Hayward's butterfly effect on the Celtics' championship journey
Gordon Hayward has called time on a career that stalled from his first game in Boston.
🫖 Taylor’s Tea Time
The Tea: According to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe, Anton Watson has signed a two-way deal with the Boston Celtics.
Taylor: Watson earned it. He was arguably the Celtics’ best player in Summer League (excluding Jaden Springer, who only played one game before getting shut down.) He will now have a chance to continue developing with the Celtics and should get plenty of reps with the Maine Celtics. It will be interesting to see whether he can challenge for the final roster spot nearer the trade deadline, too — assuming Brad Stevens leaves it open for that long.
I’m a big fan of Watson’s game and think that he could stake a claim for a spot on the main roster in the coming years. However, his “tweener” status is an obstacle he must overcome. You can find a deep dive on Watson here.
The Tea: Jayson Tatum spoke about his benching for Team USA’s Olympic opener against Serbia. Joe Vardon of The Athletic wrote about both Tatum and Embiid riding the pine in the opening two games.
“Definitely a humbling experience, right?” Tatum said. “Win a championship, new contract, cover of (NBA) 2K (video game) and then you sit a whole game. Cover of Sports Illustrated. So it was definitely a humbling experience.”
Taylor: Tatum started against South Sudan. However, the embarrassment, humbling, and damage had already been done. Sitting a top-10 player — regardless of the matchups and reasoning behind it is illogical — Suddenly, everyone wants to pile on and criticize Tatum, despite him coming off a championship season. Make it make sense.
The Tea: Tatum’s perimeter shooting is coming under increasing scrutiny. Reddit user “TommyPoints4Days” shared a breakdown of Tatum’s 3-point shooting success throughout every month of the season, including a series-by-series breakdown for the postseason.
Taylor: Tatum’s regular-season shooting numbers aren’t bad. In fact, they’re his best since the 2020-21 season. The playoffs are a different story. 28.3% from deep is a tough pill to swallow and is a good step below his 32.3% from Boston’s ill-feted run in 2023.
Does Tatum need to tweak his shooting mechanics? Is there an issue with his wrist? After all, he opted not to have surgery last summer. Or, is this as simple as his role has changed, his shots are coming from the same spots, and he’s working through an adjustment period?
In truth, the answer is probably in the blurred lines between all of those potential issues. Nevertheless, the critics will only get louder if his struggles continue — especially on a stage as pronounced as the Olympics.
The Tea: Matt Damon names Jaylen Brown as the Celtics player he would “save” during an appearance on ESPN’s First Take.
“I just admire him,” Damon said. “He’s a formidable man and I’m really proud that he’s playing in Boston.”
Taylor: I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say here, other than Damon is right, Brown is an exemplary person, athlete, role model and member of the community. He’s also one of the best forwards in the world. I like that JB is getting the love he deserves. Not sure why Damon wouldn’t just save the whole team, though — I mean, they are NBA champions!
🔍 Some thoughts: Gordon Hayward retires
Gordon Hayward has called time on his NBA career. The one-time All-Star never truly bounced back from his horrific leg injury on his debut for the Boston Celtics. Hayward missed the entire 2017-18 season. He came back and played 72 games the following year, averaging 11.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists. However, I distinctly remember having numerous discussions about how he was still working himself back to a high level.
For the remainder of Hayward’s time in Boston, he was tentative when attacking the rim. He would “Nash” his dribble rather than try to power through contact. He rarely looked to explode for a dunk. And that lack of aggression limited his ability to be the elite forward we saw during his time with the Utah Jazz.
Don’t get it twisted; Hayward still pressured the rim and was successful within four feet of the basket.
However, his shots came in different ways. And the aggression that made him such a force on both sides of the ball was rarely seen. Hayward was successful in altering his approach. He became more cerebral. He manipulated opponents to create his opportunities.
The bigger problem, though, was that Hayward could never stay healthy following that injury. He had one season of 72 games, followed by never cracking the 60-game mark again.
It doesn’t matter how much you’ve altered your game to fit the new restrictions imposed upon you by your body. If you can’t stay on the floor, you can’t impact winning. No team felt that more than the Charlotte Hornets. Hayward had multiple elite-level flashes during his time in North Carolina, but his consistent injuries limited him from ever making good on his four-year $120 million deal.
Hayward played for four teams during his 14-season career. He left a different legacy with each of them. It’s not our job to focus on how he will be remembered by Jazz fans, Hornets fans, or to a far lesser extent, Oklahoma City Thunder fans. What is our job, is to try and figure out how he will be remembered in Boston.
