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00:00 Gordon Hayward, moving on.
00:01 Uh, look, overall, he had that really good game against Indiana, where he was like hunting
00:07 Matherin and just absolutely abusing him in the post. That was great to see. But I think overall,
00:13 he's been solid. Look, he's a 33-year-old, 34-year-old vet now. We kind of, we know what
00:19 Hayward does. I don't think he's going to shock anybody coming into the year and be like, "Whoa,
00:23 what's, what's he doing now?" Um, but generally, like, he's been a good player who's fit into a
00:29 wider system. And I just don't know if that's what the Hornets paid for. Like, you're a top-paid
00:34 player, you're a max, essentially a max guy. You, I sometimes feel that he goes missing for long
00:41 periods of the game and he doesn't influence the game all the time. Um, now his usage is back to
00:47 his same levels as first year is in Charlotte, and he's a really good kind of third scoring option,
00:52 43% from three this year, but only taking two a game. You know, this team needs to shoot more
00:57 threes. You touched on that. Um, so I think he's been good, but he's looked to me like he's playing
01:03 in a role that like, it's very comfortable for him. And I think for this team to maybe take it
01:08 to the next level, they need a little bit more from him. Um, so I think it's been a perfectly
01:14 solid start offensively for Gordon Hayward. Uh, the shooting has bounced back. Uh, the defense,
01:19 I think has actually looked a little bit better than in previous years. And I think that's the
01:22 biggest clue to some of the better defensive games he's had. He just looks healthier, right?
01:29 His close ups have been really, really sharp. He's had some strong interior play. He's actually got
01:34 a good block rate so far. And I think that defensive effort shows up from being healthy
01:38 and he does look healthy to me. So that's, that's definitely a positive. Um, as long as he can stay
01:44 healthy, like he is going to help this team in a lot of ways, like his assists are way up this year.
01:49 Um, he is being used a little bit more as a playmaker so far, but he's been always like a
01:55 connector rather than maybe the scoring foundational piece that maybe we thought he was going to be
02:01 when he signed in Charlotte. See, to me, I think he's like comfortably been the best player on the
02:07 team so far this season. Yeah. Like I think pretty noticeably he's at 17 points, six rebounds,
02:14 five assists and two stocks per game, which I think is definitely something that's gone a little
02:19 bit underrated. His, not only his, his, just the quality of his defense, but the production that
02:23 he gets in turning the ball over. And he's also, I think he's at nearly one block per game right now.
02:28 So he's definitely been a very versatile piece on that. And I think his point of attack defense is
02:34 still just as good as it was last year, like down the stretch. I thought that was one of the biggest
02:37 parts of the Hornets defense kind of flipping around down the end of the stretch last year
02:42 and becoming that top six defense they were after Valentine's day. I mean, I think he,
02:47 he definitely has left a little bit on the table in terms of like his efficiency from two point
02:51 range. Cause I think he, he was exploded in the first half against Dallas. I think he had like,
02:56 like 16 points or something like that in the first half. And then he finished like eight for 22 from
03:02 the field. So he kind of dropped off of a cliff in the third and fourth there when they needed him.
03:07 And the three point volume, like you said, could definitely be a little bit higher given the
03:10 efficiency that he has right now, if you're going to shoot over 40%, you can definitely bump that up
03:15 the volume a little bit, even if the efficiency takes a little bit of a dip from there,
03:19 especially given Lamello and Terry's struggles from three, they could definitely use another
03:23 like high volume, efficient three point threat. But other than that, like, I think he's been
03:29 really, really good creating for himself and others. He's gotten to his spots in the mid range
03:33 and the low post really well. And I think the biggest reason for that is like you said, the
03:37 health is back. Like he had all summer. And this is something that the pretty much everybody that
03:42 in the Hornets front office and Gordon himself had mentioned when you asked him about it, having a
03:46 full summer of like healthy workouts and not having to rehab and injuries, being able to go to the gym,
03:53 work on whatever you need to work on that day, keep yourself in shape throughout the entire
03:57 summer and then come into training camp ready to go is huge, not only for like your individual like
04:02 skill development, but just the confidence that you have. Like he's clearly, I think attacking
04:07 the rim with a much like more aggressive and just not necessarily like reckless abandon,
04:14 but he's clearly like when he went up for that lob, like that was not, he was not looking to
04:19 like protect himself at all against Dallas when he caught that one from Lamello. Like
04:22 he has a little sneaky lob every year. Oh, it's back.
04:25 See, I definitely agree with that. But like, it's usually not in like the first week of the season
04:31 and he's not looking to and then he had that cut for like off of the from the baseline where he just
04:37 made that like one quick decisive move to the basket off the baseline and he finished there.
04:42 Like everything just seems a lot quicker and just much, maybe a little bit more like
04:46 bouncier vertical, like he's the lift that he gets on those pull-ups and like when he gets a defender
04:52 in jail and gets a guy on his back and he pulls up with a free throw line, he gets pretty good lift
04:56 on those jumpers to be able to shoot over like a drop big that's defending. Like it just seems like
05:01 his game just has a little bit more pop to it right now than it has in the last couple of years.
05:05 And having that healthy summer definitely helps. So I, to me, he's been the best player on the
05:09 team so far. I definitely see why people would think otherwise, because I think he's only fourth
05:14 in field goal attempts per game. So he's not their number one option necessarily, but I think he's
05:20 been the most effective with the opportunities he's gotten so far. You know what? I think you've
05:26 almost kind of convinced maybe I'm just, I think I'm taking Gordon Hayward for granted because it's
05:30 just like what I expect, but then like you're right. I was surprised when you said he's the
05:35 best player on the team and then I looked at the team and I was like actually yeah he might have
05:37 been. So I think you're right. I think I've been maybe taking Gordon Hayward for granted a little
05:44 bit and I think you made some very valid points. Hey that's timing on that one right? Look at that,
05:51 that was synergy right there.