Gordon Hayward Stats Checkup: Still Elite

Dec 12, 2014; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz forward

(20) tries to score against the Miami Heat during the fourth quarter at EnergySolutions Arena. Miami Heat won the game 100-95. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports

Last summer, on the heels of criticism for receiving a max contract from the Utah Jazz, I tried to calm the rhetoric with a look at Gordon Hayward’s numbers with context. We again took a peek at some of Gordon Hayward’s number a few weeks ago here at PnB. It’s time for a Gordon Hayward stats checkup to see if he’s maintaining the solid start he had this season and improving upon last.

Let’s start by comparing numbers from the first piece to now.

"Last season for the Jazz, Hayward:• Led in scoring at 16.2 PPG• Led in minutes played, despite missing five games, with 2,800, or 36.4 MPG• Led in steals per game with 1.4• Led in free throw attempts at 4.9 per game• Was second in assists to only Trey Burke at 5.2 per game (to only 2.8 turnovers)• Was second in free throw percent (minimum 15 MPG) at .816• Was third in rebounds per game with 5.1 (tied with Marvin Williams)• Was fourth in blocks per game with 0.5 (tied with Marvin Williams and Enes Kanter)–PnB, July 2014"

• Leads Jazz in scoring at 18.8 PPG, a carer best. Alec Burks is a distant second at 13.6

• Leads in total minutes played (812) and MPG (35.3). Trey Burke is second in total minutes(745), Alec Burks, who missed a few games, second in MPG (33.2)

The Jazz’s young leader still finds himself in very good company

• Leads in steals per game, a career best 1.6. Trey Burke is second at 0.9 SPG

• Leads in free throw attempts per game at 5.9, also a new career mark. Alec Burks is next at 4.7 FTAs

• Again second on the team to Trey Burke in assists per game, 3.8 so far this season. I’d expect that to go up a bit as the season progresses

• Again third on the Jazz in free throw percent, down a little overall from last season after a hot start, .785. Burks is hitting .816 and Enes Kanter .792 of 2.3 FTAs

• Once again third in rebounds, another new career best mark of 5.5 RPG. Derrick Favors is pulling down 8.2 and Kanter 7.1 per game, respectively

• Hayward is only getting the fifth-most blocks per game this season thus far, but not so much because of a drop from 0.5 to 0.3 per game as that others on the team are getting more this year

Stats comparison for Hayward from about a month ago:

"Hayward is taking smarter shots this season, overall, a career low .175 percent are coming from the dreaded long-two range of 16-23 feet. However there are caveats to his increased efficiency.Hayward is shooting at about his career average of .365 from three, up from his down year last, a very acceptable number that likely only gets better throughout his career. But some of Hayward’s other early-season numbers are historic, and not likely to be maintained for an entire season, but does indicate the kind of company he could find himself in.–PnB, November 2014"

About 21% of Hayward’s shots are coming from the 16-23 foot range now, where he’s hitting a respectable 43% of them, yet another career high. His three point percentage has dipped a little from a month ago to .352. Still more than enough to pull defenses out to him, though.

"• Hayward has made 97.2% of 4.5 FTs per game. In fact, he’s missed only one free throw of 36 attempts in 2014-15, tied for the 13th-most makes in the NBA."

He went a-slumping from the line suddenly not long after this. As has been reported, Hayward punishes himself in practice for each miss in a game with 25 free throws per brick.

Hayward is currently tenth in the NBA in free throws made and ninth in free throws attempted in 2014-15.

"• Hayward appears in at least the top 14 for field goals made, three-point field goals made and free throws made, but not in the top 20 for attempts in [the former] categories, a great sign of shooting efficiency"

A minor shooting slump has chased him off of these lists for the time being, but nothing dramatic. He could pop in and out of some of these leaderboard lists all season long.

"• Gordon Hayward is one of only four players in the NBA that aren’t point guards to have at least 40 assists on the season (41): Dwyane Wade (48), LeBron James (41),Nicolas Batum (40)"

LeBron James, Tyreke Evans (a former point guard now starting at shooting guard for the New Orleans Pelicans), and James Harden are the only ones in the top 20 of this list now.

While the Jazz may lead the NBA in total number of passes per game they aren’t getting a lot out of the movement.

"• Hayward leads the NBA in Offensive Win Shares at 1.2 and is ninth in PER at a career best 24.6, and also ninth in VORP (Value Over Replacement Player) in the NBA. The Jazz leaders for PER in a season are Adrian Dantley and Karl Malone, tied for 24.1 in a season"

Not on leader lists here at the moment, Hayward has still increased his offensive win shares to 1.6 and VORP to 3.2, hovering right around the top 20, a couple of those categories he’ll pop in and out of as mentioned. His PER has fallen to 19.6 for now, again right outside the top 20.

Interesting to note here that Derrick Favors has made a move onto the leaderboard for PER at 22.8, good for 11th-best in the NBA currently.

"• Hayward is the only NBA player in 2014-15 so far to average at least 19 points, six rebounds and five assists while shooting over 50% field goals"

Gordon Hayward is currently one of only five players in the NBA averaging at least 18 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game while shooting at least 45% field goals (Marc Gasol, Rudy Gay, Blake Griffin, Russell Westbrook).

The Jazz’s young leader still finds himself in very good company.