“He’s at the front of the scouting report now and, you know, at the beginning of the year he wasn’t. There’s a lot of expected of him now, both internally and externally. At the beginning of the year there wasn’t.”
The comment from Texas Longhorns head coach Shaka Smart last Monday about his rising freshman forward Jaxson Hayes, a potential lottery pick in this year’s NBA Draft, provided some perspective on just how much Smart’s offense has changed due to the high-flying Hayes.
In fact, Smart told Burnt Orange Nation last week that he hadn’t anticipated the offense to feature Hayes so heavily as the centerpiece of a spread ball-screen offense utilizing the elite rim-running and finishing ability of the 6’11 Hayes, who boasts a 7’3 wingspan.