The Boston Celtics landed the biggest prize in NBA free agency on Tuesday, getting a commitment from Gordon Hayward, who opted out of his contract with the Utah Jazz. Hayward's deal with the Celtics is 4-years, $128M according to Shams Charania of Yahoo! Sports' The Vertical and other reporters.
Last week, I addressed what adding Hayward would mean for the Celtics, so I feel like somewhat of a broken record addressing this topic one week later. However, now that the Celtics have actually landed their man, I can address this topic more in full, knowing the outcome of the situation.
With Hayward now on their roster, the Celtics have just gotten a lot better. When watching them last season, it was clear that they didn't have the pieces to win a championship. The fact that they finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference was very impressive considering that their roster was inferior to the roster of the Cleveland Cavaliers. It was pretty much the Isaiah Thomas show with Avery Bradley and Al Horford sharing some of the load.
The Celtics needed to add another piece and Hayward was as good of a piece as they could have added. He's only 27 years old and just finished his best season in the NBA, averaging 21.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game en route to his first All-Star season. He instantly becomes the #2 scoring option on the Celtics and gives them an elite wing, a piece that is needed to contend in today's NBA.
As for whether or not the Celtics are contenders, I think the answer is pretty clear that Hayward makes them a legitimate threat to the Cavaliers. I still wouldn't bet against the Cavaliers due to the presence of LeBron James, but I wouldn't at all be shocked to see the two teams go to a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Celtics have gone from virtually having no shot at the Cavaliers to having a legitimate shot at taking them out given the right conditions. That is a significant improvement.
Going forward, the biggest thing the Celtics need to do is figure out how else to balance out their roster. Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN are reporting that Hayward might be headed to the Celtics via sign and trade with Avery Bradley, Marcus Smart, and Jae Crowder all discussed as possible trade chips. This is for the purpose of freeing up more cap space to sign Hayward. In addition to a sign and trade for Hayward, the Celtics might need to tinker with their roster some more to put themselves in the best position to succeed.
While the loss of Hayward is sad for the Utah Jazz, his arrival in Boston is very exciting for the Celtics. They've been in need of adding another elite player to their lineup and they have couldn't have asked for a better addition. I do want to say that Celtics head coach Brad Stevens deserves a ton of credit for this one. If he didn't have such a tight relationship with Hayward going back to their days at Butler, I don't think Hayward leaves Utah. Stevens clearly sold Hayward on the Boston experience and all that they could accomplish together.
When you think about it, that's pretty tough for Hayward to turn down. He wishes they would have won a national championship at Butler and by reuniting in Boston, the two of them get another shot at winning a ring. When you look at it that way, it's actually pretty cool things worked out the way that they did.
Wednesday Windmill is a weekly piece that focuses on the Eastern Conference.
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