Gordon Hayward: “I’m trying to prove that I’m still an All Star”

The Charlotte Hornets forward Gordon Hayward openly discussed the reasons behind the struggles of the star-studded 2018-19 Boston Celtics. According to him, the root cause was a lack of unity within the team from the very beginning.

“In my eyes it was just, we all had too many agendas, and the agenda to win the whole thing was not the main one,” Hayward said. “Not to blame anyone either, because I think it was all human nature.”

Hayward elaborated further, pointing out that the Celtics faced issues stemming from a variety of factors, such as players recovering from injuries and young talents who had shown promise in the previous season. These diverse elements led to a lack of cohesion, with everyone seemingly heading in their direction.

“I mean, I’m coming back from, the last season I played I was an All Star, so, I’m trying to prove that I’m still an All Star,” Hayward said. “Kyrie (Irving) was hurt the year before, didn’t miss the playoffs. So he’s trying to prove this is still his team. Then you’ve got (Jayson Tatum) and Jaylen (Brown) and Terry (Rozier) coming off where they’re all starting, make it to the Eastern Conference Finals a year before. They’re all trying to prove, like, ‘We’ve arrived.'”

In the end, Irving departed after that season, and Hayward followed suit after one more season with the Celtics. Hayward emphasized that despite the abundance of talent in the Boston team, there was an issue of too many players possessing similar skill sets, creating an overlap that hindered the team’s dynamics.

“We had probably eight players who had career highs over 40, who were all arguably in their prime,” Hayward said. “The other problem is there were too many of us in the exact same position. We all needed the ball, we all rocked with the ball, we all needed the ball.”