Gordon Hayward Appreciation Post

Gordon Hayward made waves in this 4th of July holiday when he signed with the Celtics, then reconsidered, then signed with the Celtics again. Despite the obvious reason that the news broke and unbroke several times, the Gordon Hayward signing seemed to have a different vibe than previous free agencies. 

For one thing, Gordon Hayward actually seemed to care for the Utah Jazz. LeBron revealed his "Decision,"  and KD told us about his "Next Chapter" without much acknowledgement of their previous teams, while Hayward clearly made it his top priority to thank Utah ("Thank You, Utah") and almost brace Jazz fans for the impact. Personally, I think it shows the level of class Hayward has, but there's something else that proves it as well.

There was no murderous riot in Utah after Hayward announced his intention to sign with Boston. I saw a few jersey burnings, but those guys were in the minority as many more on Twitter seemed to criticize the jersey arsonists. The Jazz community probably expected this result, and maybe that's why they weren't so harsh on him. They weren't blindsided, and Hayward let them down easy. That can be shown by the Utah Jazz's Twitter account saying, "Thank you, Gordon." There's a stark contrast between the Jazz's reaction when Hayward left and the Cavalier's reaction when LeBron left. 

Maybe people have gotten used to stars leaving their teams for a chance to win titles. Maybe it's just that Gordon Hayward wasn't as big of a star as Durant and LeBron. Maybe it was the way he revealed it. But all I know is that Gordon Hayward is pure class, and I hope he succeeds in Boston.