Last season ended in tragic fashion for Gordon Hayward. Not even a full quarter into his year and a misplayed alley pass from Kyrie Irving led to catastrophe. Hayward has been an awaited name in Boston Celtics green ever since the hiring of Brad Stevens. A name that’s been linked to Boston for years and years prior to the signing.
After coming short of an NCAA Butler Tournament victory, it almost seemed as destiny for Hayward to sign with the Celtics and reunite with former college head coach, Brad Stevens and complete unfinished business.
Let’s take a look at Hayward’s final season with the Utah Jazz. A fairly successful year entering free agency for Hayward in 2017. A season in which Hayward averaged a career high 21.9 points and 5.4 rebounds, earning him his very first trip to the NBA All-Star Game. Just a sweetened deal for Boston, who’d again expressed their interest in Hayward back in 2014.
Danny Ainge and the Boston Celtics were linked to a possible Gordon Hayward trade with the Jazz that never fell through. Perhaps it was due to the Utah’s interest in multiple of Ainge’s many accumulated first round picks.
Yet, Ainge got the last laugh as we all know.
Not only did Ainge elect to keep the first round picks. Draft selections which eventually became Terry Rozier, Jaylen Brown, and Jayson Tatum. However two summers ago, Danny Ainge landed exactly what he wanted in Boston.
On July 4, 2017, Gordon Hayward and the Boston Celtics sparked the biggest fireworks in the city of Boston. Ainge landed Hayward on a four-year deal worth $128 million. All which leads us to where we are today.
Here are the three goals for Gordon Hayward for this upcoming 2018-19 season.
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.
2. Earn All-Star Honors… again
No this isn’t at all an overboard prediction or expectation from Gordon Hayward. I truly believe his comeback will be something special for both Boston Celtics and NBA fans to watch.
When looking at the stacked cast Hayward has around him, he certainly can very well find himself to his second career All-Star game come next season. Think about what getting Hayward back into his “regular form” would mean for the season he’s set to put in 2018-19.
Take Kyle Lowry from the Toronto Raptors for example. He got into the All-Star game last season with a 16.2 point per game average.
That’s Lowry’s lowest scoring average since his 2012-13 season where he scored a little over 11 points per game. Then there was Miami’s Goran Dragic who granted only made it because of injuries. However he still managed to find his way in. Dragic averaged 17.3 points but also shot 45 percent from the field which is his worst shooting season since 2012-13 as well. That year Dragic went 40.8 percent from the field in Phoenix. I’m not claiming that Hayward is going to put together a career year.
Considering the circumstances that’s an unfair expectation for him. However I have confidence an belief that his comeback season will certainly be noteworthy.
3. Put together a 2017-esque Playoff Run
Here’s where the Boston Celtics and the fans really want to see Gordon Hayward on the floor.
Obviously, fans would flood the TD Garden if doors opened this very moment, however it is the postseason in which the Celtics are the East’s topic of discussion. Let’s be honest. With LeBron out to the West, how could they not be?
A game short of reaching last years finals. To subtract LeBron James and add Gordon Hayward plus Kyrie Irving all at the same time! How could we not want playoff basketball today?
In the 2017 playoffs Hayward put up an over 24 points per game run with Utah. That was with Hayward being the premier scoring option and taking on some heavy responsibility with the Jazz.
Now he’s an added piece to a Kyrie Irving, Al Horford starting lineup. That’s a team in which Hayward will certainly flourish with. We saw this in the playoffs against Cleveland last season in the playoffs. On various runs yes we would see Al Horford get hot as a scoring option inside.
However, there were numerous occasions where that would slow down and he was unable to find consistent scoring options to defer to. This is what led to the poor shot selection. A key factor which eventually led to Boston’s 6/21 (28.6 percent) shooting in the second and 5/20 (20 percent) shooting in the third quarter of that Game 7.
Then came the loss. It was stretches like that second and third quarter in which Hayward offense will eliminate come next season. A season in which we’re closely approaching.
Get ready for the 2018-19 Gordon Hayward.