After being out of commission for a whole year nursing a gruesome leg injury, Boston Celtics swingman Gordon Hayward is understandably still showing a lot of rust. Fortunately for the 28-year-old, he appears to have the full backing of his head coach, Brad Stevens.

Following the Celtics' Friday night overtime victory against the Toronto Raptors, Stevens opened up about the current state of Hayward's comeback, and how the 6-foot-8 small forward has fared thus far in his eyes, per Sean Deveney of Sporting News.

“He’s a good player,” coach Brad Stevens said. “And there’s going to be a curve. I think that 15 on eight shots is pretty good when you consider how much we’re asking him to handle the ball and make plays for others. But you know, I think he’s done a lot of things in the last couple of weeks where you can see those steps are being made. And it’s just a matter of feeling good again.”

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Gordon Hayward's 15 markers on Friday matched his second-best output for the season. Aside from going 4-of-8 from the field, the former All-Star also went 6-of-6 from the charity stripe, which is definitely a good sign in terms of Hayward's aggressiveness on the floor. He also added one 3-pointer, five rebounds, five assists, and four steals to round out one of his best performances thus far.

It appears that coach Stevens is remaining very patient with his star, and is giving him as much breathing room as he can afford as Gordon Hayward makes his way back to full strength. Hopefully, this comes sooner rather than later as the Celtics will definitely need the Hayward of old as the grueling season unfolds.