Boston Celtics ‘force feeding’ Gordon Hayward caused issues, which is an indictment of his teammates

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2019/06/boston-celtics-force-feeding-gordon-hayward-caused-issues-which-is-an-indictment-of-his-teammates-john-karalis.html




Boston Celtics ‘force feeding’ Gordon Hayward caused issues, which is an indictment of his teammates | John Karalis




Updated Jun 19, 2019;
Posted Jun 19, 2019



By John Karalis | JKaralis@masslive.com





The more we learn about the 2018-19 Boston Celtics, the more we find out just how immature many of the players in the locker room were.

Some refused to accept their roles. Some refused to accept the team’s direction. And some were upset by how Gordon Hayward was handled.

Brad Stevens and the Celtics were in a bind with Hayward coming into the season. He was not only trying to come back from his horrific leg injury, a second surgery last May cost him an entire summer of full five-on-five basketball.


Training camp and the early regular season had to serve as a sort of rehab on the fly for Hayward. The Celtics knew they’d need Hayward as close to 100 percent as possible to have a chance in the playoffs, and the only way to get him there was to play him.

I’m not revealing some secret here. He had to play basketball to get back into shape and to regain confidence in his body and himself. This was the only way. NBA teams don’t run full five-on-five in practices much anymore, if they practice at all.

Hayward needed games.

Yet despite the very obvious need for this, some of his teammates still had a problem with it.

“You hate to pick on Gordon Hayward because he was coming back from injury and he was doing the best he could, but I really think that’s where it started,” ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan said on NBC Sports Boston’s “Early Edition”. “They were force feeding him on his teammates, Brad (Stevens) knew Gordon well, he wanted to get his confidence back ... he gave the benefit of the doubt over and over to a player that wasn’t ready, to a guy who had history with him, and it rankled that locker room, it bothered that locker room.”


It takes a special kind of immaturity to look at a teammate who is struggling to return from a catastrophic injury and be mad that he’s trying to come back.

Of course he wasn’t ready. Everyone knew he wasn’t ready. He hadn’t played actual basketball since snapping his leg.

You can argue that he should have gone to the Maine Red Claws, but their season didn’t start until after Boston had gone through camp and already played eight games. Every game Hayward didn’t play would just prolong the process.

Starting Hayward at the beginning of the season, in retrospect, was probably a mistake. Stevens, as MacMullan said, may have gone a step too far in trying to get Hayward’s confidence back, but that plan was also abandoned 16 games into the season.

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That should have been the end of the issue, but resentment towards Hayward was still evident after the season, when Terry Rozier hit ESPN to tear the Celtics to shreds.

“I was obviously in the shadow of some guys,’’ he said. “I feel like... a lot of... the ball was either in Kyrie or Gordon Hayward’s hand most of the time, so either Terry Rozier is in the corner or I’m on the bench.”

Maybe Rozier was where those chemistry issues began and ended, but that it’s still being brought up as an issue today is maybe the clearest sign yet that last year’s team was not ready for prime time.


There were too many players on this team focused on doing things their own way and incapable of handling basketball life when that didn’t happen. The inability to look at a situation, process it, and work through anger or resentment in order to do a job was this team’s defining characteristic.

I understand that money, fame, and personal brands are on the line. I get that players have to treat this game like a business because that’s how teams treat it.

What these players don’t understand is that life, like basketball, is about adjustments.

Mike Budenholzer didn’t like how the Celtics were manhandling their drop pick-and-roll coverage, so he adjusted, changed his approach, and it worked.

Instead of letting Hayward’s recovery get to them, players needed to adjust to the roles they were given and perform those to the best of their ability. They needed to understand that, had they done that, eventually the right roles would have gone to the right guys. Eventually, the team would have realized some of its goals.

Eventually, everyone on this team would have been seen as a winner, and everyone loves winners.

Everyone could have gotten what they wanted if they could have just shown a little bit of maturity. Anger at Hayward’s situation was misguided, especially because it worked. By the time February and March rolled around, his true shooting was about 63 percent, a 15 point improvement from October.


He never got back to full-Utah Hayward but he got himself to a point where he could contribute.

The lingering resentment towards this is a damning indictment of last year’s locker room and the shortsighted nature of proved costly to the team and the bank accounts of those who squandered chances to play better basketball. It’s also an indictment on the players who let it get to them.

Last year’s team had a chance to be special, but they blew it. Someday, some of those guys will look back on it with regret, because they’ll know they missed out on a great opportunity. They were just too immature at the time to know it.




bob
MY NOTE:  Rozier deserves to be singled out if for no other reason than he went public and put himself in the media crosshairs, but I can't help but wonder how much of it was Jaylen Brown too.  He went from a starter in the playoffs to a bench player eith reduced minutes.  It is coming out now how toxic his relationship with Kyrie was, it's not too large a leap to consider him chafing under his reduced role as Hayward was being given more and more minutes, minutes that could have (should have?) been his.  Youth is wasted on the young.

