Before I renamed all the separate subsections, Jarvis Hayes' suckiness had it's own category. As of today, we probably won't have to worry about filling that category anymore.
According to the Washington Times, not only did the Wizards not tender Hayes' qualifying offer, but they also have no intention of signing him as an unrestricted free agent.
Hayes' qualifying offer would have been somewhere in the 3.5 million range, so this really was a no-brainer, especially considering how close we are to the luxury tax.
Now, one school of thought dictates that we let Stevenson go and sign Hayes to a smaller, one-year deal to play shooting guard. The argument is that EJ constantly put Hayes in bad situations, having him play power forward in a small lineup. This is definitely true, but it ignores the fact that, even when totally healthy and playing the right position, Hayes is a below-average player. Here are his PERs for the last four seasons:
2003/04: 9.4.
2004/05: 11.1
2005/06: 12.2
2006/07: 10.7
Even when he was healthy, Hayes has never, in his entire career, had a PER as high as Stevenson's or Devin Brown's last year. With his bad knees, I also don't think he can guard most 2s. He did a decent job on LeBron in the playoffs, but he had a lot of help from the rest of the team. His main role would be to back up Caron at the 3, but that spot will probably be taken by McGuire, who's defensive game fills more of a need. Essentially, even if you chalk up his lost season last year to EJ's misuse, he doesn't compare to any other potential option on the market.
I'm sure nobody is sad to see him go, and neither am I, really. I genuinely like Hayes as a person, and wish him well wherever he goes, but there's definitely no reason to keep him around.