In an interview with Dan Le Batard (video hyperlink), Gordon Hayward reveals that he gave critical consideration to becoming a member of the Warmth earlier than signing with Boston in 2017. Hayward, who introduced his retirement final week, recollects being instantly drawn to Miami after assembly with group officers.
“I principally visited three groups,” he stated. “I began with Miami, then did Boston, then completed with Utah, assembly with all these groups. I keep in mind vividly telling my agent after every assembly, like I began with Miami, and I’m like, ‘I need to go to Miami. We don’t even have to do the opposite conferences.’ Miami is the place I need to be, and he type of was like, ‘Effectively, we obtained to listen to everybody out.’”
Hayward wound up accepting a four-year, $127.8MM supply from the Celtics, however he suffered a extreme leg damage in his first sport that affected the remainder of his profession. Despite the fact that Boston received the bidding battle, Hayward by no means misplaced his affection for the Warmth or the town.
“The Warmth have at all times been a first-class group, so I used to be actually, actually near signing there,” he added. “I really feel like (Erik Spoelstra) is likely one of the finest coaches within the league, and clearly, Pat Riley is famous in his personal proper. I used to be very shut. Additionally, my brother-in-law lives in Miami. My spouse would have cherished residing there and the seashore and every thing, however finally determined to go to Boston.”
There’s extra from Miami:
- Josh Christopher is hoping to revive his profession with the Warmth after successful championship sport MVP honors throughout the Las Vegas Summer season League and signing a two-way contract. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald talked to an unidentified scout in regards to the former first-round decide, who was caught within the G League final season following two uninspiring years in Houston. “He can rating. He’s nonetheless younger. He’s obtained NBA expertise,” the scout stated. “You don’t write him off. If he’s going to play within the NBA, he’s going to have a way more restricted position [than the shoot-first starring role in summer league]. Can he make threes at an affordable charge and play inside himself and never assume he’s a star? He must be an off-ball man. He wants to simply accept he’s a 3 and D man. If there’s any position for him, it’s that.”
- The scout was complimentary of the Warmth’s two draft picks, Jackson provides. He sees first-rounder Kel’el Ware as presumably “this yr’s Dereck Full of life” on account of his dimension and talent to dam photographs, and lists second-rounder Pelle Larsson‘s attributes as “excessive IQ, first rate athlete, good physique, can create a shot, can defend, competes.”
- Right now marked the primary time that Warmth teammates acquired medals for various nations in the identical Olympics, notes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Bam Adebayo was a part of gold-medal-winning Crew USA, whereas Nikola Jovic picked up a bronze with Serbia.
