Gordon Hayward is back in town for Friday’s Jazz-Celtics game. Over a year later, has the sting of his departure subsided?

by **bobheckler** Fri Nov 09, 2018 11:49 am

https://www.sltrib.com/sports/2018/11/08/gordon-hayward-is-back/

Gordon Hayward is back in town for Friday’s Jazz-Celtics game. Over a year later, has the sting of his departure subsided?

The short answer is yes. But it’s a lock that the Celtics forward is still going to hear boos in his return to Vivint Arena

Gordon Hayward is back in town for Friday’s Jazz-Celtics game. Over a year later, has the sting of his departure subsided?
Boston Celtics' Gordon Hayward waves as he steps off the basketball court after speaking with members of the media and taking part in a photo shoot, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018, at the team's practice facility, in Boston. Hayward is working his way back from a broken leg. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

By Andy Larsen

By Eric Walden
·
Published: 16 hours ago
Updated: 15 hours ago

Is it that he left? Or how he left?

We know this: Gordon Hayward returns to Vivint Arena for the first time on Friday since he left the Utah Jazz over a year ago in what was the most crushing free agent departure in franchise history.

We know that fans are eagerly anticipating the game. Simeon Mismash, a Jazz fan from Sandy who attended Wednesday’s game against the Mavericks, says he’ll be full throat for Hayward’s return.

“I’m gonna boo him, I’m gonna lose my voice — I’m just gonna boo him the whole night when he steps on the court,” Mismash said. “I’m never gonna boo someone as much as Gordon Hayward. Deron Williams … Enes Kanter … Derek Fisher, all of them combined is gonna be Gordon Hayward on Friday.”

Embedded video
https://twitter.com/tribjazz/status/1060690680375201792
Eric Walden
@tribjazz
Interviewed some Jazz fans Wednesday night asking them how they feel about Gordon Hayward’s return to Utah on Friday. Here’s Simeon Mismash of Sandy ...

17
4:28 PM - Nov 8, 2018

Mismash isn’t alone. Utahns, both online and when you ask them in person, still seem sore about Hayward’s departure, even as the 2017-18 team matched the success of the Hayward-led group from the year before.

Hayward expects the booing to come, too. Last week, he told MassLive that “It’s been a year, so hopefully not as vicious a booing, but I’m sure I’ll get booed," Hayward said. “It is what it is.”

But how did we get here?

How he left

Hayward was an All-Star for the Jazz in his final season, leading them to their first playoff appearance in five years, their first playoff win in seven. Jazz assistant coach Johnnie Bryant had worked tirelessly with Hayward to develop his game; meanwhile, head coach Quin Snyder turned his offense into a Hayward-focused laser. By the time free agency rolled around, everyone realized that Hayward was hugely important to the franchise. Fans chanted his name in the playoffs, begging him to stay. They contributed an estimated $50,000 to a billboard campaign, resulting in signs scattered across the valley with #Stayward messages. Elementary and junior high school classes sent Hayward letters, begging that he stay. The community rallied together to keep this one man, the one who had grown up in front of them, in Salt Lake City.

bob

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by **sinus007** Fri Nov 09, 2018 4:11 pm

Hi,
But KI is out for Utah game.
This news got me scared at first, then I read it's for personal reason - he'll be at his grandfather's memorial service.
So, GH is da man...

AK

by **gyso** Fri Nov 09, 2018 4:26 pm

Thanks, Sinus. Here is a link to an article:

Celtics' Kyrie Irving to miss matchup with the Utah Jazz

https://247sports.com/nba/boston-celtics/Article/Celtics-Kyrie-Irving-to-miss-matchup-with-the-Utah-Jazz-124460251/

While the main focus of the night will be Gordon Hayward's return to Salt Lake City for the first time since he left the Utah Jazz, the Boston Celtics will be without one of their biggest stars as Kyrie Irving will not be joining the team in Utah in order to attend his grandfather's memorial service.

With Irving missing the nationally televised matchup, the former Duke Blue Devils standout offered his teammate some advice about how he should handle the emotions that will likely be running through his body once he takes the floor.

"Just try not to get too caught up into what the outside is going on," Irving said, according to Tom Westerholm of MassLive.com. "It really doesn't matter. It really does not matter -- like, at all. I know the love and support that he's garnered there. Gordon's a great person. Don't allow competition in basketball to be influenced by what everybody else's opinion and criticism and all that other stuff of what it should be like in an environment for him. If they boo him great. If they don't great. It doesn't matter at all. It's just basketball, like, you know what I mean? If anything, he gave (seven years) of his career trying to be the best he could in Utah, and I give him credit for that. And he made a decision in his career, and in his life, for his family, to be better. I'll leave it at that."

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Gordon Hayward is back in town for Friday’s Jazz-Celtics game. Over a year later, has the sting of his departure subsided?

Gordon Hayward is back in town for Friday’s Jazz-Celtics game. Over a year later, has the sting of his departure subsided?

Re: Gordon Hayward is back in town for Friday’s Jazz-Celtics game. Over a year later, has the sting of his departure subsided?

Re: Gordon Hayward is back in town for Friday’s Jazz-Celtics game. Over a year later, has the sting of his departure subsided?

Re: Gordon Hayward is back in town for Friday’s Jazz-Celtics game. Over a year later, has the sting of his departure subsided?