Boston Celtics GM Danny Ainge tells ESPN that Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving will be fully healthy for training camp, and are ‘ready to go’ right now.
Since the Boston Celtics were eliminated from last season’s playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Celtics fans everywhere have been chomping at the bit to see the team run it back with a full collection of healthy players.
After re-signing Marcus Smart and Aaron Baynes, the next step for Boston was to get Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving back to 100 percent health following season-ending injuries and surgeries.
According to Boston Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge, both players are fully healthy and will have no physical limitations when training camp opens on September 26. In fact, Ainge told ESPN, Hayward and Irving are ready to go today:
“I don’t want to hype it up too much, but I’m saying that if our training camp were starting today that they would be here today going full speed,” Ainge said. “It’s not like they need an extra month. I think that they know they have an extra month, so they are sort of pacing themselves. They’re playing as if to build up to that opening day of training camp .”
While both players were expected to be ready for training camp, it’s still great news to hear from Ainge, especially for Hayward who suffered a severe leg fracture on Opening Night last season.
Irving, on the other hand, played 60 games in his debut season with Boston and had his most efficient offensive season before shutting it down after the All-Star break due to lingering knee soreness and subsequent surgeries to remove screws from his knee that had become infected.
Though youngsters Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum flourished during Hayward’s absence, it will be exciting to see Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens with the full complement of players he expected to have last season. Hayward’s diverse skill set on both offense and defense will only add to the team’s strengths and maximize Stevens’ ability to exploit each opponents’ specific weaknesses.
While Hayward’s shooting and scoring ability is widely recognized by fans across the league, his off-ball motion, hard cutting, and tough defense could make the biggest impact on the court.
Despite a lineup of top-flight athletes, the Celtics didn’t thrive nearly as much in transition as one would expect and finished a disappointing 18th in offensive rating (105.3). One would expect Hayward’s insertion into the starting lineup to improve the offensive numbers, but I think his hard cutting will have a positive cumulative effect on the team’s crispness on the court as well.
It will be hard for Boston to improve on their league-best defense from last season, but Hayward’s addition should help on that end, especially when it comes to lineup flexibility. With Hayward, the Celtics should be able to field skilled lineups that don’t give up much for size on the defensive end, as well as big lineups where he can operate as the lead ball-handler. This will allow Stevens the opportunity for greater in -game, opponent-based adjustments, at which he is considered one of the league’s best.
In the 2017-18 preseason, Irving, Hayward, and Al Horford showed wonderful flashes of creativity and chemistry playing alongside each other. The news from Ainge sounds like we will be seeing a lot more of that from the Celtics this season–and that’s about the most exciting NBA news you’ll hear at the end of August.