After suffering a gruesome leg and ankle injury in the Boston Celtics opening game of the season Gordon Hayward has had a long road back and isn't expected to play again this season.

Earlier this month Brad Stevens all but ruled him out for the rest of the season and although Hayward has said there is still a chance, there really isn't one.

That, however, doesn't mean that Stevens doesn't want to use Hayward to his advantage during the playoffs and on Wednesday he revealed his latest plan.

Without him this year though the Celtics are nowhere close to as good as they could be.  If he was listed as questionable teams would still have to prepare for him just in case the Celtics decided that it was worth the risk to bring him back.

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For Hayward, Stevens offered an update on Tuesday to Tom Westerholm of Mass Live:

“Progressing well, still on the Alter-G (resistance machine) though and not on the court as far as running goes. He has a long way to go still. Actually organized for him to go down to Miami for a couple of days this week, to the ATP tour. He watched some tennis, which is one of his favorite things to do, and continued his rehab down there.”

For Hayward, the fact that he isn't able to run on the court yet is concerning in terms of the rehab if they wanted any hope to come back.

After he is able to run on the court he is going to have to get back in shape so he still does have a very long way to go.