This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Jazz swingman Gordon Hayward needs some of the projected top choices for the U.S. Olympic basketball team to drop out this month, to give him a more reasonable chance of being selected and become a contributing player in Rio de Janeiro in August.
That happened once before in USA Basketball history. Between his freshman and sophomore seasons at Butler University, a year before the Jazz drafted him, Hayward emerged as a surprising star of the gold-medal team in the FIBA Under 19 World Championships at Auckland, New Zealand.
Hayward made that team in 2009 after more heralded players such as Kemba Walker, Drew Gordon and Al-Farouq Aminu withdrew. "He was obviously good, but I don't know that he was in the original top 12," said Jamie Dixon, the team's head coach. "Looking back on it now, he was our best player."
Unlike that '09 selection process, when Hayward and Butler/Jazz teammate Shelvin Mack were picked after a tryout camp in Colorado Springs, his audition is over. USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo and a coaching staff led by Duke's Mike Krzyzewski will pick the 12-player team in late June from among more than two dozen remaining candidates, including former Weber State guard Damian Lillard of Portland. Semantically, Colangelo didn't want any NBA players to think of themselves as being "cut" from the team in another camp.
"I've done everything I can do to try to make the team," Hayward said in April, during the Jazz's exit interviews. "If they pick me, I'll be ecstatic. If not, that's how it goes sometimes. Like I said, I put in the time over the past three summers. Hopefully, I'll make it."
Hayward played for the U.S. Select Team in 2013, then was among the last cuts for the 2014 team that competed in the FIBA World Cup. He participated in a training camp last August that was a requirement for players to remain in consideration for the Olympics. Since then, a few players have withdrawn. Others could follow if, for instance, the NBA Finals take a physical toll or personal issues come into play.
Hayward's U19 performance became a checkpoint in his development, and heightened NBA teams' interest in him as a potential early entry in the 2010 draft. The Jazz did not attend the tournament, but their international scouting has become more extensive in recent years and they value such competition. "It's great to see players at a young age, because you want to see whether or not they can dominate their age group," said Walt Perrin, the Jazz's vice president of player personnel.
Kevin O'Connor, the Jazz's former general manager, spoke multiple times with Dixon (then working at Pittsburgh, and now TCU's coach) in advance of the 2010 draft. "I just raved about him — obviously, what kind of kid he was, but also how talented he was," Dixon said. "He was underrated as an athlete."
Hayward and teammate Tyshawn Taylor, a guard from Kansas who has played only briefly in the NBA, made the 16-team tournament's All-Star Five. The U.S. roster also included Washington State's Klay Thompson, now starring for Golden State, and Duke guard Seth Curry.
The championship was a breakthrough for USA Basketball, which had failed to win the previous four tournaments. The U19 event is a priority for international federations, building teams well in advance.
Dixon's wide distribution of playing time reduced everyone's statistics, but Hayward averaged 10 points and 5.7 rebounds in 19.6 minutes of nine games. He played his best basketball in the quarterfinals and semifinals, scoring 20 points against Canada and posting 15 points and eight rebounds against Croatia, although he went scoreless in an 88-80 win over Greece in the championship game.
The Indianapolis Star's correspondent in New Zealand tried to determine why Hayward took only two shots, but reported, "I was unable to gather that information after the game, due to the large throng of autograph-, memorabilia- and picture-seeking fans. It doesn't matter. All that matters is that we won the gold."
If those words sound biased, that's understandable. The writer was Gordon Scott Hayward, the player's father, who was asked to email daily accounts to the Star to help the newspaper track the Butler athletes.
His report earlier in the tournament noted how a U.S. player's injury forced a lineup adjustment: "Hayward is playing mostly 'power' forward [the term 'power' is used very loosely]. This presents quite a challenge for Gordon on defense."
After a 112-55 win over Egypt, Hayward's father wrote: "The kid from Brownsburg had a very efficient game with 10 points, five assists, four blocks, one steal and no turnovers in 16 minutes. … Butler teammate Shelvin Mack redeemed himself from Thursday's game, pouring in 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting while dishing out four assists."
Seven years later, Gordon Daniel Hayward is an NBA veteran and his wife, Robyn, is due to deliver the couple's second child in late July. In his latest blog post, Hayward made no mention of the Olympics while outlining his plans for offseason improvement, but he has not publicly cited any reservation about going to Rio. His parents intend to make the trip if he's playing, although Gordon Scott Hayward probably would not have to reprise his role as the Star's correspondent.
Twitter: @tribkurt —
Tough competition
NBA wing players in prime consideration for the U.S. Olympic roster:
Carmelo Anthony, New York
Jimmy Butler, Chicago
DeMar DeRozen, Toronto
James Harden, Houston
Paul George, Indiana
Draymond Green, Golden State
Gordon Hayward, Utah
LeBron James, Cleveland
Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio
Klay Thompson, Golden State