It has been almost a week since Gordon Hayward made the decision to sign with the Boston Celtics, a choice that made real waves around the NBA world. On the Boston side, the Celtics are now more of a threat to the Cleveland Cavaliers based on his sheer talent and the Eastern Conference is stronger with Hayward in the mix. For Utah, though, it has been a lot of reassessment and hurt with regard to the way things went down.
Jazz center Rudy Gobert got caught up in the reaction previously when he posted a video that many people jumped to believe was linked to Hayward’s exit from Utah. Now, though, Gobert has commented on the situation on the record in speaking with Tim MacMahon of ESPN during one of Utah’s Summer League games in Las Vegas.
“You cannot be mad at somebody for wanting to play for another team. It’s just the way he handled it, that’s the thing I didn’t like. I’m happy for him at the same time. I hope he’s going to be happy over there and get what he’s looking for.”
“To all his teammates, all the guys that he competed with for years, guys that sacrificed for him and for the team, not necessarily tell us but make sure as a team we can keep going forward if he leaves. I think that wasn’t the best way to do it, but I’m over it now. I’m just focused on the team.”
This is not the first time a free agent has departed under similar circumstances and it seems to regularly come back to way that the player did (or, in this case, did not) inform his now-former teammates. The report indicates that Hayward did not speak to his Utah teammates before announcing the decision that he was headed to Boston and, in Gobert’s mind, that was not an ideal way to handle the transition. Plus when you consider that news of Hayward’s departure came out a few hours before he announced his decision, Gobert and the Jazz almost certainly disliked hanging in limbo.
In some ways, Rudy Gobert is handling it reasonably by indicating that he “cannot be mad” at Hayward for simply making the choice. Process does matter, though, at least when it comes to the way that former teammates, staff and fans come to grips with the reality that change has occurred.
(Via ESPN)
