Stephen A Smith Claims The Celtics Give Gordon Hayward Preferential Treatment Because He’s White

Stephen A Smith says a lot of stupid shit. The words that come out of his mouth makes everyone that listens to them dumber. The other day I tried to help him out. Anytime he says a career-threatening quote, use the lack of sleep excuse and sue ESPN. It’s brilliant. Well, Stephen A may have to lean on that move after this quote. ESPN’s resident idiot claimed that the Celtics give Gordon Hayward preferential treatment because he’s white.

Stephen A. Smith of ESPN:

And then there’s the element of Boston, Massachusetts. They don’t just want a star. Of course, they’ll take any star that they can get, because their priority is winning. But everybody and their mother knows that particularly when it comes to Boston, if we can have a white superstar, that would be even better. And they view Gordon Hayward as having that kind of potential.

So, all of those things considered, the players recognize this, were aware of this. And ultimately those who were compromised by having to be on a court with Gordon Hayward were sensitive to it.

Not because they don’t like him. Not because he’s not a good guy, because he is a good guy. It’s just that they know he hasn’t fully recovered 100 percent from his injury. So, he’s not the same as he used to be. They know he’s going to be a step slower. They know he’s going to be compromised. I have spoken to people in the league who literally have said, “Look man, no disrespect to Gordon Hayward, nice guy, but he’s really, really compromised right now. He’s not the same guy that he was.” And they said, “We actually kind of feel sorry for him, because he is a nice guy, and we know he’s trying to come back from injury.”

A: I truly hate that I have to go here but it’s the truth. I really don’t want to either. But… If Stephen A Smith was white and he said these quotes about a black player, he would be fired immediately. It would be like saying the Dolphins were forced to hired Brian Flores because he’s black. This would be how the Stephen A Smith example quote would come out “Look man, Brian Flores. Nice guy. It’s inexplicable that he got the Dolphins job. Belichick assistants never work. He only got the job because he’s black” Could you imagine if a white guy said that about Flores? Again, I want to make it clear that is not my opinion. It’s just an example.

B: There isn’t a Celtics fan on the planet that wouldn’t celebrate if Hayward were traded tomorrow for Kevin Durant. Name any wing that’s better and that would be the case. The same thing if the Celtics got Paul George for him. Being white has nothing to do with the minutes he gets. He gets a lot of minutes because he makes $30 million per year. He also was a max player for a reason. The Heat and Jazz were also contenders to land him in free agency. Prior to the leg injury, Hayward was a max player. It also helps that his coach was his collegiate coach at Butler. Brad Stevens wants Gordon Hayward to succeed. No question. The Brad Stevens connection was certainly used as a recruiting pitch too. No doubt. But to say that Hayward gets better treatment from the team because he’s white is crazy. Hayward isn’t anywhere close to being the biggest superstar on the team. Kyrie Irving is that guy by a country mile. Not really arguable. If anyone is close, it’s Jayson Tatum in terms of marketing. Both of those guys are top 10 in jersey sales.

C: As my esteemed colleague, Jacob McCormick recently said on my podcast, this isn’t a Chandler Parsons situation. Hayward is good. It’s just taking him some time to recover from the gruesome leg injury. Expecting Hayward to be a productive player before game 50 was an idiotic thought process to begin with. If you do your homework, you would see that Hayward is improving as the season goes along.

• December: .370 shooting percentage — .340 3-point percentage
• January: .465 shooting percentage — ..319 3-point percentage
• February: .513 shooting percentage — .444 3-point percentage
• March: .628 shooting percentage — .357 3-point percentage

Again, you can bang on Gordon Hayward all you want but the truth is he is improving drastically as the season goes along. Of course, anyone with a brain could figure out that is totally understandable combing from a player who broke his leg in half. Anyone who watches Paul George can see the same thing and it’s safe to say that he’s made it all the way back. Anyone who is converting over .500 percent of their shots since February is a good player in my book.

D: Early on, the Celtics young players had every right to complain about the fact that they were losing minutes to Hayward. No Doubt. He’s still not all the way back. He is still a step slow. Those first 20-30 games where rough. However, Hayward is coming off the bench. He’s not even starting at this point. The truth of the matter is the Celtics need Hayward to be productive in order to win a championship. That’s a fact. Not arguable. Again, the stats prove that’s the case. The Celtics are 16-1 in games that Hayward scores at least 15 points in a game. They are 20-20 in games when he does not. That data is not debatable. I’m guessing asshole Stephen A didn’t have that data when he ran his mouth like the douche that he is.

Click that link below. Another example where if Stephen A Smith where white and said this about Dwayne Haskins, he would be exiled, fired, and never allowed to report on sports again.

F: I’m not saying Boston doesn’t have some racist fans. No question about it but so does every city. What I do know is that Boston wins a lot. Just a fact. The Celtics have the most championships in the history of the NBA. So do the Patriots in the NFL. The Red Sox have the most since the year 2000.

This is why ESPN continues to become a laughing stock by sports fans everywhere. When you think ESPN, you think Stephen A. That means you also think idiot. This is the type of content you get when you invest your entire company in a man that doesn’t have a brain.