Why the Boston Celtics need a career year from Gordon Hayward

Obviously, every player playing their best basketball every year is what all 30 teams in the NBA want out of their players. There are implications beyond the court that dictate why a career year out of Gordon Hayward would be the best thing for the Boston Celtics.

You don’t invest a four-year maximum contract in Kemba Walker with all of your cap space unless you have grand plans to contend for a championship. The Boston Celtics are all in on this coming season and the three seasons after barring something catastrophic. It is going to take all hands being on-deck for this team to truly exist in the pantheon of elites.

That includes several rookies getting rotational minutes. Carsen Edwards and Grant Williams figure to have secure roles in the rotation, while Romeo Langford could be called upon in the case of an injury or emergency. Tacko Fall may even see minutes if Brad Stevens doesn’t get much out of his somewhat thrown-together center rotation.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown will need to play more than just supplementary roles if the Boston Celtics have any grand plans of being more than a second round elimination. Al Horford is no longer there to provide a safety net on both ends of the floor. One of these under-25 studs needs to ascend to an All-Star or near All-Star level.

If at least some of Boston’s young core falters, there is one more lifeline the Celtics can rely on. He just hasn’t performed even close to his contract…or to expectations.

I’m of course talking about the Houdini’s favorite son: Gordon Hayward.

Because Hayward takes up so much of the cap and has not even remotely delivered to scale, Boston is worse because of his presence. And yes, I do understand he had a career-altering injury. Not getting a superstar when paying someone like one saps the team of resources to get better elsewhere, whether or not Hayward is your idea of a picture-perfect basketball player.

If Hayward can play up to his potential (particularly his contract year in 2016-17), Boston has a shot to put the pieces together to make a run in the Eastern Conference. The Boston Celtics are a smaller but athletic team, and a full-strength Hayward can keep up with the team’s rim-runners.

Better yet, if Hayward can have a career year, he may look to opt out of his deal. Whether the Celtics retain him or not at that point, they will have escaped from the stigma of having bad money on their books. After he only played 73 games in two seasons and saw his point-per-game total fall ten points, it is fair to call his deal a bad one at this point.

With that flexibility, Boston could look at other options, such as Joe Harris or P.J. Tucker (if the Rockets don’t pick up his partial guarantee). Both would come at a significantly lower rate than Hayward. Additionally, both will be playing on Team USA this summer with Walker, Tatum, Smart and Brown.

Whatever happens, Hayward needs a career-best year. If he stays or if he goes, the Boston Celtics will have a better chance of attaining the Larry O’Brien trophy if he can manage to show out this season.