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Post by meangreen on Mar 6, 2019 13:57:59 GMT -5
As I've watched this team through its ups and downs this year I've been more and more convinced that the key to our team is one player. Gordon Hayward. The Gordon Hayward we saw last night vs GS is the one we would've had last yr if not for the injury and the one we thought we had at the beginning of this year. Unfortunately that version has been more slow and less steady in showing up. As a matter of fact that version was supposed to keep Tatum on the bench so that he could come along slowly that is until Hayward's injury. As it's played out Tatum became a rising star due to Hayward's injury & Hayward is still fighting his way back. Give the guy major credit for fighting the good fight back when he could have easily checked out. I was personally going to give him the full yr and still will to put it all together. The fact of the matter is that when we have this version of Hayward we're able to be anyone in the league in a series including GS. Have you all noticed how the team plays when he plays well? It's a breath of fresh air on a hot summer day. Say what you want about Al & Smart being the heart/soul of the team which may be true. Say what you want about the top guys like Kyrie & Tatum. But if Hayward is right we win.
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Mar 6, 2019 15:50:44 GMT -5
Funny, cause this morning, I was thinking about him too. Too bad Gordon got hurt last year cause we would have built chemistry all last year. Even if we fell short, a whole year playing with each other would’ve made a huge difference this year.
Yes, Gordon is an x factor for us.
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Post by Roadrunner on Mar 6, 2019 18:51:21 GMT -5
I agree. I read today, using some odd formula that calculated a player's impact, that BOS is 13-1 when Hayward is above average.
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Mar 6, 2019 20:02:24 GMT -5
By the way, I think it was Brad’s strategy all year to give Hayward minutes (even at the expense of Jaylen and Rozier playing less minutes). Fans were upset that Hayward would still be brought in, even though he was playing poorly — but Brad knew what he was doing. And it’s steadily playing out how he envisioned.
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Post by jmost on Mar 6, 2019 20:09:36 GMT -5
I agree. I read today, using some odd formula that calculated a player's impact, that BOS is 13-1 when Hayward is above average. I pulled up Hayward's game log for the season and when he scores 18 or more points we're 13-2. He's shown he can do it, but hasn't yet shown he can do it consistently. If he can, the sky's the limit. |
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Mar 6, 2019 20:30:41 GMT -5
First Celtic bench player to have three 30+ pt games in a season since McHale.
And I think Hayward has a few more of those games in his pocket.
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Post by eja117 on Mar 6, 2019 20:37:24 GMT -5
I need to see this again. They've done this before. They win some great game and then they get embarrassed the next one.
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Mar 6, 2019 20:39:00 GMT -5
I need to see this again. They've done this before. They win some great game and then they get embarrassed the next one. They might do it again tonight 🤨 |
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Post by Roadrunner on Mar 7, 2019 19:20:20 GMT -5
First Celtic bench player to have three 30+ pt games in a season since McHale. And I think Hayward has a few more of those games in his pocket. McHale walked through the door? |
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Mar 9, 2019 13:34:25 GMT -5
The second x factor could be Jaylen Brown. His defensive stats on the top players in the league are fantastic. I knew he was good, but didn’t know he was that good.
And he’s been finding his offensive game too.
With Hayward and Jaylen combining to give us significant production off the bench, offensively and defensively, not many teams will be able to handle our depth.
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Post by eja117 on Mar 10, 2019 12:09:43 GMT -5
I definitely think this team would struggle to deal with the star factor that we have. There are a LOT of players on this team that are just not bench guys, but at the moment if Jaylen and Hayward accept their roles as the best bench guys in the league it will help a lot, but part of that is the rest of the team acknowledging them as stars. Kyrie and Morris, in particular need to acknowledge to themselves and to everyone that Jaylen is an absolute 100% future star. But Jaylen needs to accept the key word there is "future". And Morris needs to accept he may be surpassed by a bench guy.
Kyrie needs to realize it's not a bad thing when he sits out and they win. Jaylen and young guys need to accept a good record without Kyrie doesn't mean anything about the future of this team, nor the present.
I kinda don't think it's likely that this team can get to a place of great chemistry any time soon, but I think they could get to (and maybe are at now) a place of mildly good chemistry, and that is way way better than just two weeks ago.
At this point I actually do think a trade is ultimately needed, probably for Unibrow, because there's just too many good players on this team. We can't do the Golden State thing here. The Golden State guys have sorta decided to play there with each other. They're kind of organic. This team has a lot of draftees and guys that were traded for and so they never got the choice to play together. They need to actually make the choice to want to play together.
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Mar 11, 2019 2:22:37 GMT -5
With the way the Warriors play, everyone touches the ball and has lots of opportunities to score. Every player shines, whether they’re a star or not. And in that kind of environment, especially when it produces wins and championships, everyone is happy, and everyone is willing to sacrifice individual accolades for what’s best for success.
If our guys see that embracing their role leads to an exciting winning environment, the bickering and self entitlement would likewise go away. As long as players feel like they’re contributing and doing their part towards team success, they’ll be willing to shine less in order that the team shines more.
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Post by eja117 on Mar 11, 2019 7:22:51 GMT -5
But the thing about the Warriors is there's nobody being held back. There's nobody on that bench who could be the star of another team. We have a different situation than that
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Mar 11, 2019 10:41:13 GMT -5
True. Maybe Shaun Livingston could find a bigger role, but yeah, he’s not a star player.
One way to alleviate the congestion a bit is to take away Morris from the starting rotation and replace him with either Hayward of Jaylen.
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Mar 11, 2019 13:07:04 GMT -5
Speaking of Jaylen, I think we’ve got to make a decision on him soon. If we’re committed long term to roll with Hayward and Tatum, then Jaylen is not going to be a starter for the next few years. Will he be fine with a 6th man role? He’ll be a free agent soon — will he be searching for a bigger role, maybe the lead role, on a team willing to give it to him?
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