Getty Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Al Horford
Former Boston Celtics wing Gordon Hayward was once involved with one of the most underachieving Celtics rosters in franchise history. While winning 49 games and getting to the second round of the NBA Playoffs isn’t the worst season output, failing to reach the immense potential they had made it a frustrating season.
Hayward gave his thoughts on what went wrong with that team while talking with Los Angeles Clippers star Paul George on “Podcast P with Paul George.” Haward pinpointed the reason why they never figured it out.
“We all had too many agendas, and the agenda to win the whole thing wasn’t the main one.”
Gordon Hayward on the shortcomings of a loaded 2018-19 Celtics squad
“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 told George. “Not to blame anyone either because I think it was all human nature.”
Hayward then specified what everyone’s personal agendas were on that team.
“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. Kyrie 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.'”
Hayward also attributed the Celtics’ issues to having too many guys who wanted to score.
“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.”
Jayson Tatum Agrees With Gordon Hayward
Gordon Hayward wasn’t the only one who felt the way he did about the 2018-19 Celtics. Jayson Tatum said something similar when he appeared on JJ Redick’s podcast, “The Old Man & The Three,” in 2022. Tatum more or less gave the same explanation Hayward gave for why the team failed.
“Obviously, we know what (Irving) is capable of, but Gordon was coming off All-Star the year before and was and still is a very, very good player. But then you have myself and (Brown) and Terry that, naturally, we wanted more. We were young, and we know what we just accomplished and how close we got, and we wanted more.”
Tatum admitted his role that the team could have succeeded if they had put that aside while admitting his culpability in how it went wrong.
“I think life would just be better if we all went like we want a championship. And I think everybody played a part in that. I know I did, for sure. I know, as bad as I wanted to win, I want it to be — alright, we all knew (Irving) was the best player, but I wanted to be number two. And I take responsibility for some of those things. But just looking back on it, especially the Warriors not even being full strength in the championship, you can’t help but think things like that could have been us.”
It seems as though there’s a common understanding of how one of the most talented Celtics teams in recent memory failed as badly as the 2018-19 team did.
Gordon Hayward Suffers Groin Injury
Hayward’s tenure with the Celtics was marred with injuries. His bad injury luck has only continued since joining the Charlotte Hornets. The Hornets PR team announced via their X account on December 28 that Hayward would be out for two weeks while recovering from a calf strain.
INJURY UPDATE: @hornets forward Gordon Hayward suffered a left calf strain at LAC on 12/26. He is listed as out and will be reevaluated in two weeks.
Hayward is still a productive player but has had some of the worst injury luck since leaving the Utah Jazz for the Celtics.