Free agency is when everything is possible. No matter how small your market is, all it takes is one sensational pitch. Because we’re helpful people here at The Step Back, we’re each picking teams and penning our best offers to the free agents we think those teams should chase. Here’s what we have for Gordon Hayward.
Philadelphia 76ers
Gordon, remember how Johnny Cochran popularized the phrase “If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit” during O.J. Simpson’s murder trial? Well, you’re the exact opposite of that with us, as it’s hard to think of a better fit next to Ben Simmons, Markelle Fultz and Joel Embiid than you.
Not only do we admire your scoring output and increased 3-point efficiency, but we’re also infatuated with your ability to handle the ball and create offense for your teammates. Though we’re planning on using Simmons and Fultz as our primary floor generals, the Golden State Warriors have proved that you can never have too many ball-handlers or passers on the floor at once. We’ve also taken notice of your under-the-radar improvements on defense, and we picture you and Robert Covington serving as a lockdown duo against opposing wings. If you’re worried about leaving Rudy Gobert, imagine a hyper-athletic Gobert clone with 3-point range — that’s Joel Embiid.
We know it’ll be tough to pry you from Utah, as your up-and-coming core may well be the third-best team in the West if everyone returns and stays healthy. But with Derrick Favors, Dante Exum and Rodney Hood all due for new deals after next season, your Jazz are about to be in salary-cap hell. Join us on the ground floor, when we have less than $36 million in guaranteed salary for the 2017-18 campaign, and help us develop into one of the only teams capable of stopping the Warriors or LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers.
Our offer: Four years, $130.3 million (max)
— Bryan Toporek (@btoporek)
Miami Heat
Look, Gordon, we can talk all day about why we need you. You made the All-Star team last year, and we need an All-Star. You’re versatile, and we need versatility. We can go on. But you don’t care about that. You know practically every team in the NBA could use you. Let me tell you what the Heat can do for you.
You wanted to make the All-NBA team last season and it didn’t happen. Look at what we were able to do with Dion Waiters and James Johnson last season. Look at how we made Hassan Whiteside a near All-Star player. Look at how Tyler Johnson, groomed under our system, got a $50 million contract offer. I’m not saying we are responsible for those improvements, those are all very hard-working players who deserve the credit. We just know the right tools to give them. We have the best training staff in the league. You think you’re in great shape now? Just wait. You’ll never feel stronger or quicker than you will in Miami. Gordon, if you really want to take your game to the next level, it starts there.
Then it translates to the court, where you’ll be running an up-tempo offense with Goran Dragic. You’ll have shooters around you like Wayne Ellington, Josh Richardson and Tyler. You’ll have stud defenders like Justise Winslow and Rodney McGruder to alleviate pressure on you. I know you appreciated the rim protection Rudy Gobert provided behind you, and you won’t be losing that luxury. We have Whiteside.
On the sidelines, we have the best coach in the game. Erik Spoelstra took a team that was 11-30 in the first half of the season to 30-11 in the second half. Why am I telling you that? I know you know that. I know that mentality of never quitting intrigues you. I know it inspires you. We missed the playoffs by a game, Gordon. But we were close. So close. The Celtics were lucky they got the Bulls in the first round instead of the Heat and they know it. We could have beaten them. Gordon, with you, we would have made the playoffs and beaten them.
You’re a missing piece, but not the only one. Besides the training staff, the coaching, the teammates already here, here’s another you know about us. We won’t stop until we win a championship. We won’t stop adding players around you, improving the team however we can. We’ve done it for Dwyane and Shaq. LeBron won his first two rings here. That’s what this is all about, right? The money is nice — and, by the way, no state income tax — but you’re after more than that. So are we. That’s the Heat way, and we’d love to make you a Heat Lifer.
Our offer: The maximum four years, $130.3 million
— Wes Goldberg (@wcgoldberg)
Utah Jazz
Gordon.
What is a basketball team? Is it a uniform? Is it an idea? Is it all the blood, sweat, tears of the hundreds of people, over time, who stitch the uniforms, massage the muscles, work the phones, rock the rim?
Gordon, more than any other basketball team, we are two people. This whole thing, this basketball road show that’s bounced around America for nearly half a century now, it pretty much comes down to two people. John Stockton, and Karl Malone.
During the eighteen sweet, sweet years when we had Stockton and Malone — so long, and yet so short — we went a combined 925-519 in the regular season. There have been 25 seasons — from the probably pretty insane days in New Orleans to all the Enes Kanter and Trey Burke moments you’ve experienced — without Stockton and Malone. Our combined record: 941-1093.
Gordon, you are pretty much our best shot at keeping around another Stockton. Is that a racially motivated comparison? Sure. Did he out-produce you in Win Shares nearly two-to-one across his first seven seasons? Again, sure. Do you have an obvious Malone counterpart? As you know: not really. Still, you have to admit you can kind of see it working out: in 2037, you and Rodney Hood or Rudy Gobert or, hell, maybe even Dante Exum standing arm in arm as your jerseys are taken to the rafters forever — the gray-haired Stockton and Malone themselves nod in true peer-to-peer admiration. You don’t even have to win a championship to be wrapped in this glory.
Next: The NBA's tanking chicken and the tanking egg
Also, Gordon: we can guarantee you like a ton more money than anybody else. This moment, right now? With everybody else trying to woo you, and li’l old us here in Salt Lake City trying to get your ear? This is like literally the reason that rule was written. It’s like $40 million extra, too. That’s as much as you made in the first six years of your career, combined. You’ve only played seven seasons so far. This is a lot of money. C’mon man.
Our offer: The max — five years, $177.4 million
— Miles Wray (@mileswray)