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so its some other players fault that Hayward was forced feed minutes he did NOT deserve?

ummmm...well, if you say so I guess.

how about calling out Stevens for playing his BOY, even when he shouldn't have.

God, I can't wait for Hayward to go far, far away.

Calling players immature for legitimate gripes is problematic. I blame Stevens for disrupting chemistry, as well as kyries antics.

Jaylen was awesome last year and got shafted so Hayward could get extra minutes he didn't deserve.

Kj

What a horrible piece of journalism. What Jackie said and what this guy wrote seem miles apart. I agree with kdp59 and kj, though I don't really blame Brad. Celts invested a lot of money and years in GH, so I can understand how they would try to force feed Gordon minutes. But I cannot blame a player for believing the best players should play. Ironically, it might have backfired. Gordon seems like a really decent guy,  and I think getting minutes he knew he did not deserve may have gotten in his head a bit and affected his play. It was just a shitty situation with no blue print on how to proceed.

All season, Kyrie-pologists tried to steer the blame away from Kyrie and put it on the youth. Kyrie was the cancer. I don't think Terry said anything particularly bad or disrespectful  - it was just his honest assessment. I don't get blaming Jaylen at all - he handled himself with professionalism and class all season.
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kdp59 wrote:so its some other players fault that Hayward was forced feed minutes he did NOT deserve?

ummmm...well, if you say so I guess.

how about calling out Stevens for playing his BOY, even when he shouldn't have.

God, I can't wait for Hayward to go far, far away.

Please show me some numbers that demonstrate that Terry deserved minutes or touches that Hayward was getting. Because everything I've seen shows that his usage rate was right in the ballpark of Hayward's, despite having league lows in +/- ratings, an offense stalling tendency that is perhaps best compared to a black hole. You obviously play your star forward and help him rebound. Obviously you protect your 30 million dollar investment. Obviously. All this, not to mention the fact that at least GH distributed the ball. At least he kept other people involved. Terry pulled up with fade away threes. If we resign him, it better be to trade him.

Hindsight would indicate that the NBA in general and the Celtics specifically, do not know how to take advantage of their G-League affiliate.  I'll explain:

The main goal of playing Gordon Hayward so much all through the season was to get him actual 5 on 5 playing time so that he would be ready for the playoffs.  Once it was determined that he was less than useless out there (and it was possibly costing us games) he should have gone to Portland and got his reps there.  An occasional test in Boston would have been enough to see that more time in Portland was the answer.  Repeat until the results show that he can contribute more than the player he replaces in Boston.

Sending a former all-star or top performer to the minors for rehab is a regular occurrence in major league baseball.  I once saw Oil Can Boyd pitch in Old Orchard Beach on rehab years ago.  (It was cool to see him in those surroundings.) It seems like NBA players may take it as in insult to be sent to the minors.  What other reason is there for it not to occur?

Players with 3+ years of experience can be assigned to the G-League if the player and the union consent.  I cannot imagine that it would be a problem if it was understood that it wasn't for punishment reasons.

Games count.  Even regular season games.  With so many quality players not getting enough playing time, the team should have taken advantage of that fact and sent Gordon downeast to get his.

Just my opinion.  In hindsight.

This is one terrible posting. Isn't it funny how fast a guy get's thrown under the bus after his life is totally shifted in one five minute period.. Gordon Hayward definitely should never have been in the starting lineup to start the season, that was a big mistake and it hurt the team, I will not argue with anyone there. As the season progressed Jaylen Brown came to grips with the situation and played terrific. AND, he and Hayward played well together when they were on
the floor.
I feel it is totally unfair to place blame on Hayward like he demanded this time and was a terrible teammate. If anything, he went about his business, worked hard and tried to improve as the year went on.
As far as Terry Rozier is concerned, he may have been just as toxic as Kyrie, but at least, during the season, Kyrie was halfway decent on the floor, Rozier was horrible. In the locker room I believe he was just as bad. Bringing him back is a mistake, get rid of him.

KDP you have not liked the Hayward signing since the day he went down. I wonder if you ever watched him before his injury? He was a excellent player with alot of talent. For some reason, you have disliked him for his tenure here, time will tell if you are right or wrong

gyso wrote:Hindsight would indicate that the NBA in general and the Celtics specifically, do not know how to take advantage of their G-League affiliate.  I'll explain:

The main goal of playing Gordon Hayward so much all through the season was to get him actual 5 on 5 playing time so that he would be ready for the playoffs.  Once it was determined that he was less than useless out there (and it was possibly costing us games) he should have gone to Portland and got his reps there.  An occasional test in Boston would have been enough to see that more time in Portland was the answer.  Repeat until the results show that he can contribute more than the player he replaces in Boston.

