Unnamed Warrior: Hayward a “liability on both sides of the court”

[ederson]

I appear to be the only person in the universe who can't and won't listen to anymore "trade Hayward" or "Hayward sucks". Just everyone stop it now, or go to the garage, hit yourself in the leg with a sledge-hammer and then try play professional basketball within a year.

Agree we should limit his minutes in crunch time a bit, and limit his minutes generally though...

I couldn't agree more. He may be a liability but without playtime he will remain a liability for the rest of the contract. He needs playtime.
I am not saying to sacrifice the season for him but benching him would be an awful decision. 

[Roy H.]

He ... plays a slower pace than the Celtic's should be playin

The pace we play with Hayward on the court is faster than we do with Rozier, Brown or any of our starters.

https://stats.nba.com/team/1610612738/onoffcourt-advanced/?sort=PACE&dir=1

[Celtics4ever]

This Warriors player is trying to rile up trouble for the Celtics. After we held our own with them all the way through and almost beat them, he knows the Celtics are their biggest threat, and that once Hayward gets back to form GS has to worry. Giving anonymous statements like this to the media can stimulate sone internal conflict on the Celtics. if this guy really believed this, the statement wouldn't have been anonymous

This

+1

[gouki88]

He ... plays a slower pace than the Celtic's should be playin

The pace we play with Hayward on the court is faster than we do with Rozier, Brown or any of our starters.

https://stats.nba.com/team/1610612738/onoffcourt-advanced/?sort=PACE&dir=1

Don't let all those facts get in the way of a good whinge

[PAOBoston]

100% this was Jerebko

[Androslav]

Unnamed Celtic fan: "Durant will leave after this year."

[celticinorlando]

He just is not the same player. This is the version we are stuck with this season. A 10-12 ppg guy that struggles night in and out to find a rhythm and does not have a lot of confidence. Hoping next year is better.

Maybe next year he will be a 15-20 ppg guy. But I do not see it happening this year. I like Hayward. Want him to be successful. But he looks so timid on the court and plays with little or no confidence. Even Kyrie alluded to it earlier this season. Without him being a consistent contributor, Boston probably won't get out of the east.

[BruceBanner18]

He ... plays a slower pace than the Celtic's should be playin

The pace we play with Hayward on the court is faster than we do with Rozier, Brown or any of our starters.

https://stats.nba.com/team/1610612738/onoffcourt-advanced/?sort=PACE&dir=1

I am not sure how that is calculated, but I assume it is likely either possessions or fast break points?  Maybe how early the shot is taken in the possession?  FWIW I am not anti-analytics, in fact it's part of my day job, but I am not sure any of those stats equate to what I was referring.  Regardless of the number of possessions per game or that we may put up more quick 3's with Hayward on the court, my eyes tell me that we had/have a more attacking, pressure-oriented style when we look our best....on offense and defense.  Attacking the paint/rim on offense and using our length and athleticism to pressure and switch on perimeter defense. That's what made us tough to handle last spring....but just my humble opinion. 

Just my .02.  Not saying my eyes can't be wrong...

[Kuberski33]

He just is not the same player. This is the version we are stuck with this season. A 10-12 ppg guy that struggles night in and out to find a rhythm and does not have a lot of confidence. Hoping next year is better.

Maybe next year he will be a 15-20 ppg guy. But I do not see it happening this year. I like Hayward. Want him to be successful. But he looks so timid on the court and plays with little or no confidence. Even Kyrie alluded to it earlier this season. Without him being a consistent contributor, Boston probably won't get out of the east.

Is he timid or does he lack that final 'burst' of athleticism that's the difference between him being a rotation player and an all star?

[LilRip]

He just is not the same player. This is the version we are stuck with this season. A 10-12 ppg guy that struggles night in and out to find a rhythm and does not have a lot of confidence. Hoping next year is better.

Maybe next year he will be a 15-20 ppg guy. But I do not see it happening this year. I like Hayward. Want him to be successful. But he looks so timid on the court and plays with little or no confidence. Even Kyrie alluded to it earlier this season. Without him being a consistent contributor, Boston probably won't get out of the east.

Is he timid or does he lack that final 'burst' of athleticism that's the difference between him being a rotation player and an all star?

