Utah Jazz rumors: Pacers want Rubio, Hayward root of Celtics woes?

Hayward partly to blame for Celtics woes?

Speaking about Ricky Rubio potentially going to a great situation has that warm and fuzzy sort of feel to it. Now it’s time to switch gears and get down to the real juicy stuff. Namely – you know all the issues that occurred with the Boston Celtics this season and how things keep getting worse this summer? Well, it turns out that former Jazzman (and current villain as many would still consider him) Gordon Hayward may have been at the root of a lot of Boston’s issues.

But before I dive into that, let’s back up momentarily for those of you who aren’t up to speed with the trouble in Beantown up to this point. In case you missed it, it’s been a rough stretch for the Celtics faithful. First off, while it’s been pretty much common knowledge that Kyrie Irving is gone, things got even worse when a report from the Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach emerged stating that Irving has “essentially ghosted on the Celtics.” Himmelsbach also added the following:

"“The people within the organization I have spoken with have made it clear that they have had little, if any, communication with Irving in recent weeks. There had been some hope that trading for Davis would have given the Celtics a new vision to sell to Irving. But that, clearly, is not an option anymore.”"

That news was expounded upon by a report from Marc Stein that the Brooklyn Nets see themselves as the frontrunners to land Kyrie Irving – essentially solidifying that he’s more than likely long gone.

But wait, it gets worse from there. A shocking bit of news emerged on Tuesday that Al Horford had surprisingly decided to opt out of the final year of his contract, leaving $30.1 million on the table. Initially, it was believed that he was doing so to agree to a longer, but friendlier deal with the Celtics. However, it didn’t take long before those talks fell apart. Now the news is that Horford, like Irving, is well on his way out of Boston as he aims to find a long-term contract with a new team as an unrestricted free agent.

So, yep, the Celtics are losing two key players in a summer where many thought they could take a big step forward and increase their championship odds. And now, let’s get back to Gordon Hayward. According to ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan, a big reason why the Celtics had so many chemistry issues this past season was because head coach Brad Stevens, who has obviously long been very close to Gordon, was purportedly ‘force feeding’ him to help him come back from injury. She had the following to add:

"“You hate to pick on Gordon Hayward because he was coming back from injury and he was doing the best he could, but I really think that’s where it started,” she said. “They were force feeding him on his teammates, Brad [Stevens] knew Gordon well, he wanted to get his confidence back. “I would contend that Brad Stevens would have done that for any player on that roster that had a catastrophic injury, he would want to fill him with that same confidence, but that’s not what happened,” MacMullan continued. “He gave the benefit of the doubt over and over to a player that wasn’t ready, to a guy who had history with him, and it rankled that locker room, and it bothered that locker room.” “I think [the other players] drew conclusions that probably weren’t even fair or accurate, but it doesn’t matter,” she said. “If you feel that way, then it’s real.”"

There may be some speculation among all this, but it’s not hard at all to see how it might be true. Hayward in his return from injury clearly did not fit in well with the Celtics. Add in the presumed favoritism from the head coach – real or imagined – that took place and it’s no wonder that Stevens seemed to have little connection with his players this year and that the Celtics were such a mess.

Whether Hayward really is as big of a problem as this latest report makes him out to be or not is all up to interpretation. But one thing is certain – the Celtics are in a bit of a bad spot right now for next season. And while they certainly could still turn things around in the trade market or free agency,  I don’t think it’s a stretch at all to say that Gordon Hayward’s former team may end up significantly more competent than his new one in 2019-20.