Gordon Hayward often downplays his relationship with Boston Celtics Head Coach Brad Stevens as an important factor in his decision to leave Utah for Boston this summer. Stevens, of course, coached Hayward for two years at Butler University before Hayward turned pro, and while many speculated from the moment the Celtics hired Stevens that Boston would be a free agent destination when Hayward became an unrestricted free agent, Hayward made it a point to tell Adrian Wojnarowski back in July that this was never really the case.
“There was always rumors about going to Boston, and those, to me, were always just rumors. I didn’t really ever think about it, because I wasn’t a free agent, wasn’t really concerned with the Boston thing,” Hayward continued, “but everybody else was saying, ‘Oh, he’s going to go to Boston because of Brad.’ And we had a great relationship, but it wasn’t like we were constantly texting each other or calling each other. He’s the head coach of the Boston Celtics. He’s got things to worry about.”
Despite Hayward claiming he hasn’t really been all that close to Brad Stevens since the Celtics hired him, Kyrie Irving is already envious of their relationship, and we’re only one week into training camp.
Kyrie yearns to build player/coach relationship like Gordon/Brad. "They have an unspoken language already between one another." pic.twitter.com/YJ6rzlcASi
— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) September 29, 2017
When you watch, and you observe, and then you have a few days to be on the court with him, you understand how high his basketball IQ is, and the understanding that him and Brad have, they have an unspoken language already between one another.
Having that head coach and player relationship is my duty and part of my job to integrate myself into that as well with not only Brad but the rest of my teammates, but more importantly Al, and Gordon to really set the standard of how we want to play this year, because we are going to lean on each other a lot. It starts with us, and then we get to the other guys and we develop that chemistry going forward.
The Celtics have a daunting task in front of them. Their roster is loaded with NBA talent, yes, but most of the players projected to play heavy minutes for Boston this season haven’t played a minute of NBA basketball together. They’re competing with teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors, two organizations that have had both recent success and roster continuity.
The Celtics have done this before, though. We’re talking about a franchise that brought in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in 2007, and won the NBA Championship in their first season together. It can be done, and Kyrie’s message here is encouraging. It sounds like they’re on the right track, but this is training camp we’re talking about here. Every message from every team is positive.
If Brad Stevens and Gordon Hayward haven’t skipped a beat, that’s certainly good news for the Boston Celtics. If Kyrie Irving can cultivate that type of relationship with both Stevens and Hayward, the Celtics may be able to knock off the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference after all.
