BOSTON -- After a year full of high expectations that were not met on both a team and individual level, Danny Ainge is trying to proceed cautiously as he enters a new chapter of Celtics basketball. The championship buzz may be gone but the hype surrounding Gordon Hayward has started to take shape as early reviews out of training camp indicate the 29-year-old swingman is far closer to the former All-Star self than was the case last season.
“He just got it back man,” Rob Williams said of Hayward on Saturday before a season ticket holders event at the TD Garden. “Yeah. He’s back.”
"He’s 100 percent back," Enes Kanter echoed earlier this week. "A lot of people just said, ‘Oh, if he’s 100 percent he’ll be back or not.’ He’s going to shock the world this year. I trust him and I believe he’s going to do some amazing things, on and off the court."
While Hayward may have a lot of hypemen among his teammates, it's evident that Ainge does not want too much-added pressure piling up on Hayward ahead of his third season in Boston. He tried to put a stop to some of that on Saturday.
“I think right now there’s been a lot of buzz about Gordon and his comeback and I’m worried that it’s getting a little out of hand," Ainge said. “Like, I think he’s Gordon. He’s back to being Gordon. And we’re very excited about that. I sometimes worry, like, ‘Oh my gosh, they think it’s somebody else.’ But I’m excited about Gordon.”
Ainge pointed to the fact that Hayward's numbers may remain relatively modest for his salary in games during which his contributions elsewhere are just as meaningful.
“I think that what I see in Gordon -- and what I’ve always seen in Gordon when he’s been right -- is the ability to score, but also the ability to facilitate and create,” Ainge said. "Offensive efficiency is always going to be crucial, but there’s a lot of games where last year there were probably 10 or 12 games last year where he was the best player on our team in specific games. And then there were a lot of games where he had eight points and four assists and I thought he was still one of the best players on our team, but there was no buzz about it because he played 22 minutes off the bench, and it was just a completely different role.
"So Gordon is just a good basketball player. He can think, he can pass, he can shoot, he can create, he can defend, he can rebound. I mean, he’s a complete player. And we need him to just be that. And we need lots of other guys to play up to their best. And I think we have a chance to be really good.”
Other notes from Ainge's state of the union along with analysis:
Ainge on the center rotation: "Most of them are new. I think Daniel has the most experience of that group of guys with our group. I think he’s got a little bit of a head start, just mentally and emotionally and understanding what Brad wants. I think I can see some of the new-ness of the other guys. I think Robert has taken big strides from last year to where he’s at. I think his work this summer, you can see it already. So that’s an advantage for him. I think it’s -- those are question marks that I’m not sure how good it’s all going to fit and work but I think, individually, they all can contribute."
Analysis: This shouldn't come as a big surprise given the lack of experience and defensive prowess among additions like Enes Kanter. The buzz for guys like Robert Williams is big around camp so it's clear he's going to get a chance to carve out some minutes for himself. Vincent Poirier may have some work to do to push for playing time early.
Ainge on questions about this year's team: “There are different kinds of questions. I think that last year’s questions were more based on, you know, how is it going to jell? There was not a question of how much talent we had. This year the question is, are we good enough? And can players step up and take advantage of the opportunities that they’re given to become more elite.”
Analysis: A lot of big decisions are going to be made about this team's long-term future in the next year whether it's with Jaylen Brown or figuring out which young assets to invest in or sell for a bigger name. Before those choices are made, the C's want to figure out what they have with this group and have cleared out opportunity for the prominent names involved.
Ainge on what will determine whether the Celtics are good enough? “Can we make enough shots is always the key, right? But can we get the stops? Can we rebound the ball well enough? I think those are probably the biggest challenges. We’ve been good defensively over the last few years so I worry about our defensive taking a step backward. We need to have everybody step up on defense. Defense starts at every position, you need five guys committed. We need five guys committed to rebounding. As you know, the last few years we’ve also gone through stretches of being good rebounding and not so good rebounding when we’ve been small. But Brad’s emphasizing that a great deal, and we can rebound when playing small. But you’ve gotta be able to get stops too.”
Analysis: A subtle hint here that the offense may be ahead of the defense at his point of the preseason. This has generally not been the case during the Stevens era but the heavy turnover on the frontline is likely an indicator that this group will be tested on that front early on in the year. Playing small did not go well for this group last year so the hope has to be something changes on that front.
Ainge on Jaylen's work with Team USA on playing as a power forward and center: “I think that we do have good rebounding smalls. When I say small, I mean, I don’t think Gordon or Jaylen or Jayson are smalls really. But yeah, we just have to rebound everywhere. But Jaylen played some 4 which I think he’ll play some 4 for us as well. And I think that was a good experience. I was out in LA when they were practicing out there and he was just making that transition. I think the USA team had lost a couple of players, Bagley and Kuzma, and so he was forced into playing some more 4. And I told him at that time, this is a good opportunity because it’s a different game. At the 1, 2 and 3 sometimes it’s interchangeable and usually the 4 and 5 are interchangeable. It took him a couple of days but I thought he really progressed playing some 4. So I thought that was really good experience for Jaylen this summer.”
Analysis: Brown spent a lot of time chasing around guards for the past few seasons but with a lack of reliable bulk in the frontcourt, the equation may change now for the 22-year-old. The Celtics liked what they saw from Brown overseas from a defensive standpoint and his ability to hold his own at that spot may make it easier for Stevens' to get his best talent on the floor more together.