BOSTON — Gordon Hayward had finally begun to put his devastating ankle injury behind him, then was injured again during the best stretch of his Boston Celtics career. He’s now expected to miss up to six weeks after undergoing surgery to repair his broken hand.
If there’s any silver lining, it’s that he injured is off-hand, so he can still keep his conditioning up and he can do some light shooting work to avoid losing his touch. The timing, though, is tough even beyond the fact that it happened while he was playing well.
“I was very sad for him but I know he’s a warrior,” Enes Kanter said of Hayward. “I know he’s going to come back stronger and do his best to get rehab. He wants to be out there with his teammates and help him win. The crazy thing is he was playing an unbelievable season… Now, he gets the injury, but I know he’s going to come back and be amazing again.”
The Celtics schedule is getting really tight. They don’t have two days off again until early December. If he misses the full six weeks, he’ll miss 19 games, and his return could be on the Christmas Day game in Toronto.
Losing Hayward takes a lot away from the Celtics. Coach Brad Stevens has a few options to plug into those minutes, but no one player can replicate all that Hayward does
“We ask Gordon to do a lot,” Stevens said. “When he plays the way he’s been playing, everyone notices the stats, but it’s the simple reads and passes that we have to make up for when he’s not here. And obviously the rebounding as well. Those are things we have to do by committee and I think our guys will be up for the challenge.”
Part of that committee could include Javonte Green, a potent slasher and freakish athlete. He’ll be challenged to shoot whenever he’s in the game, so he won’t be the floor spacer that Hayward is. Green has gotten spot minutes in the absence of Hayward in San Antonio and three games without Jaylen Brown. Green is fearless and will attack with confidence and he’s shown some flashes of recognizing the right play.
Grant Williams could also see an uptick in minutes. His high basketball IQ is obviously an asset, but in this situation it can help spring some of the more accomplished Celtics through his pick-setting and passing. He has a habit of over-helping defensively, which is part of rookie anxiety, but that will have to change to keep his minutes up. It’d also be helpful if he started hitting 3-pointers. He’s currently 0 for 12 on the season, and he’ll be left wide open until he can prove he can make them.
Carsen Edwards is a prime candidate for the floor-spacer role, though his 3-point shooting hasn’t been great to start the year. Still, Edwards is a threat from 3 and sometimes that’s enough to be effective. Edwards will have to get better with his drives if he’s going to get extended minutes, though.
The Celtics will also lean a little more on Brad Wanamaker for his ability to handle the ball and run the offense. Wanamaker is solid, and the loss of Hayward does take away a great creator for the Celtics, so he’ll have to be able to make some of those same reads.
Basically, the Celtics are going to have to rely on four guys to make up for the skills of the one they lost. But those guys may be situational substitutes for Hayward. What the Celtics might need most over the next month or so is just more minutes and more production from their remaining star players.
“Some of the things that we’ve run for Gordon that go to especially late in games we’ll run for Tatum, we’ll run for Jaylen in different scenarios,” Stevens said. “And we’ve already played, out of eight games, we’ve played three of them without Jaylen already and most of them without Kanter.”
That might result in some extended minutes for Boston’s wings. Stevens has typically liked to keep players’ minutes in the low 30s, but he’s bumped that up in recent tight games.
“Anytime you’re playing closer games your most experienced best players are usually on the court, so I think that was a function of those games as well as if we have to play those guys longer that’s OK,” Stevens said. “We manage it in practice and we manage it down the road in other games. The one thing about managing those minutes is we just practice a little less if they play a ton.”
However the Celtics manage it, it’s going to be a struggle. Hayward touches every aspect of a basketball game, and there aren’t many players who are just going to come in and do what he does. Who gets the call will depend on what situation Boston is in, and it’s up to the player to not try to do too much in that role. What the Celtics need is solid play and no mistakes from bench players who are called upon to fill that void.
“Hopefully Gordon’s stuff works out well and we’re back at full at that point,” Stevens said. “In the meantime, that could be a Javonte position, that could be a Carsen position, it could be a Semi (Ojeleye) position, it could be Romeo (Langford). It might be that – the flavor of the day, to be honest, what fits best in that game.”
If they can get that, plus increased production from their other main players, the Celtics will have a shot at navigating a tough part of their schedule without a key player. If they can’t, then Boston will be in for a rough six weeks.
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