Hayward Out 4 Weeks (Per Shams)

[Phantom255x]

Ugh. Poor Hayward. Wishing him a speedy recovery.

I'm still confident we can taken down the Sixers in this series. But after that, it gets really tough. I actually thought Hayward would be a legit X-Factor in a Raptors series. 

[jpotter33]

I'll feel more confident if the Celtics can blowout the 76ers in Game 2 and cause their whole team to disfunction.

Otherwise, I don't feel confident as before on the C's winning the series.

As for the Raptors, if we make it there, we are getting swept.

Dude, you are way too pessimistic lol You do realize that we beat them 3-1 in the season series and just whooped them handily last week, right? We’re not getting swept. I think Hayward put us over the top of Toronto, and without him it’s a fairly balanced matchup between our skill level and athleticism/speed and their depth/size.

[PhoSita]

I mean being blunt like this especially when the news is barely out feels disrespectful.

Disrespectful to whom?  Gordon doesn't read this forum.  I doubt anybody who knows him reads this forum.


This place is for fans of the team to share thoughts and feelings about what's happening with the team.


It would be different if this were an injury like he had a couple years ago, where his recovery, his career, and his well-being were in question.

It's a bad ankle sprain.  He'll be fine, eventually.  His livelihood is not going to be affected by this. 


I don't think it's disrespectful or unreasonable to express disappointment that an oft-injured guy is once again unavailable when it matters.  Especially when this is year 3 of waiting for him to finally have a moment.  As I said earlier, it seems like it's just not meant to be.

[jambr380]

Sometimes it's just not meant to be.

Feels like that's how it is with Gordon and the Celts.

I bet he has a nice post-season run with some team at some point, but it feels like it won't be the Celts.

Harsh, but hard to argue against this. Who would have thought at the time that Blake Griffin would have actually been the better signing?

The concept of Hayward is a great one. Had he never gotten injured, we very likely would have made the Finals in '18, the team wouldn't have imploded in '19, we might have a happy Kyrie and AD on this team right now, and who knows how many Titles we would have or be looking forward to.

Don't get me wrong, Danny has been a magician in turning this thing around. Kemba is a breath of fresh air, the Jays are thriving, we avoided the massive Al overpay, and our future is bright; but, man, what could have been?

I wish nothing more than the best for Gordon moving forward. I would be perfectly happy signing him to a reasonable extension, but even that extension will be an overpay. Who would Cs fans rather have moving forward - Smart or Hayward? Tough question, right? But even in the best scenario, Gordon will be making twice what Smart is now (and likely almost 3x if he picks up his option).

[PhoSita]

I wish nothing more than the best for Gordon moving forward. I would be perfectly happy signing him to a reasonable extension, but even that extension will be an overpay. Who would Cs fans rather have moving forward - Smart or Hayward? Tough question, right? But even in the best scenario, Gordon will be making twice what Smart is now (and likely almost 3x if he picks up his option).

I think a good deal for Hayward would be $15-20 million per year.  I am certain he'll want much more than that.

When healthy he has shown he still has borderline All-Star level talent. 

But given how redundant his skillset is with the Jays and how often he isn't healthy and available, I would rather the team try to allocate resources elsewhere.

[Somebody]

I wish nothing more than the best for Gordon moving forward. I would be perfectly happy signing him to a reasonable extension, but even that extension will be an overpay. Who would Cs fans rather have moving forward - Smart or Hayward? Tough question, right? But even in the best scenario, Gordon will be making twice what Smart is now (and likely almost 3x if he picks up his option).

I think a good deal for Hayward would be $15-20 million per year.  I am certain he'll want much more than that.

When healthy he has shown he still has borderline All-Star level talent. 

But given how redundant his skillset is with the Jays and how often he isn't healthy and available, I would rather the team try to allocate resources elsewhere.

I actually think that his offensive skillset is something we don't have a like-for-like replacement for: a big wing who can playmake and score efficiently with the ability to mesh alongside on-ball talent. I do feel that he's not quite worth a maximum contract with his health issues though.

[Kuberski33]

I wish nothing more than the best for Gordon moving forward. I would be perfectly happy signing him to a reasonable extension, but even that extension will be an overpay. Who would Cs fans rather have moving forward - Smart or Hayward? Tough question, right? But even in the best scenario, Gordon will be making twice what Smart is now (and likely almost 3x if he picks up his option).

I think a good deal for Hayward would be $15-20 million per year.  I am certain he'll want much more than that.

When healthy he has shown he still has borderline All-Star level talent. 

But given how redundant his skillset is with the Jays and how often he isn't healthy and available, I would rather the team try to allocate resources elsewhere.

I don't think his skill set is redundant at all. He's game compliments what they have and he's probably their best passer - but it works if Tatum and Jaylen both become stars, which is likely.

Without him, we're going to see a lot of 1 on 1 basketball and the team will become a lot easier to defend.

My guess is either he takes the option or the Celtics go to him with something like a 4 year proposal - 20 mill+ range per yr. It may depend on whether he and his wife want to raise their kids in the Boston area. 

[blink]

You guys realize that the Celtics aren't eliminated. This just means Brown and Tatum will have to step up, you all are acting as though that they already lost.

