Gordon Hayward Puts Boston Level With Cleveland in the East
Those who say the Cavs are still far ahead aren’t watching closely enough
Gordon Hayward finally delivered his free agency decision on Tuesday by choosing to join the Boston Celtics. Hayward will be reuniting with his former college coach Brad Stevens, as they prepare to resolve some “Unfinished Business” in winning a championship.
In the Eastern Conference, LeBron James has reigned supreme for the last seven seasons, making the finals every year since leaving Cleveland in 2010. It’s popular opinion that despite the improvements Boston has made this offseason, Cleveland will make it to the finals yet again without much trouble.
This feels like lazy analysis, partially because the Celtics are level with the Cavaliers in terms of overall depth and talent on the roster. Sure, Cleveland has the best player in the world in James, but the Cavs haven’t done anything to improve their roster and are vulnerable against a team like Boston gunning for them.
Hayward Is a Perfect Fit
While Ainge has been criticized in the past for not adding players like Jimmy Butler and DeMarcus Cousins for low prices, he has gone out and found perfect fits in Hayward and Al Horford. We’ve seen the effectiveness of Horford on the Celtics, taking them from the fifth seed in the East to the top of the standings and an Eastern Conference Finals appearance.
Hayward will come in filling a need as a go-to scorer next to Isaiah Thomas. Thomas was the third leading scorer in the NBA last season, as he established himself as an unstoppable force on the offensive end. However, he was the only player on the Celtics last season that could hit his own shot consistently, so teams designed entire defensive schemes around Thomas not having any room to operate.
With Hayward on the team now, coaches can’t afford to throw as many as three defenders at Thomas without paying the price. Hayward and Thomas can now build off of each other’s offensive skills to make life a heck of a lot easier on themselves. Since both players were in the top 30 of the NBA’s player efficiency ratings, giving these two more space to operate will be a nightmare for opposing teams.
Not only is Hayward a great fit alongside Thomas and Horford, but he’s a better fit in Boston’s style than Utah. The Jazz were one of the best defensive teams in the NBA last season, but they underutilized Hayward on offense by playing at a slower pace. A player with his all-around scoring ability, especially one with the shooting stroke Hayward has, should get a more looks in transition than Hayward did last season.
Instead of having to create almost all of his offense in the half court, Hayward will find himself either grabbing a rebound and pushing the ball up himself on the break, or receiving a kick out for a wide open three from a Celtic guard. Brad Stevens loves to play with pace and space, and a player with Hayward’s skill thrives in that type of environment. So not only will the Celtics get an All-Star who averaged over 20 points last year, they’ll be able to put him in a position to be the best version of himself.
Depth and Coaching
The Celtics improved their starting group by signing Hayward, but they still have more depth than any other contender. Off the bench Boston will have Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum, Ante Zizic, Semi Ojeleye, and a mixture of veterans on cheap contracts.
Brown and Smart were both key contributors last season and will certainly improve their game going into next year, since that’s what young players with solid work ethics do. Tatum is a polished scorer as a rookie and will provide some offense when needed in the second unit, as Zizic and Ojeleye provide front court physicality and different areas of versatility and rebounding.
Cleveland doesn’t have the same kind of depth that Boston has, which makes up for some of the talent advantage that James gives his team. The Celtics also have the far superior coach in Stevens. Cleveland took out the Celtics in five games in the Eastern Conference Finals, but Boston managed to win a game in Cleveland without Thomas on the floor due to injury.
How were they able to do it? Stevens completely outclassed his adversary in Tyronn Lue by constructing an offensive scheme that had so much ball movement and action, the Cavs weren’t sure what to do with it. Cleveland advanced due to talent, but now Stevens has the fire power to let his coaching excellence put his team over the edge.
Cleveland Dysfunction
The Cavs were dismantled by the Warriors in this year’s finals, losing in five quick games. There were many issues for Cleveland in facing Golden State, but the main problem was the matchup nightmares that Kevin Durant caused on the floor. James was the primary defender of Durant, but the Warriors simply put Kevin Love or Tristan Thompson in a pick and roll to get the switch they wanted.
Love and Thompson are more of a traditional front court, and the Cavs needed to flip one of them for a versatile wing like Paul George, Jimmy Butler, or Carmelo Anthony to counteract the small ball of the Warriors. So far, George has been traded to the Thunder and Butler to the Timberwolves. Anthony remains in New York, and who knows if he’s going anywhere now that Phil Jackson is gone, who wanted to trade him badly.
All the Cavs have done so far is sign veteran point guard Jose Calderon. Not improving in the NBA is only something defending champions usually do, and even the Warriors have made additions that will make them better next season. Even if the Cavs go small, they’d be playing right into the Celtics hands. Boston is only behind Golden State as a small ball power, and would make Cleveland easier to beat if they gave up their size advantage.
This lack of improvement is due to the ridiculously high payroll that the Cavs have built up, and the fact that James is likely to leave next summer for Los Angeles or somewhere else in the Western Conference. With the franchise in disarray it leaves an opening for a team like the Celtics, who are clicking on all cylinders as an organization, to dethrone the Cavs from the Eastern mountaintop before they know what hit them.
Don’t just look at things in a binary sense and say that Hayward’s overall talent isn’t enough to take out James and company. Dig a little deeper d anlook at the way the Celtics play, how Thomas will be effected, and how the Cavs haven’t done anything to get better yet. Hayward has brought the Celtics level with the Cavaliers, and next season’s Eastern Conference Finals should be interesting.
