now it is his year and he has been playing like he really wants to be in that game where no one plays defense.
He has been leading a Jazz team that is not very good, but still better than people thought it would be and doing it in a lot of statistical categories. He leads the team in points per game at 19.6, field goals attempted at 13.8, minutes per game at 34.8 and three pointers made at 1.8 a game.
Understandably, Hayward has not received much attention for his effort either because he is in Utah or because those numbers are expected of him after signing the huge contract he did.
However, that does not mean he should not get consideration for the All-Star game.
He has improved every year in the league and his shooting percentages are much better than they have been in year’s past. He is shooting 47.2 percent from the field and 51.8 percent from inside the arc. He is also at a 38.1 percent clip from 3-point land so he is not slouching.
He is at a career-high 5.6 rebounds per game and is dishing out 3.8 assists per game despite playing from the small forward position.
This mostly makes me sad though because fans will not see this and won’t get him into the All-Star game, but there is always a chance with the coaches picking the reserves.
Hopefully whoever becomes the All-Star game coach for the West can see past a bad team and reward Hayward with the All-Star berth he deserves.