I have to agree with this 100%.  So we lose our 4th best player and suddenly our team has no chance?  Cmon C's fans pull it together.  We have three 20 point per game scorers still, and two young guys that are HUNGRY to be the best.  I like Hayward, but we can still win without him.  Yes someone is going to have to step up and start making some shots, probably Marcus Smart.  Grant Williams, Robert Williams and someone else is going to have to give us good minutes.  It isn't impossible.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Ridiculous. I like Gordon and his game, and the team will feel his absence big-time, IMO, especially if they get past Philly, but the injury thing with him has reached the point of absurdity. You can say it's just "a run of bad luck," but the fact remains that he missed a TON of time during his Celtics tenure, and that's a bad thing.

Not that it matters much this season, as the Cs have very little chance of even making the conference finals, IMO, and zero hope of an NBA title, but this is nonetheless another Hayward injury, another extended absence, another recovery/reacclimation period whenever he does come back ... SMH. This team and injuries ... freakin' ridiculous.

[jambr380]

I wish nothing more than the best for Gordon moving forward. I would be perfectly happy signing him to a reasonable extension, but even that extension will be an overpay. Who would Cs fans rather have moving forward - Smart or Hayward? Tough question, right? But even in the best scenario, Gordon will be making twice what Smart is now (and likely almost 3x if he picks up his option).

I think a good deal for Hayward would be $15-20 million per year.  I am certain he'll want much more than that.

When healthy he has shown he still has borderline All-Star level talent. 

But given how redundant his skillset is with the Jays and how often he isn't healthy and available, I would rather the team try to allocate resources elsewhere.

Not much choice for management moving forward, though. I think the Cs would gladly sign him to an $80M/4yr deal. That essentially makes it a $46M/3yr extension. If he picks up his option, then we will very likely be in the tax in 2021.

More likely, Hayward will ask for a ~$100M/4yr deal, but maybe we'll be able to get him to agree to $90M. That essentially locks him up for $18.6M a year beyond 2021 and effectively keeps us out of the tax next season (allowing us to completely restart the clock on the luxury tax). Given Hayward's injury history, it might make sense for him to sign a long term contract now rather than take a chance on himself next season and risk this turning into an IT or Cousins situation.

[Rondo9]

I mean being blunt like this especially when the news is barely out feels disrespectful.

Disrespectful to whom?  Gordon doesn't read this forum.  I doubt anybody who knows him reads this forum.


This place is for fans of the team to share thoughts and feelings about what's happening with the team.


It would be different if this were an injury like he had a couple years ago, where his recovery, his career, and his well-being were in question.

It's a bad ankle sprain.  He'll be fine, eventually.  His livelihood is not going to be affected by this. 


I don't think it's disrespectful or unreasonable to express disappointment that an oft-injured guy is once again unavailable when it matters.  Especially when this is year 3 of waiting for him to finally have a moment.  As I said earlier, it seems like it's just not meant to be.

To be honest calling it one of the worst signings when there’s clearly worse signings the Celtics has in the past does sound disrespectful. Hayward may not read this forum but he is a human being who went through a myriad of unfortunate freak injuries. It’s sad but the Celtics can step it up when it matters. Last I checked the Celtics are 1-0 why are people acting like they’re going to get swept?

[SHAQATTACK]

It'll be hard enough to beat Philly without Hayward, given how thin the Celts are.

Beating Toronto seems like a herculean task.

yep we are cooked for this year ...shot our load now ..we hvae no Bron type mega star to carry the team on their back drag us to the finals . 

At least we won ONE game in the playoffs . 

Danny might take the same attitude with him as Al ....he will have a limit to spending on somebody that old and injury prone.

[mobilija]

Hayward will miss four weeks per Shams.

He's done.

No fault of his own, but has to be one of the worst signings in Celtics history.

Classy.

What does it have to do with class?  We can't acknowledge that a guy has fallen far short of what we all hoped he'd do here when we signed him?

It's not his fault, but I don't think there's any question that Hayward has been a huge disappointment, especially when you factor in the contract.


Most of the worst signings in the history of sports are due to injuries and other factors outside the players' control.

No the worst signing in Celtics history remains Mark Blount's contract extension. 

Vin Baker says hello?

[scaryjerry]

Definetly sucks, loved the way he was playing but think we go as far as we would have with him as we do without him, all depends on tatum, brown and kemba.
Also mad respect for the raptors but pretty sure they're overrated at this point, as if losing gordon Hayward leaves us no chance against them? Chances are roughly the same.

[NKY fan]

Sometimes it's just not meant to be.

Feels like that's how it is with Gordon and the Celts.

I bet he has a nice post-season run with some team at some point, but it feels like it won't be the Celts.

I mean, there's always next season.  I really have a hard time envisioning a realistic scenario where he is playing somewhere else next season.

Yes I expect him to be here next season. 

I think it's clear we can't depend on him to be available when the games matter, though.


Hopefully Danny can find a way to shore up the roster between this season and next so that the team can absorb a loss like this more easily.

I'm not surprised to see Hayward go out with an injury, at this point.  It's just tough to swallow when you consider that the team was already painfully shallow.

I hope you like shoring up the roster with that 14th pick lol

Yeah honestly I don't know how Danny will do it.  The team has no cap space coming and they've got another fist-full of mediocre draft picks.

I wonder if Tatum , brown and Kemba will start questioning Danny’s commitment to winning if he keeps bringing 4-5 rookies every year. At some point ainge will have to re-evaluate his strategies And decide whether he is helping or hurting the team with all these draft picks ... his reluctance to trade those “useless” picks for veteran help has cost us at least 4-5 playoff games going back to right around the perk trade.