Stevens’ pep talk buoys Hayward
WALTHAM — When free agent forward Gordon Hayward announced his decision to join the Celtics in a July 4 post on The Players’ Tribune, among the reasons he listed was his relationship on and off the court with coach Brad Stevens.
After the Celtics made Hayward’s four-year, $128 million contract official yesterday, Stevens said that in wooing his former Butler star he stressed the off-court circumstances as well as what Hayward would mean on the court.
Like Hayward deciding to leave Utah after seven seasons, Stevens left Butler after 13 seasons.
“I think that one of the things that I really tried to do was talk about why this transition was so great for me and my family and also how hard it was to initially make the transition,” Stevens said during a conference call. “And I tried to be empathetic toward that and talk about again why we thought it was a great situation from the standpoint of what we’re trying to continue to accomplish with the Celtics and how seamlessly we thought he’d fit into that.”
The 27-year-old Hayward, who will wear No. 20, averaged 14.4 points and 7.4 rebounds over two seasons for Stevens at Butler. With the Jazz he averaged 15.7 points and 4.2 rebounds, including career highs last season of 21.9 points and 5.4 rebounds.
Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge was ecstatic to be adding the 6-foot-8 Hayward to a core that already includes Isaiah Thomas and Al Horford.
“He’s a good fit because he’s just a complete player,” Ainge said at a press conference at the Celtics’ practice facility. “I mean he’d fit with any team. He could play 1 through 4 positions and he can handle the ball, he can play off the ball, he can defend multiple positions. He’s a hard-nosed and very unselfish player that is capable of taking over stretches of games.”
Ainge described the process of securing Hayward’s services as “nerve-wracking.” Stevens called Hayward nearly at the stroke of midnight when free agency began on July 1. The Celts brought Hayward to town for a tour on July 2. Stevens then kept in touch via text after Hayward left town.
Hayward was deciding between the Celtics, Jazz and Miami Heat. Early on July 4 there were reports he picked the Celts, but his agent insisted at the time that was false.
“When it came out with a premature report that he was coming to Boston and when I heard from his agent that that wasn’t true, that he had not made a decision, I went ‘ Oh no, that could be really bad,’ ” Ainge said. “We were just on pins and needles until we finally got the word.”
Stevens described sitting with his fingers crossed waiting for the decision until it finally came down. Hayward announced he had agreed to join the Celtics later on July 4.
Ainge then had to free up salary-cap space and ultimately traded Avery Bradley to the Detroit Pistons for Marcus Morris.
“It was challenging. We were looking at all sorts of different possibilities throughout that stretch,” Ainge said. “And the move that we ended up making with Detroit made the right sense to us of deals available.”
Ainge added Hayward without subtracting from his pool of high draft picks or young players. And despite the loss of Bradley and free agent Kelly Olynyk, Ainge thinks the Celtics are better than the team that went to the Eastern Conference finals last season.
“I think that we’re better. We’ve added some good pieces. We have some really good young players that are coming in that have really earned and deserve a chance to play,” he said. “So I feel like our team is in a better position that we were last year for sure.”