Sending a former all-star or top performer to the minors for rehab is a regular occurrence in major league baseball.  I once saw Oil Can Boyd pitch in Old Orchard Beach on rehab years ago.  (It was cool to see him in those surroundings.) It seems like NBA players may take it as in insult to be sent to the minors.  What other reason is there for it not to occur?

Players with 3+ years of experience can be assigned to the G-League if the player and the union consent.  I cannot imagine that it would be a problem if it was understood that it wasn't for punishment reasons.

Games count.  Even regular season games.  With so many quality players not getting enough playing time, the team should have taken advantage of that fact and sent Gordon downeast to get his.

Just my opinion.  In hindsight.

+1.  And I think there's a limit on how many years a player can be in the NBA and be assigned to the G League.





bob


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bobheckler wrote:

gyso wrote:Hindsight would indicate that the NBA in general and the Celtics specifically, do not know how to take advantage of their G-League affiliate.  I'll explain:

The main goal of playing Gordon Hayward so much all through the season was to get him actual 5 on 5 playing time so that he would be ready for the playoffs.  Once it was determined that he was less than useless out there (and it was possibly costing us games) he should have gone to Portland and got his reps there.  An occasional test in Boston would have been enough to see that more time in Portland was the answer.  Repeat until the results show that he can contribute more than the player he replaces in Boston.

Sending a former all-star or top performer to the minors for rehab is a regular occurrence in major league baseball.  I once saw Oil Can Boyd pitch in Old Orchard Beach on rehab years ago.  (It was cool to see him in those surroundings.) It seems like NBA players may take it as in insult to be sent to the minors.  What other reason is there for it not to occur?

Players with 3+ years of experience can be assigned to the G-League if the player and the union consent.  I cannot imagine that it would be a problem if it was understood that it wasn't for punishment reasons.

Games count.  Even regular season games.  With so many quality players not getting enough playing time, the team should have taken advantage of that fact and sent Gordon downeast to get his.

Just my opinion.  In hindsight.

+1.  And I think there's a limit on how many years a player can be in the NBA and be assigned to the G League.





bob


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FYI:

http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q81

This is just a sideshow.

The Celtics could have had near perfect chemistry and they were still not going to win this year.  They lacked a championship caliber frontline.

I think most of the blame falls on Brad Stevens as he is the one who divided up the minutes and failed to impose his will on the team.

Hayward was not ready to play at a high level and should not have been starting from day one.  That was Brad's Fault.  Brad can also be faulted in sending Jaylen Brown to the bench.  Last year he was 2nd on the team in scoring behind Irving.  He was one of our best performers in the playoffs this year and the only reason he got 30 MPG is because Marcus Smart got injured.
(AGAIN!)

Brad Stevens lost control of this team and he never got it back.  Danny Ainge could have did a cut out and traded Rozier in February.

At this point Hayward is still on the team and his value is still undetermined.  Terry may be retained or he may sign elsewhere.  Boston did not secure a starting level PG in the draft and their #1 need remains along the front line.

When Irving criticized the young guys on the team it was Jaylen Brown who spoke up to let him know that no one should be singled out. It was the first time that a player openly impugned Irving's leadership over the team.

“we gotta be more accountable as a group. It’s not one guy’s fault, it’s not young guys’, old guys’ fault, it’s everybody. So we all gotta be accountable and turn this thing around. For stretches, we play good basketball. For stretches, we don’t. We all gotta have each other’s back.”

I can see how this situation with Hayward could have been an issue this past season. But, if communication from Stevens to the players involved had been handled properly, it should have not been the big thing that it has now seemingly become.

Coaches play some guys to 'bring them back' from injury on a yearly basis in most every sport. The key is the communication.

Rosalie,

to be honest I didn't like the signing of Hayward, I have nothing against him of course. I felt as horrible as we all did when he went down last year. Horrible thing to see and glad he has fought back as far as he has so far.

I just felt then ,that he was not worth a max contract. His injury made it worst for us and more importantly him.

My thoughts are a max contract (and how it ties up your cap space) should only be used on an elite NBA player. I have never felt Hayward was one of the top 20-30 players myself. But I understand many here think he was.

I do hope he gets back to his best playing ability, as in the end that makes our team better.

but you are right I probably complain about Hayward more than anyone else here .

Just figure I'm the guy who yells at kids to get out of his yard...LOL.

in the end we both want Hayward to play his best, I think. I am resigned to the fact that Hayward will be here for the duration of his contract.

Brad wanted Gordon to be ready by the playoffs.  He wasn't going to be ready if he played in Maine because his problem wasn't he needed to take it easy after an injury.  He needed to go hard, against elite competition and that meant NBA minutes.

How do we know Brad didn't communicate well?   There were all kinds of chemistry issues.  It appears the young'uns didn't like Kyrie's communicationing skills neither.  This starting to sound like office politics.


bob


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