What does Gordon Hayward's broken ankle mean for the Boston Celtics' future?

http://celticswire.com/2017/10/18/what-does-gordon-haywards-broken-ankle-mean-for-the-boston-celtics-future/




[size=55]What does Gordon Hayward's broken ankle mean for the Boston Celtics' future?

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By: Jared Weiss | 3 hours ago
The tragedy was all too real. Yet the end-result was surreal.
Just five minutes into their season, tragedy struck the Boston Celtics. Gordon Hayward came down from an alley-oop and his foot got caught underneath him. His leg bent all the way back while his body pinned his foot flat on the ground.
The outcome was a rare and gruesome total dislocation of his left ankle, resulting in a tibia fracture that disturbed and devastated every witness. While there are some hints early in the prognosis stage that this injury will be fully recoverable, the Celtics went back out there after witnessing a pure horror and played like their energy had been snatched by a ghost.
Their valiant effort to nearly take this game, which they lost 102-99 thanks to a clutch Kevin Love three and some typical crunch time dominance by LeBron James, Boston’s reality will come crashing down. Hayward was instrumental to everything they were trying to build and they will take a big step back without him this year.
It is safe to assume that he will miss all, if not most of this season. There is hardly a track record for returning from this severity of an ankle break and the team is still waiting to perform an MRI that will paint the picture of what type of ligament and blood vessel damage is present. Those are the factors that can make this go from a half year injury to a much longer one. Some reports indicated that the medical staff believes Hayward had a clean break, which would mean minimizing these soft tissue risks and maximizing his chances of a full recovery. But it is too early in the diagnosis process to put confidence in that being the reality.

IS THE SEASON OVER?

It depends on the expectation. Based on what owner Wyc Grousbeck said Monday, they want to get back to the conference finals and be competitive this time. That is not out of the question at the moment. It was highly plausible before the injury, but it looks pretty grim now.
Replacing an All-Star isn’t really possible, but Boston’s focus on developing versatility has put them in a position to deal with a situation like this. Marcus Smart will be the new starter and will fill Hayward’s role as the secondary ball handler with Kyrie Irving. He will carry a massive burden and will have to play like he did in the second half of the Cleveland game, rather than the first. Smart showed the potential for a complete offensive game this preseason and there is plenty of time for that to come to fruition.
Terry Rozier also had a strong game and showed his ability to push the pace will be vital this season. Boston already had an emphasis on pace this year, but will double down on that now that they have lost one of their great half-court creators. But they do not need to change their direction, as Smart allows them to continue with the plan they put in place during the preseason. They can still switch on screens on defense, and still play Kyrie Irving off-ball next to Smart as they did plenty during their third-quarter comeback Tuesday.
Losing Hayward makes them significantly less potent. It does not cripple them. They built a system that could withstand extreme pressure. But the pillars of that system are young and not ready for this burden. They’ll have to take it and they will struggle to hold it up along the way. That is why their season outlook has dimmed quite a bit. But the light is still there at the end of the tunnel. If Hayward makes a miraculous come back this year, it could open even more.

CAP IMPLICATIONS

There are a few players affected by this situation. First is Hayward of course, who just signed a four-year max deal. Boston was preparing to begin an era of diving head-first into the luxury tax to build around him and Kyrie Irving, who they will assuredly offer a five-year max next offseason. Depending on how Hayward’s recovery goes, they may have to be careful about going all in with this roster.
They were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in trading Isaiah Thomas because his injury risk tainted the idea of committing to him long-term. Now they are in a similar position with Hayward, although he at least is younger and did not have a long-term condition assumedly, like Thomas did.
Then there is Marcus Smart, who just over 24 hours before the injury was not able to get a contract extension from the Celtics. Smart and his agent Happy Walters were very public in their disappointment, saying they were very flexible and tried to address the Celtics’ concerns about the luxury tax implications of his next deal. Boston wanted to wait until the summer, where they thought his market would be in their favor and they could have the flexibility to keep him since they knew Hayward would be the key to their offensive flexibility next to Irving. 24 hours later and Smart has become essential. He will start in Hayward’s place and is the secondary playmaker Gordon was going to be.
Smart has taken back the leverage in this negotiation, as he will not only put up bigger counting stats that will raise his profile and his market value, but he is now an irreplaceable part of the Celtics’ offensive system and Walters may end up somehow being right again when he said the Celtics will pay for passing on an extension.
They do have one short-term solution to mitigate the impact of the injury. The Celtics can apply for an $8.4 million disabled player exception per ESPN’s Bobby Marks, up until March 1 if Hayward is to miss the entire season. They could use it as a trade exception for a player in the final year of their contract until March 10. This could be a valuable tool to add a useful rotation player, especially considering most players at the end of a deal of that size signed it when it was a much higher percentage of the cap.
Boston would either need to tack on draft pick compensation or find a player of value that a team is desperate to get off of so they can open their cap flexibility. Kevin Pelton of ESPN floated the Denver Nuggets’ Will Barton as a possible solution, who is making just $3.7 million in he final year of his deal. Barton could provide a significant scoring punch off the bench while still keeping the Celtics south of the luxury tax, which is vital because they cannot start the clock on the repeater tax this year. They will take their time and likely keep their extra roster slot open until after December 15, when NBA trade season begins as most new signings can be moved.
There is no easy solution to a scenario like this. The injury was tragic and the Celtics will continue to pray for good news. Hayward’s season is not lost yet, but his return this year would be extremely lucky and valiant. Imagining him being healthy enough at any point this season to be a serious contributor is extremely difficult to envision. Boston just hopes to get their guy back someday soon, as they will still have their eyes set on legitimately competing with the Golden State Warriors in a couple of years, as their owner Wyc Grousbeck said Monday.
The plan is still in place, but now they need to wait on the return of their prized personnel.


bob



.

Hi,
This is a very unfortunate event. But I think with or without GH Celtics are not a match against GSW.
I hope that JB and JT get more experience ( much more playing time without Hayward) and the next year two of them plus KI and healthy GH and still capable Horford and Smart (hope that Danny finds ways to keep him in green) might be able to challenge GSW.

AK