Maybe both? Chicken or egg it seems

[CF033]

The one thing that's not talked about that much is that maybe Hayward just doesn't mesh well with this team. Yea, psychologically and physically he still has a little ways to go but maybe the chemistry just isn't that great. He has to mesh with Kyrie and young talented wings where in Utah he was the man. Like people say he seems lost a lot out there sort of uncertain about what his role is.

Now that he's reduced to a role player his aggression is really lacking. Let's say we do miraculously sign AD this summer and Hayward is our third best player at best, you wonder if he'll shrink even more.

All that to say it is very possible that the team composition could be a factor in his reduced aggression and effectiveness, not just the aftereffects of his injury.

[GreenEnvy]

Are we sure it was a Warriors player who said this...and not a Celtic...? JK

Celtics force feeding GH minutes, instead of sending a $30 Million player to the G League to get up to speed, has hurt us a lot this season...Record-wise and also the minutes he's taking from other players...Players who need minutes for their big paycheck. Might be some of the reason for any locker room problems too.

Sure hope Gordon gets back to his old self soon...it's painful to watch, like Dominique Wilkins in his last year here.

How does one “get up to speed” by playing in a league that’s not at NBA speed?

The only way he’s going to get his rhythm and confidence back against elite NBA players/teams is well.... against elite NBA players/teams. If the Celtics don’t get him right by the playoffs, it probably won’t matter if we have HCA or not.

Ummmm, More "touches"...more Shots...more Minutes...more Confidence in his leg...?

Yeah, I really don’t think sending him to the G-League is going to do wonders for his confidence.

Increasing his usage against inferior competition for him to come back to the C’s and have to yet again adapt to a lesser role doesn’t seem very helpful either.

I watched him during shootaround, his shot is excellent (he was making ~80% of his threes), he just can’t do it consistently during the games.

He’s going to have to adapt and get comfortable with whatever role Brad is going to use him in this season. He has to. Whatever success he could potentially have in Maine would be undone when he rejoined the team.

[drogbagarnett]

The one thing that's not talked about that much is that maybe Hayward just doesn't mesh well with this team. Yea, psychologically and physically he still has a little ways to go but maybe the chemistry just isn't that great. He has to mesh with Kyrie and young talented wings where in Utah he was the man. Like people say he seems lost a lot out there sort of uncertain about what his role is.

Now that he's reduced to a role player his aggression is really lacking. Let's say we do miraculously sign AD this summer and Hayward is our third best player at best, you wonder if he'll shrink even more.

All that to say it is very possible that the team composition could be a factor in his reduced aggression and effectiveness, not just the aftereffects of his injury.

One aspect that got stuck in my head that I feel like people just consider as normal chatter or being candid... But to me it was a HUGE concern! There are such things as "bro codes" even if they are no written rules about them.
But for Hayward to ADMIT he wished the team last year would fail was a big NO NO to me!!!
I dont care if you felt that way you just can't say it!! Dont care if you are trying to be open and candid, do not say it!!
This is the ultimate selfish thing to admit, a confidence breaker for the lockerroom!
Difficult to built chemistry with people who want you to fail !!
I still believe in Hayward! In his basketball skills and athleticism coming back once he get passed that psychological hurdle. However, I dont know if this lockerroom will ever truthfully cheer for him, given he admitted he wished they failed, came back and took away their min not producing much and getting paid 5x their salary to produce half of what they were doing without him last year...

[Silky]

Hayward should be shopped

Was a great signing at the time...but times have changed.

If lakers get davis ahead of deadline i would hope that hayward gets traded for a bigman on a shorter contract(drummond, whiteside)

Team would immediately improve and it would move smart and morris back to bench.

[johnnygreen]

Like everyone else, I really want to see Hayward succeed and return to his all-star level form. I understand we need to practice patience because of the injury he suffered. I admit that I tend to watch Hayward on offense, even when he doesn’t have the ball. It’s driving me nuts that he doesn’t move without the ball and settles to just standing behind the corner three point line. My frustration with this has slowly moved from Hayward to Coach Stevens. Are these the plays that Brad is calling for with Hayward constantly in the corner? I like Rozier, but he is no PG. I would rather see Hayward taking the point forward role on the second unit, and allow Rozier to be more of a scorer. I think Hayward having the ball in his hands more will help bring out his confidence too. Maybe Coach Stevens should tell Hayward to take charge of the second unit and quite handling Gordon with kid gloves. Let’s face it, the Celtics signed Hayward to be a point forward, but they seem to want him to be a catch and shoot player like Ray Allen used to be.