Thoughts on Hayward so far? (UPDATE From Hayward)

[CelticsElite]

Saw some alarming commentary on other sites. I haven’t watched the pre season games. Saw glimpses but it was hard to watch everyone miss every shot.

How has Gordon looked? Some comments say “he doesn’t look like a Max player” “lost explosiveness” and other people attributing it to preseason rather than injury or rust


Hayward interview:
“"Physically, I feel pretty good," Hayward said. "But I don't feel comfortable on the floor yet. It's one thing to be physically able to do everything. It's another to be a basketball player -- the timing and the rhythms. When you've been playing a long time, you just know. But not after you take a huge break, and come back to a new system. The second surgery was such a setback. I was really looking forward to playing 5-on-5 the whole summer. What I'm going through now is what I wanted to do in the summer, but it didn't work out that way."”

[Chris22]

Too early to tell, but I was not a fan of giving him a big contract.

[liam]

He looks rusty but he showed signs that he's on his way back. It's been a year off and he just looks a little off.

[KungPoweChicken]

He looks terrible.

[gouki88]

Rusty, as expected, but has been getting his legs underneath him slowly. Not sure what people expected after a year off.

However, overreactions and knee-jerk posts / threads here and elsewhere are pretty normal.

[KungPoweChicken]

Rusty, as expected, but has been getting his legs underneath him slowly. Not sure what people expected after a year off.

However, overreactions and knee-jerk posts / threads here and elsewhere are pretty normal.

As I recall, many posters were predicting him to be a top 20 player in the league, an all-star, the team's second best player, and season averages which matched his career highs.

[GreenEnvy]

Looks rusty, but could also be the preseason grind that mostly everyone on the team has.

I think he’s getting more comfortable and getting his conditioning back, so may take more than a few preseason games.

Mentally, he looks where he should be. I still think he needs to roll/sprain his ankle to know he’s back to normal.

He’s short on most of his jumpers, which means he’s fatigued from not being in game shape.

He will be fine.

[gouki88]

Rusty, as expected, but has been getting his legs underneath him slowly. Not sure what people expected after a year off.

However, overreactions and knee-jerk posts / threads here and elsewhere are pretty normal.

As I recall, many posters were predicting him to be a top 20 player in the league, an all-star, the team's second best player, and season averages which matched his career highs.

Not sure how expecting a player to return to form they've established over multiple seasons in the NBA can't coexist with a guy being rusty after taking ~350 days off.

[86MaxwellSmart]

Nobody has looked great yet...I think Stevens is force feeding minutes to GH, to get him in shape.

He'll get more comfortable, the chemistry might take a few weeks though.

[Greyman]

Agree he is still refinding his feet and that muscle memory. After the first preseason game he said he hadn't regained his full lift yet when jumping. So none of this is a worry for me, he should be what we expect pretty soon. I wonder if CBS is having thoughts about not starting him when the season starts if he isn't 100% his old self. 

[Surferdad]

Agree he is still refinding his feet and that muscle memory. After the first preseason game he said he hadn't regained his full lift yet when jumping. So none of this is a worry for me, he should be what we expect pretty soon. I wonder if CBS is having thoughts about not starting him when the season starts if he isn't 100% his old self.

I had the same thought last night.  At some point CBS has to weigh the benefit of giving him minutes vs what is best for team success.

I've watched all 3 games so far, and frankly Hayward looks terrible.  At this rate, it would not surprise me if it's January or even the all-star break before he rounds into form.

In addition to recovering from the injury, he also has to get used to a different system and competing for minutes.  Jaylen Brown recently said that himself, Tatum and Hayward "all bring similar things".  To me, that is a thinly veiled way of saying there will be a competition for minutes.

[Celtics4ever]

He looks like his confidence is not there yet.   You can tell he is not 100% as he looks frustrated when his body does not obey him like in the past.   But he is coming off a big injury and this is to be expected.

He looked bad last preseason, too, I thought.   Maybe he is slow starter?

With all the videos of him shooting, I expected him to be more locked in, but I was wrong.

[smokeablount]

He looks like his confidence is not there yet.   You can tell he is not 100% as he looks frustrated when his body does not obey him like in the past.   But he is coming off a big injury and this is to be expected.

He looked bad last preseason, too, I thought.   Maybe he is slow starter?

With all the videos of him shooting, I expected him to be more locked in, but I was wrong.

Yup.  I've watched the road game at UNC and been at both home games, thoughts are:

-He's frustrated, especially about fouling, or that's when it comes out most.

-He has fouled a whole lot and shot very poorly, only 1 made 3 I believe.

-Most of his scoring has come at the FT line, with the caveat that he's shooting our team FTs.

-He is tentative to shoot, pump fakes when he's open, etc.

-He's had flashes on defense (chase down block on Lamb, for example).

-He may have the best pure facilitating ability on our team, certainly top 2.  He is a step ahead and has directed KI on what pass to make on multiple occasions.

I think he needs at least a month or two, then a reassessment, and possibly another 1-2 months.

[SHAQATTACK]

His start was slow last year , but he seemed timid , to find his way on a team with alot of talent ,  finding his nitch and learning his teamates.  He had very little court time with them , a few practices , preseason, and a few mi utes of a game.  He is basically starting over , last year did not do much for his on court team improvement.   Last 12 months its been all about him.  He has a long way to go and nneds all the court time he can get with the team .  Learning individual teamate tendencies, and fast reads will take lots of court time.

25 -30 games he might begin to,approach the level we expect.  relax and wait. His first 15 games or so maybe brutal.  He ll fide the bench alot till he gets his mojo back.  He may only be the 5-6 best player for a long time.  Not worried , DA is never afraid to make moves if he sees the bottom falling out on a player.

[jambr380]

Hoping for the best. Maybe he will be the wing version of Horford? Tatum and Brown are clearly the talent on the team (along with obviously Kyrie) so I am hoping Hayward will defer to them like Horford has.

I have confidence that he will improve...he has to...but I am not sure where his place is on this team if he expects to be one of the two primary scoring options. He could certainly be amazing off the bench, but he is clearly the 5th best starter so far.