Gordon Hayward was a huge loss for the Boston Celtics. Hayward went down hard just over five minutes into his Celtics' debut, in Cleveland. It was not pretty. As many analysts have said, it is one of the worst injuries we have seen in the NBA, EVER.
Hayward was a big recruit, when Isiah Thomas was still in town. Boston signed him to a 4-year, $128 million dollar contract in the offseason. After Isiah recruited Hayward to the team, Boston then shipped Isiah to Cleveland for, what they are hoping for, the next big breakout superstar of the NBA.
Kyrie Irving packed his bags and was thrilled to join Hayward in Boston. Irving found is as a privilege to play on the same parquet floor as many legends in the history of the Celtics. The smile never left his face as Irving began to learn the Celtics' system. They were a full squad and on paper, a force to be wrecking with in the Eastern Conference. Then it happened; And down goes Hayward.
The NBA usually have close knit relationships on their rosters. The Celtics' are a band of brothers that prayed as Hayward laid thriving in pain on the court. NBA players, coaches and fans could not look at what happened. This could, however, be a turning corner for the Celtics' without one of their bigger pieces on the roster for the rest of the season.
General Manager, Danny Ainge, has been the corner stone for building this team from one big three, to what should have been another big three, without a bridge year. Kyrie is a borderline superstar, who was traded for Thomas, who will be out until possibly Christmas. Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier are very young players that have shown big strides over the years. Smart shows he is in the best shape of his life and is playing in a contract year. Brown stepped up in the team's first game, after Hayward went down. And Rozier can put on a show at the snap of the fingers, with great ball handling skills and the ability to take it to the hole whenever he wants.
Then there's Jayson Tatum, who started his first ever game in the NBA during game one of his rookie season. The nerves were showing early as Tatum struggled from the field and looked shaky on defense. Tatum's first shot was a drive to the hole that was swapped into the stands by LeBron James. With the help of a true leader, Irving pulled Tatum aside to help calm those nerves. Tatum ended up finishing his first game in the NBA with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
"A Band of Brothers." This will need to be the Celtics' motto in order to succeed this season. With one of their big pieces missing the last 81 games of the season, the young guns are going to need to step up. The roster is filled with young talent and needs Irving to step into the true leader role. One of the big reasons Irving requested a trade out of Cleveland, was to get out of the LeBron shadows. Now is the time for Irving's wings to spread in order to soar into the playoffs.
With Irving leading a pack of young wild cards, the Celtics still have hope. If Irving can have his superstar breakout season and the rookies and sophomores can take their games to another level, the Hayward void will be filled. As it may take all the pieces to fill the pie, the Celtics will still push forward in order to get back over the hump and into the NBA Finals.
