Boston Celtics: 3 regular season goals for Gordon Hayward in 2018-19

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(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

1. Get back in regular form/ find his place

Unfortunate is the perfect word to describe Gordon Hayward’s “debut” season as a Boston Celtic. Five minutes exactly and just two field goal attempts was it for Hayward in the 2017-18 NBA season.

The perfect opening night was certainly it on Cleveland that night. The newly revived Celtics, featuring Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, and Jayson Tatum.

Then five minutes into it, one piece of that gone for the season. A major piece regardless of how deep of a run the Celtics put together last season. Just take game 7 against Cleveland that night for example.

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A night where Terry Rozier himself shot 0/10 from three point range. Imagine if Boston had Hayward as an option. A career 36.8 percent shooter from deep, who also shoots 48.6 percent from three and 45.3 percent from the field in 13 career games against the Cavaliers.

Just one of the many “what if” thoughts that remains embedded in my head following that dreadful nightmare like experience.

The number one goal for Hayward is to certainly get his feel for the game back.

Last season it was the undermanned Celtics cast that proved everyone wrong time and time again.

Now it’s Hayward turn. Many have taken this minor setback as a way to misconstrue the player that Hayward actually is on the floor. Including former Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver, Cris Carter who is on the record for stating that Hayward is a “role player”.

Certainly a foolish statement to say the least on Carter’s end. A role player? It was Gordon Hayward that’s shown significant improvement year after year since joining the league back in 2010. Carter also stated that Hayward was a “system player”.

I find myself in a state of confusion in regards to the system which Carter is speaking of. Hayward played under the leadership of three head coaches during his time in Utah. One of those being Tyrone Corbin who finished his Utah stint with a .434 win percentage (2011-14) and never reached the postseason. In fact Hayward never got see playoff action until his sixth and seventh season in Utah. Not a very stable system in which to claim Gordon Hayward is a “product of”.

Nevertheless, Hayward proved to be the leader in that Jazz team during those two playoff run years. Within those two seasons combined, Hayward averaged 20.8 points per game while shooting 45.2 percent from the field and 37.2 percent from three. In the playoffs? Hayward went for a 24.2 point average with 6.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists through 11 games in 2017. He also shot over 44 percent from the field on 17-plus shot attempts per game. Again… not a system player!

Just give Hayward his first full year in Boston. A team with stable coaching, an intelligent front office, and talent stacked roster. We’ve already seen the many videos in which Hayward has provided us through social media. He began shooting off a chair against Brian Scalabrine. Then came the shots from his feet, to the most recent vids swirling NBA Twitter of Gordon Hayward now dunking!

Now comes putting that all together into his official debut season as a Boston Celtic.

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