Danny Ainge Declares Gordon Hayward As ‘Back’

Which Gordon Hayward are we getting this year? The All-Star in Utah or the guy who looked like a shell of himself coming off the leg injury? The hope for the Celtics is that he can regain his All-Star form after more time recovering from his gruesome injury. Early reports in Celtics camp is that Hayward looks fantastic. He looks so good that general manager Danny Ainge has officially declared him back.

“He’s back to being Gordon,” said Ainge via Celtics.com.

“Gordon is just a good basketball player,” Ainge commented. “He can think. He can pass. He can shoot. He can create. He can defend. He can rebound. He’s a complete player, and we need him to just be that.”

Ainge is right about one thing. The Celtics need Hayward on his A game. If an A game still exists. Hayward is on a max contract that runs for at least 2 more years. It would appear that the hype train is real internally. Enes Kanter thinks he looks unreal. Robert Williams also thinks Hayward looks much better this year.

I think I’m buying the stock right now. It took Paul George a long time to get back to his form too. I think it’s very likely that Hayward can be an All-Star again. Even in a down year, Hayward still shot 46 percent from the floor. Not a terrible number by any stretch.

I still don’t know what to make of this Celtics team. One thing I feel good about is Kemba Walker meshing with the rest of the squad. I think Kemba is the type of guy that can get Gordon confident and feed him the rock when he needs to. My optimis for this team is growing and that’s a scary thought.