People are underestimating the defensive impact Smart and Rozier are gonna bring.
Smart is a one dimensional player who is an offensive liability at least half the time he's on the floor...
And as much as I love Rozier he's yet to prove that he can play at a competitive level CONSISTENTLY throughout the course of a season. He's shown he can come up big in the playoffs, but we need more than just 15 good games a season from him.
Both guys have the potential to be major wildcards for us this year - in fact our bench in general has the potential to be a huge wildcard now that we've added a dynamic scorer (Tatum).
I'm more worried about whether the extra 5 PPG we gain from Hayward will be enough to offset the defense, rebounding, hustle and leadership we were getting from Bradley. I've always seen Hayward as a Kevin Love type - he seems very skilled and talented, but I don't see any kinda of natural born leadership, toughness or killer instinct in him. I hoped after his performance this season maybe that will change, but then there were some comments made by him this year that killed those hopes - he basically said right out that he doesn't see himself as a leader of this team and just wants to play his role. That concerned me a bit because while it's lovely for guys to make comments like this, we already have one too many modest stars on this team (Horford). We need somebody with an Alpha-Dog mentality, and I worry Hayward is not that guy.
This signing will eliminate all of our cap flexibility for the next 2-3 years so I hope Hayward can prove me wrong. If nothing else I do see some of that killer instinct in Tatum, so if Hayward doesn't bring it hopefully he will in time.
Draws charges, set screens, pass, rebounds and makes clutch plays on both ends. I don't know how is that a one-dimensional player. Can't shoot =/= offensive liability. Smart is the more versatile defender than Bradley, better ball-handler and passer.
Correction...
* Seemingly leads the league in fines as a result of stupid flops
* Frequently picks up stupid and unnecessary offensive fouls, leading to turnovers
* Rebound well for a guard, but not as well as Bradley did last year
* Loses as many games with bad clutch plays (turnovers/fouls/bad shots) as he wins with good clutch plays
* Equal to Bradley at best as a ball handler (if you think he's a better ball handler you are dreaming)
* Can't finish at the basket and can't shoot, so opposing defense can ignore his presence on offense 90% of the time
He is a better passer then Bradley, I'll give you that.
As for defensive versatility, you must have forgotten the dominant defensive job Bradley did on Jimmy Butler in the playoffs this year, along with the similarly impressive defensive jobs he'd done on guys like Steph Curry and Dwyane Wade in the past. That's a 6'8"/ 230 lbs SF, a 6'5" / 220 lbs SG and a 6'3" / 190 lbs PG - all dominant superstars - who have all been shut down on multiple occasions by Bradley. I'd say that is a pretty impressive show of offensive versatility, wouldn't you?