Zach Lowe with his latest

"How do Gordon Hayward and the Jazz go from good to great?" -- Zach Lowe

Most hoops fans without connections to Utah or maybe Butler basketball might skip over this one. But then this would have been missed:

"The intervention for Gordon Hayward happened inside a Chevy rental in Las Vegas two summers ago, after a Team USA mini-camp practice. Jason Smeathers and Rob Blackwell, Hayward's longtime trainers from Indianapolis, watched Hayward sulk through the session. As Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and LeBron James talked trash and traded secrets, Hayward dribbled alone. Smeathers stopped the car and asked Hayward: "Do you even want to be here?"

They asked Hayward why he didn't talk to any of the world's best players, or pick their brains. "They wouldn't talk to me," Hayward demurred, according to his trainers. They had seen this before. Hayward sometimes wore Durant's signature shoes, but would never approach Durant after games against the Thunder. Hayward's friends had to tell him: You're a star, too. You are their peer.

It took a while for Hayward to internalize the message, but last summer, he felt ready. He stayed in Salt Lake City to be close to his newborn daughter, and to work each day with Johnnie Bryant, a Utah assistant. (The Jazz include incentives in many contracts that allow for bonuses if players stick around in the summer, sources say. Gobert's massive new extension includes some.)

Hayward ripped apart his workout routine and started from scratch. He tried boxing to help his footwork and balance. He practiced spinning in a complete circle on one leg, tapping the floor, and spinning back the other way. He'd stand on one leg, move the other one in and out, and try not to fall over. He hit the weight room harder.

He ran through sets without a ball, and started watching film of his workouts. "I wanted to see: Am I doing it right every single time?" Hayward said. "I think there is a still a big leap for me, and I want to get that out of myself. I couldn't do the same stuff I've been doing every summer. I wanted to be uncomfortable."

He quietly reached out to Kobe Bryant to see if the retired superstar might tutor him on the art of the midrange. He ended up spending a week with Bryant in Newport Beach. "He's one of the best to ever do it," Hayward said, "and it was one of my best weeks ever..."