After all, Hayward’s legacy with the Celtics is multi-layered. Yes, he was a marquee addition to a rebuilding Celtics team. He got to team up with Brad Stevens, who had coached him at Butler. And he was supposed to be the missing link that elevated the Celtics into a contender.
Instead, he was the catalyst for the current core. His injury allowed Jayson Tatum to step into the starting lineup. It ensured the rookie out of Duke was given all the reps he could handle, and his partnership with Jaylen Brown was given plenty of time to flourish.
Fun fact: the Celtics’ first game after Hayward got injured was a 108-100 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. The starting lineup was Kyrie Irving, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Al Horford.
Three members of that lineup were present when the Celtics hoisted Banner 18 in June. Their path to that title began in that loss to the Bucks on October 18, 2017. Like it or not, Hayward’s legacy in Boston is primarily that his injury became the catalyst for the Tatum and Brown duo to emerge. That season, Boston went to the Eastern Conference Finals, taking the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers to 7 games, with Terry Rozier enjoying his “Scary Terry” playoff run.
The following year was when everything went south. Tatum and Brown had established themselves as the future of the franchise. Rozier struggled with being back on the bench following Irving’s return to the rotation. And Hayward was trying to figure out how to become the best version of himself again. That season, we got numerous players-only meetings. Everything was disjointed. And at the end of the run, a lot changed.
So, yeah, Hayward’s legacy in Boston is a weird one. He could have been the driving force to a championship. Instead, he was what drove a young duo to emerge, a duo that is now among the best in the world.
It sucks that his career had to take such a drastic turn and that a failed spell with the Thunder is how he ends his time in the league. And it sucks that his tenure with Boston is where his career took a left turn. Still, none of that changes the fact that Hayward was a cold, cold man during his prime in Salt Lake City.
👁️👂🍬 Eye ‘N’ Ear Candy
There were some issues with yesterday’s podcast updating on Spotify and Apple. I managed to fix that problem this morning, however, video on Spotify may take a few weeks to fix. Nevertheless, the episode is now everywhere (finally).
☘️ Shamrock Shorts
HoopsHype has listed Derrick White as the 16th-best point guard in the NBA. Jrue Holiday was ranked 18th. Full top-20 ranking
Luka Doncic
SGA
Jalen Brunson
Tyrese Haliburton
Steph Curry
Tyrese Maxey
Ja Morant
Damian Lillard
De’Aaron Fox
Trae Young
Kyrie Irving
Jamal Murray
Cade Cunningham
LaMelo Ball
James Harden
Derrick White
Darius Garland
Jrue Holiday
Dejounte Murray
Fred VanVleet
Former Celtic Malik Fitts has signed a deal with SIG Strasbourg. The team competes in the French Pro A League.
🏀 Rival Rundown
The New York Knicks have re-signed Precious Achiuwa, giving them some additional size and physicality in the frontcourt. Achiuwa played in 49 games for the Knicks last season, starting 18 of them. He’s not necessarily a “needle mover” for Tom Thibodeau’s roster but he is a great depth piece that fits the team’s style of play.
If you want some longer-form thoughts on Achiuwa re-upping with the Knicks,
had a great piece on this earlier this week.
Tyus Jones joining the Suns solved Mike Budenholzer’s biggest issue — a genuine playmaking and high-level ball-handler to slot into Phoenix’s starting lineup. His presence on the roster should help unlock the trio of Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Devin Booker. As such, the Suns are a potential threat in the Western Conference next season.
A big question surrounding the Suns last season was their ability to get stops against other high-level offenses. Under Frank Vogel, the Suns finished the regular season as the 13th-ranked defense in the NBA. Whether Budenholzer can build on that remains to be seen. Nevertheless, their defense wasn’t as atrocious as social media would have you believe. It also wasn’t at the level required to become a champion, either.
Ok, Bruno Caboclo has nothing to do with a rival team. Heck, he’s not even in the NBA. Still, I wanted to give him a quick shout-out. 33 points and 18 rebounds in Brazil’s win over Japan is impressive stuff.
That’s it for today. If you enjoyed the post, please share it far and wide. And if you’re a free subscriber, there’s plenty of time to upgrade ahead of the regular-season.
GH20 never recovered from that injury. C's with a healthy Gordon, Kyrie without an ego and the J's could have been interesting