16 months later, I revisit my thoughts from the day before Gordon Hayward bolted from the Utah Jazz and wonder if they’re still valid.
July 4, 2017 was a landmark day for Gordon Hayward and the Utah Jazz alike.
That was the fork in the road; the day that Hayward officially traded in his Jazz blues for Boston Celtics green and the two parties went their separate ways.
In hindsight, it’s crazy to think that any of us expected a different result from Hayward’s unrestricted free agency. However, there was a very real sense at the time that Hayward wasn’t going anywhere.
One day earlier — July 3 — I said, “If Gordon Hayward leaves, it’s still been an incredible ride.” I kind of meant it, too. After all, he gave Jazz fans seven years of increasingly awesome returns on the hardwood, both individually and as part of the collective that helped bring the team back to prominence.
Here’s the rub, though: as was the case with a significant portion of the Jazzland masses, I never thought he was leaving. Deep down, my “will he or won’t he” dirge was, in part, a bit of lip service. Months before he punched his ticket to Beantown, I even argued with fellow hoops pundits about the possibility of his departure.
Why would he go to the Celtics? So he can finish second to LeBron James and the Cavs in the NBA’s B-Conference on an annual basis?
Brad Stevens, you say? Pshaw, he’s grown up since then. And he and Quin Snyder are solid.
The Jazz made him an All-Star, offer him an equal shot at winning and can pay a lot more money. It’s a no-brainer, man.
If I only knew. If any of us had known…
If we had, would I have spoken the same way about Hayward’s seven years in Salt Lake? I like to think so. I mean, he was our guy for a time; a prototypical Jazzman and a credit to his generation of ballers.
And despite the way things played out, his journey from being the skinny kid that Deron Williams threw a ball at and, later, the recipient of a Delonte West finger to the ear, to becoming a beast on the hardwood and a legit, franchise-leading star, was still an inspiring one.
Having said that, some of his antics over the last year-plus have even his biggest supporters in Jazz Nation questioning themselves and wondering whether our guy was actually just a figment of our imaginations.
Not only did Hayward leave the team in a less-than-awesome way with a blog post in the 11th hour, he’s alluded to knowing he was leaving all along and blindsided the Jazz regardless, gone on to say “the Jazz might be LeBron’s little b-word” and joined Trey Lyles in complaining about Snyder’s now infamous three-hour practices.
Our guy would never have done such things, which leads one to the conclusion that Hayward was probably never our guy at all.
Nevertheless, when the Celtics take on the Jazz on Friday night in what very well may be Hayward’s first on-court appearance (knock on wood) in his old city, against his former squad, the team apparently plans to recognize his efforts and celebrate his run with the team.
Despite everything, I, for one, am OK with that. Celebrate away, if that’s your wish; Hayward has probably earned it.
Maybe we didn’t know him that well, maybe he’s not the Jazz lifer and embodiment of all that’s pure and good in the league that fans in Utah thought he was, but that doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy or that he didn’t do a lot of good things for the Jazz.
On July 3, I said “there’s no denying that he’s had an incredible run in Jazzland,” and that’s still true now. Undeniably, Hayward was great in Utah. Also, he and his family didn’t deserve the harassment they received via social media when he left, or when he broke his tibia in his Celtics debut.
And if he never felt it necessary to call Gail Miller upon ending his Jazz run, that’s weird, but it’s also his prerogative. Honestly, how many of us like to make phone calls to ex-spouses, former employers, frenemies and the like?
I’ll say this, though — if Jazz fans aren’t in the mood to celebrate when Hayward hits the court or when the team puts on its video package, highlight reel and/or whatever else they’re planning for Friday, and instead feel inclined to boo him with the fire of a thousand suns, that’s also OK.
Hayward has probably earned that, too.