The Boston Celtics ended nearly a decade-and-a-half-long championship drought last season, defeating the Mavs (4-1) in the NBA Finals. Gordon Hayward talked about his time with the Celtics on The Ryen Russillo Podcast and revealed how their head coach Brad Stevens could not control the cluster of players the team had and how it led to their ultimate failure.
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“The narrative and the storyline just didn’t even make sense. And it was also, the whole thing was set to fail. It was just a lot. And Brad didn’t know what to do as a coach. I basically joined the Celtics in large part because of Brad.”
The former All-Star further stated, “But then he’s got all these—Try navigating all these different storylines as a coach, like what’re you supposed to do? You’re trying to figure out what’s best for the team… It was definitely the hardest year of my career.”
Gordon’s time with Boston had a terrible start as he suffered a major leg injury on opening night. But despite his injury, Hayward made his way back to the roster a year later, only to find out the cluster of players who demanded the ball.
The team had Kyrie Irving and Terry Rozier, who were both ball-dominant players. Then the Celtics were also investing in the development of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown as the team’s potential future.
According to Hayward, Brad not only had a lot of storylines to figure out for players but ultimately had no idea how to go ahead with their talent.
What Irving felt about his time in Boston
While Hayward described his time with the Celtics as some of the hardest years of his career, Kyrie Irving’s brief stint in Boston wasn’t all too different. Granted Irving’s free agency decisions and injury played a role in his perception in Boston. But the All-Star guard felt he could’ve been extended some courtesy by the franchise, as per ESPN.
“A little bit more grace could have been extended my way, especially what I was dealing with during that time as a human being. I know sometimes in sports, it’s literally about the end goal and result and what you accomplish, and that’s one thing… But we’re still human at the end of the day. I wasn’t my best self during that time.”
Even though those seasons were somewhat disastrous for Boston, the team did get two perennial stars in the Jay’s. And it all paid off this past season after the Celtics won a title, returning to their glory days.
