We actually thought that he had a chance to be an NBA player. But once you get to this level, there’s only so many guys that can be in the top 50 or top 30 players in the league, so that seems like a longshot for anybody that comes into college at 18, particularly a skinny tennis player. —Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens on Gordon Hayward
BOSTON — Celtics coach Brad Stevens acknowledges that he never envisioned Gordon Hayward to be an NBA top 50 player back when he recruited Hayward out of Brownsburg High in Indianapolis for his Butler University team almost a decade ago.