Gordon Hayward Retires

[mobilija]

I remember being so excited when he joined us in 2017? Had such high hopes for him, the feeling that we had a special team? then that feeling of devastation when he broke his ankle? I don?t like thinking about it even today. It?s a shame, but when I think of Gordon, I think of unfulfilled potential.

The team looked great going in .  In almost an instant, when Gordon was hurt the whole thing turned upside down . The excitement on the blog went to pot. I think it was the start of Irving giving up on Boston. He never had the same enthusiasm I thought after Gordon?s injury.  Agree , it was time I don?t like to revisit . Like when KG s knee got hurt .  Basketball gods were not happy with Celtics.

I remember we went on that magical 16-game winning streak, and also willed our way to the ECF Game 7 without Irving and Hayward.

If only the C's maintained their composure and lead they would've finally beaten LeBron to make him leave Cleveland a second time. And then go on to get eviscerated in the process by the Warriors.

And with that experience, they would have beaten the warriors in 2022!

[tenn_smoothie]

I wonder if Hayward, in hindsight, wishes he would have stayed in Utah where he had a great career going. After he left, the problems and injuries started. Given, the broken leg was a freak accident, but he was never quite the same player. There are studies that conclude that athletes are more susceptible to injuries when they go thru stressful changes in their life or have any loss of social support. Uprooting your life and making significant changes outside of basketball qualifies, even if those changes are positive.

[Valid]

Now I ever wonder what I was all excited about when he came to Boston. 

Him and Irving seem like a bad dream??i? d soon forget.

Uh, the man broke his leg in half in the first game of his Celtics career.

Are we going to sit here and act like that wasn't the reason things didn't go as planned?

[Big333223]

I hate to say it but when I think of Gordon Hayward, the first thing I'll always think about is him being overrated.

He was a pretty good player but I feel like I've listened to a decade of talking heads trying to convince me of how great he is when, in reality, he was never better than a fringe all star. We can talk about the injuries but he's a player whose pinnacle was a 22-5-3 season for a team that got swept in the 2nd round. Even healthy, I don't think his ceiling was ever higher than #3 on a contender.

A good player but never a great one.

[Celtics2021]

I hate to say it but when I think of Gordon Hayward, the first thing I'll always think about is him being overrated.

He was a pretty good player but I feel like I've listened to a decade of talking heads trying to convince me of how great he is when, in reality, he was never better than a fringe all star. We can talk about the injuries but he's a player whose pinnacle was a 22-5-3 season for a team that got swept in the 2nd round. Even healthy, I don't think his ceiling was ever higher than #3 on a contender.

A good player but never a great one.

Right, but he was coming off that All-Star season, fringe or otherwise, at age 27 when he subsequently suffered a career-altering injury.  We will never truly know what could have happened to him.  In his first 7 seasons, he never played fewer than 72 games, excepting the lock-out season where he played in all 66 games.  In his final seven seasons, he only got to 72 games once.  Superstar, no, he was never that.  Star, he could have been.

[dannyboy35]

I hate to say it but when I think of Gordon Hayward, the first thing I'll always think about is him being overrated.

He was a pretty good player but I feel like I've listened to a decade of talking heads trying to convince me of how great he is when, in reality, he was never better than a fringe all star. We can talk about the injuries but he's a player whose pinnacle was a 22-5-3 season for a team that got swept in the 2nd round. Even healthy, I don't think his ceiling was ever higher than #3 on a contender.

A good player but never a great one.

   I think he would have been a better player than Paul George but f he hadn?t had that injury ( IMO)He had every skill and athletic as hell . His highlight reel from Utah is a fun one.

[Big333223]

I hate to say it but when I think of Gordon Hayward, the first thing I'll always think about is him being overrated.

He was a pretty good player but I feel like I've listened to a decade of talking heads trying to convince me of how great he is when, in reality, he was never better than a fringe all star. We can talk about the injuries but he's a player whose pinnacle was a 22-5-3 season for a team that got swept in the 2nd round. Even healthy, I don't think his ceiling was ever higher than #3 on a contender.

A good player but never a great one.

   I think he would have been a better player than Paul George but f he hadn?t had that injury ( IMO)He had every skill and athletic as hell . His highlight reel from Utah is a fun one.

This is exactly what I mean when I say overrated. Hayward was in the perfect situation in Utah, with everything designed around him but he still never showed any potential of being anywhere near as good as Paul George was, even Paul George at the same age.

