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After a video teaser was posted by The Players Tribune on Friday that showed Boston Celtics small forward Gordon Hayward rehabbing from his gruesome ankle injury suffered in the season opener, many people anticipated there would be a very slight chance he returns this season at some point. Celtics head coach Brad Stevens reacted to the video and put those rumors to rest: Hayward is out for the season.
“He's not playing this year. I don't know what else to say,” Stevens said. “He's progressing, yes. He did another alter-G workout this morning,” said Stevens. “He's up to 60 percent of his weight on the alter-G. If you've ever run on the alter-G, that feels like you're flying without your legs touching the ground. It's great.”
When he was asked about the video on Saturday morning while meeting with Celtics beat reporter Chris Forsberg of ESPN and other members of the media, coach Stevens said it was still very refreshing to see Hayward making such amazing progress since the injury happened.
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“I think the videos are great, too. Because, like, it continues to show the progress,” Stevens said of Hayward. “Sometimes when you're in the midst of that long rehab, you don't feel the progress of the day-to-day the way now we all might see a video or somebody that hasn't seen him may seen a video and say, ‘Man, he really is getting better.' But he's a super long way away from even being on 1-on-0 workout where he's cutting.”
It's unfortunate that Hayward is indeed going to have to miss all but one game during his first season in Boston, but the Celtics seem to have at least found their groove lately. Since the return of point guard Marcus Smart from a freak hand injury that kept him out of the lineup for a month, Boston has won four in a row since the All-Star break.
However, the Celtics face a massive road test tonight against the white-hot Houston Rockets, who have the league's best record at 48-13 and are currently riding a 14-game winning streak.
