Why Gordon Hayward's preseason was better than it looked

Gordon Hayward’s preseason, on paper, wasn’t anything to write home about, and that was expected for a player who hasn’t played on an NBA court in nearly 12 months.

The 28-year-old suited up for three matchups over the past couple of weeks before sitting out the exhibition finale last Saturday night with a sore back. That ailment isn’t expected to prevent him from being ready for the regular-season opener next week against the Sixers.

Anyone who missed these preseason games (you didn't miss much) and just looked at the numbers would understandably be a bit concerned Hayward is a ways away from being close to his previous All-Star form. He shot 25 percent from the field and 10 percent from 3-point range (1-of-10) in his exhibition season, averaging just 7.7 points in 19.7 minutes per game. His struggles offensively lined up with the rest of his teammates on the perimeter from a shooting standpoint (C's shoot 24 percent from 3 as a team), as the new starting group appeared to have very limited chemistry (for now) when they were on the floor together.

Defensively with Hayward, things didn’t look great either at first glimpse. Speedy guards on the perimeter blew by him on multiple occasions and he nearly fouled out in the first half of one matchup against the Hornets, piling up five fouls in just 12 minutes. With the C’s team defense struggling mightily during the past few weeks, a lot of observers pointed to Hayward’s presence on the floor as the biggest change from an otherwise intact unit that was the No. 1 team in defensive rating last year. Would Hayward’s defense as he rounds back into form over the next month or two, be a potential liability for this group?

That question is fair, but it’s important to go beyond the numbers and raw data, especially when you are dealing with the preseason. For that reason, I went back and zeroed in on Hayward's play on video for all of his 58 minutes during the exhibition season to get a better sense of where he was at. Sure, the shots didn’t go down (anyone can see that), but how did the rest of his game look? Was he doing his job on defense? How’s his role in the flow of the offense? Passing? Using video and various conversations with Celtics personnel, a very encouraging conclusion was reached: Hayward’s preseason wasn’t nearly as bad as it looked on paper.

Here's a closer look why:

Positive signs beneath the surface

Pick-and-roll chemistry: The Celtics new starting five is full of offensive talent and shot creators, but it’s a little bit short on elite passers. Al Horford may be the best one of the bunch. Kyrie Irving has his moments in the pick-and-roll but has always been more of a shoot-first player. Jayson Tatum’s scoring remains ahead of his passing and the same goes for Jaylen Brown, who still has issues with his handle at times.

Hayward, however, is fully capable of punishing a team as a dual-threat time and time again with this simple play call and we already saw plenty of signs of that this preseason. Watch how well he executes in the pick-and-roll here with Aron Baynes to create easy looks for the big man and himself







Irving and Baynes combined for similar chemistry at various points of the regular season last year but having one more weapon to team up with Baynes, (who will be coming off the bench most nights), Horford or Theis in these sets will make the C’s offense that much more dangerous when it’s running on all cylinders. A lot of the timing for Hayward on this front is already back.

Defensive positioning: The lateral quickness is not entirely back yet for the 6-foot-8 wing and that’s not surprising for a guy who has played 5-on-5 for just over a month. The important thing for the C’s defensive chances is whether Hayward understands the scheme and is in the right spots. So much of the defense is dependent on providing help and rotating, with any little hiccup within that opening the door to a full-on scramble and breakdown.

While the C’s defense certainly had issues when Hayward was on the floor this preseason, a closer look at the film indicates that Hayward was not the culprit in a lot of these instances. He did a respectable job chasing wings around the perimeter and was in the right spot on nearly all of his rotations. I’d grade his preseason a D, ahead of both Tatum and Brown on that front, which is a telling sign. Hayward should be the best overall defender when healthy ahead of those two and he’s already there to a degree. Watch him hold his own on these plays.







Even when Hayward or a teammate get beats, he’s been showing some impressive recovery skills already, with a couple of impressive rejections on the breaks.





Getting to the free throw line: Hayward’s finishing remains a work in progress. He’s been hesitant about when to attack and his scoring touch just hasn’t been consistent yet (as the numbers indicate). Still, one part of his offensive game that has remained intact thus far is his ability to get to the free-throw line. He led the team with 4.7 attempts per game in just 19 minutes a night. That trend falls in line with his career averages as well. He’s averaged 6.0 free throws attempts per game over his last three healthy seasons and that would have easily led the team in 2018-19. For a squad that has trouble creating contact and getting easy points at times, Hayward’s ability to get into the lane and draw contact looms large and we saw that this preseason.



When he gets his fair share of looks within the offense (only 17 percent usage rate this preseason), this ability will make the Celtics’ offense more efficient.

AREAS TO WORK ON

It’s not all sunshine and roses so far and that’s expected. Here are a few areas beyond just Hayward’s shooting numbers that will need some work as the first month of the regular season begins.

Timing on passes: A big part of any successful any offense is executing well within windows. Sometimes passing lanes are only open for a split second, which sometimes produces a broken possession after a late pass or an off-target one. Hayward is still feeling his way through these spots right now and that trend will continue as the regular season begins.





Keeping guards in front: This one may fall on Brad Stevens’ more than Hayward as the season progresses because it’s unclear how much quickness Hayward will have when he returns to full strength physically. In the meantime, there were a number of instances when Hayward found himself on guarding quicker players (some of them were switches) in the preseason. Those 1-on-1 situations didn’t go particularly well.





A lot of bigger wings around the league are going to have trouble guarding these guys, but the C’s are going to need Hayward to be better at it than this. With Brown likely spending a lot of his time with the starters defending elite point guards, Hayward could get a lot of time guarding 2s. The Celtics will need to find out quickly what exactly he handle when isolated against speedsters at that position.

CONCLUSIONS

All things considered, the returns are encouraging here if you are the Celtics despite the rough shooting numbers. Hayward took good shots within the offense as a whole there and these (should) start falling given his track record. The rest of Hayward’s game is further along than I even anticipated after my initial watch of these games. The Celtics had issues on both ends of the floor but Hayward wasn’t the biggest culprit in any of these problems. He may not be in All-Star form over the first half of this year, but he's already doing a lot of the little things that help a team win.