[Kernewek]

I hate to say it but when I think of Gordon Hayward, the first thing I'll always think about is him being overrated.

He was a pretty good player but I feel like I've listened to a decade of talking heads trying to convince me of how great he is when, in reality, he was never better than a fringe all star. We can talk about the injuries but he's a player whose pinnacle was a 22-5-3 season for a team that got swept in the 2nd round. Even healthy, I don't think his ceiling was ever higher than #3 on a contender.

A good player but never a great one.

   I think he would have been a better player than Paul George but f he hadn?t had that injury ( IMO)He had every skill and athletic as hell . His highlight reel from Utah is a fun one.

This is exactly what I mean when I say overrated. Hayward was in the perfect situation in Utah, with everything designed around him but he still never showed any potential of being anywhere near as good as Paul George was, even Paul George at the same age.

I think you might be underrating Hayward and overrating George a little bit, but I'd agree that they were both of a similar calibre at their respective peaks.

[Big333223]

I hate to say it but when I think of Gordon Hayward, the first thing I'll always think about is him being overrated.

He was a pretty good player but I feel like I've listened to a decade of talking heads trying to convince me of how great he is when, in reality, he was never better than a fringe all star. We can talk about the injuries but he's a player whose pinnacle was a 22-5-3 season for a team that got swept in the 2nd round. Even healthy, I don't think his ceiling was ever higher than #3 on a contender.

A good player but never a great one.

   I think he would have been a better player than Paul George but f he hadn?t had that injury ( IMO)He had every skill and athletic as hell . His highlight reel from Utah is a fun one.

This is exactly what I mean when I say overrated. Hayward was in the perfect situation in Utah, with everything designed around him but he still never showed any potential of being anywhere near as good as Paul George was, even Paul George at the same age.

I think you might be underrating Hayward and overrating George a little bit, but I'd agree that they were both of a similar calibre at their respective peaks.

At their peaks? They weren't close at all.

Hayward's peak was his last year in Utah when he averaged 21.9/5.4/3.5 and he was an all star. Paul George's peak was his last year in OKC when he averaged 28.0/8.2/4.1, finished top 3 in MVP voting, and was all NBA and all defense 1st team (he also led the league in steals).

If you want a more fair comparison, we can compare Hayward's last year in Utah to George's last year in Indy when they were the same age. George averaged 23.7/6.6/3.3 and made his 4th all star team while playing much better defense.

[Who]

I don't think Hayward and PG13 were on same tier or had similar expectations.

PG13 was a top 10 player in the league at his peak and there were those who wondered if he could take the next step and become a top 5 player & MVP candidate. He was not able to do that.

Hayward was an All-Star top 25 player in the league at his peak. There was no real expectation of becoming a top 10 player. Somewhere in the high teens (16-19) was probably the highest expectation.

[Kernewek]

I hate to say it but when I think of Gordon Hayward, the first thing I'll always think about is him being overrated.

He was a pretty good player but I feel like I've listened to a decade of talking heads trying to convince me of how great he is when, in reality, he was never better than a fringe all star. We can talk about the injuries but he's a player whose pinnacle was a 22-5-3 season for a team that got swept in the 2nd round. Even healthy, I don't think his ceiling was ever higher than #3 on a contender.

A good player but never a great one.

   I think he would have been a better player than Paul George but f he hadn?t had that injury ( IMO)He had every skill and athletic as hell . His highlight reel from Utah is a fun one.

This is exactly what I mean when I say overrated. Hayward was in the perfect situation in Utah, with everything designed around him but he still never showed any potential of being anywhere near as good as Paul George was, even Paul George at the same age.

I think you might be underrating Hayward and overrating George a little bit, but I'd agree that they were both of a similar calibre at their respective peaks.

At their peaks? They weren't close at all.

Hayward's peak was his last year in Utah when he averaged 21.9/5.4/3.5 and he was an all star. Paul George's peak was his last year in OKC when he averaged 28.0/8.2/4.1, finished top 3 in MVP voting, and was all NBA and all defense 1st team (he also led the league in steals).

If you want a more fair comparison, we can compare Hayward's last year in Utah to George's last year in Indy when they were the same age. George averaged 23.7/6.6/3.3 and made his 4th all star team while playing much better defense.

You might be right, and I was definitely thinking of PG in Indiana when I made that post - I think I tend to downplay that OKC year because they got handled by Portland in the playoffs, but looking back George was clearly a cut above Hayward.