Who is Nigel Hayes? ... and why should Toronto take a chance on him.

You may know Nigel Hayes as that kid who goofed (in a good way) during a press conference a couple years ago:

But many scouts know him as a 6’7 tweener with a 7’3 wingspan and a solid - but not overwhelming Collegiate career at Wisconsin.

I can’t be the only one who thought to myself - “WHO?” - when Toronto picked him up on a 10-day just a week-and-a-half ago. But as of yesterday, Toronto inked him to a second 10-day deal and are giving him some more time to show off his game.

A quick summary of Hayes’ background;

Four-star power forward coming out of Ohio in 2013, Nigel Hayes committed to Wisconsin and was an instrumental piece for the Badgers right off the bat. Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker headlined the Badgers during this run, but they got scooped up by Charlotte and Houston respectively in the 2015 draft.

With the two biggest names out, College media propped Nigel Hayes up to be the number one option for this Wisconsin team. Unfortunately and perhaps unsurprisingly, the Badgers couldn’t keep up their overall success and Nigel Hayes “faltered” as the Badgers’ #1 option - despite averaging 15.7/5.8/3.0.

Nigel finished his senior year and couldn’t get a team to bite in the 2017 NBA draft. Luckily, he was able to find a spot on the Knicks summer league team. This resulted in a role on the Westchester Knicks, where the prospect put up 15.9/6.5/2.2.

In mid-January, the Lakers took a shot on him with a 10-day but only played him one minute over that span, and didn’t offer him another chance. Hayes went back to Westchester, before getting hit with another 10-day from Toronto on March 9th.

And here we are.

Besides a little “how did we get here?” piece, I wanted to pose a question: why do we have interest in this guy? What about him has garnered interest from Toronto’s front office?

Potential Flexibility

We need to start thinking about “tweeners” differently. In the past tweeners were guys like Chuck Hayes, David Lee, Lamar Odom, Al Harrington, etc.. But those are the highlights. Most tweeners don’t work out. Too small for the four, too slow for the three and not a shooter. Sure, someone of that calibre just sounds like your average out-of-shape 6’4 guy at the YMCA. But today, tweeners are becoming the secrets to a successful team. The Celtics are starting to build that blueprint, with guys like Tatum, Jaylen, Hayward, Ojeleye, Morris, and Yabusele. Guys who can spread the floor (to an extent, some more than others), and play/guard multiple positions.

This is what Toronto is eyeing up in Nigel Hayes. During his first couple years at Wisconsin, that’s what scared a lot of teams off. He wasn’t able to shoulder the load of a first option as well as everyone wanted, and he was a tweener. But now, he’s a big 6’7 guy who can shoot and is still figuring out his position at the NBA level. This is a really good thing.

I’m not making any bold predictions and saying “Nigel Hayes will be a playoff contributor!”, or “Nigel Hayes will be a big piece of Toronto going forward!”.

But I am saying that he’s got some exciting upside. He can spread the floor and could potentially guard multiple positions. He doesn’t have blow-by speed, jump-out-of-the-gym athleticism and he won’t create his own shot off of the dribble, but he can hold his own down-low against other forwards, spread the floor, and could work his way into being a long wing-defender too.

In this era of positionless basketball, Nigel may not have gotten the looks he deserved a few years due to his “tweener” nature, but times have changed and Nigel could be the undervalued asset that could prove to be an absolute steal for Toronto if they opt to keep him.

Look to see how he performs in these next 10 days. It will be between him and Lorenzo Brown for that 15th spot on the playoff roster, and Nigel will have a chance to plead his case over the next few games.