Alec Burks made his Cleveland Cavaliers debut Friday against an old friend, Boston Celtics small forward Gordon Hayward.
Burks and Hayward were teammates together with the Utah Jazz. Burks, who finished with 15 points in his first game with Cleveland, believes Hayward is going to return to All-Star form.
Alec Burks on Hayward: "When I was in Utah, we played him a couple weeks ago and he was a totally different player than he is now. Those types of injuries, they just take time. He’ll get his whole rhythm back. He’s going to get back to another level, back to the All-Star he was.”
— Boston.com Celtics News (@BDCCeltics) December 1, 2018
Gordon Hayward has gotten off to a very slow start this season, but that was to be expected. When you miss a year of basketball like Hayward did last season, you’re not just going to come back and immediately start playing well against the best players in the world.
Hayward suffered a fractured left ankle in the Celtics’ season-opening loss last year. It's been a tough start to the season for the swingman, but he had a good game Friday against the Cavs, scoring 14 points in 24 minutes while shooting 6-of-9 from the floor and 1-of-3 from beyond the arc.
Hayward entered Friday averaging 10.1 points. Burks knows Hayward better than anyone, so we should take his word. If he believes Hayward will regain his form, it's highly likely that will come to fruition. There have been moments this season where Hayward has looked like his old self, and then there are times where he looks completely lost. It's going to take time, time that is on Hayward's side since it's such a long NBA season.
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