Fans of the Boston Celtics and Utah Jazz alike can recall the summer of 2017 that saw reports of Gordon Hayward signing with the Celtics, only to be denied, and then later confirmed. That rollercoaster ride of a hot July day is hard to forget. Especially given the team that Hayward thought he would be joining turned out to be snake-bit from the beginning of his tenure with the team under his college coach at Butler, Brad Stevens.
Hayward spoke about that fateful season in a recent interviewwith the "Run It Back" show, looking back at that tug of war over his services and what came afterward. "I remember walking out of the tunnel, and I remember the fans chanting," recalled the former Bulldog.
"Some fans put together some campaign, and there was
a billboard on the interstate in Utah that said 'Stayward' with my picture on it," he added. "(It was a) really ridiculously hard decision to make."
"Ultimately, I felt like Coach Stevens, reuniting with Coach Stevens (was the move)," continued Hayward. "And when I decided to sign there, it was Isaiah Thomas and Al Horford and a cast of other veterans. It's something that I decided at the time."
"The West was completely stacked with (the) Golden State (Warriors), and I think during that summer even more free agents went (to the) West. And so it's like yeah, the East is there and it's open for the taking and Coach Stevens convinced me and (I) decided to leave."
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Gordon Hayward on what convinced him to sign with the Boston Celtics
