Your Morning Dump... Where Hayward wants to return this season

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

As the Celtics stormed to a 22-5 start, it became tantalizing to wonder what they might be with Hayward. And given his consistent progress, and the fact that more than four months remain in the regular season, it is impossible not to wonder if there is a chance, however slim it might be, that he could be back this year.

Hayward admits that he thinks about it, too. But he immediately cautions that there can be dangers in looking far ahead. He has made this progress by tackling obstacles one by one, and he knows the last, most massive one remains distant.

But yes, of course he is aware of it. Of course he would like to play for the Celtics this season.

“It’s definitely in the back of my mind,” Hayward said. “I’m definitely pushing to get back as fast as I can, while making sure that I still have a lot of good years of basketball in me. And coming back early and hurting something else is not part of that plan. So I’m making sure that if I come back, I’m 1,000 percent confident in myself and my leg. I hope more than anything I can play this season. That would be awesome. But that’s not something I’m stressing about. I’m stressing about what I can do today to help myself get better.”

Globe: A night out with Gordon Hayward discussing his recovery, his team and his eventual return

This is a great piece by Adam Himmelsbach on how far Hayward has come and how far he has to go. It’s also an interesting look into Hayward’s psyche, and the mental gymnastics one has to go through to rehab an injury like this.

The most tantalizing aspect here is the potential for a comeback. He’s going to be out of the walking boot for good this month, and then he has three months of wearing a small brace (which is photographed in the piece). Somewhere in that time frame he’s going to start doing some light cardio work and start the process of getting himself back into NBA shape.

Three months in the smaller brace works out be the end of March. The NBA season ends in mid-April. Playoff series are so drawn out that the second round of the playoffs won’t start until the beginning of May.

The Celtics need scoring off the bench. How amazing would it be to have Gordon Hayward give the Celtics 15-20 minutes off the bench in a playoff series?

If I put money down to bet on when Hayward would return, that’s where it would go… second round of the playoffs. He will have missed the entire regular season and, by then, have gone through six and a half months of recovery and rehabilitation. It’s a time frame that accounts for potential setbacks, extra caution, and complete confidence in his leg and ability to play basketball.

However…

It’s still ambitious. He only just got rid of the crutches. He currently can’t do a calf raise with his left foot. He was only just allowed to stand and shoot a basketball.

Progress, sure, but nowhere near the place our heads want him to be. It’s a long, slow, grueling process that Haywards admits can be psychologically torturous. Luckily, he’s an NBA player with a great support system.

You or I would spend a year trying to recover from an injury like that. Hayward’s personal trainer moved in with him so they could rehab properly multiple times a day. He spends hours working on getting better, lifting weights, keeping his shooting form tight, and going to a sports psychologist to help him get through the process.

Hayward’s going to be fine. His trainer thinks Hayward will come out of this process even better than he was before.

Maybe we’ll find out during the playoffs.

Page 2: Ainge is waiting for Jaylen and Jayson to get humbled

Each entered the league at the prohibitive age of 19, and both have already exceeded expectations, also filling major roles on a playoff-bound team. That’s an opportunity that eludes most high-lottery draft picks, who on the whole are forced to accept the tradeoff of generous minutes in the vacuum of a bottom-feeding team.

But that’s not what Tatum and Brown have seen. And that’s Ainge’s concern.

“I worry sometimes that they could have too much success too soon, because they will be humbled — this league does that to you,” Ainge told the Herald last week. “What we’re seeing is pretty rare. We have two young guys like that in Jaylen and Jayson.”

Herald: Celtics Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum shining examples of the new power of NBA teens

Everyone has ups and downs in the NBA. Jayson Tatum will hit a cold streak at some point. He or Jaylen will have games where they’re the worst players on the floor. It’s going to happen because it happens to almost everyone at some point in their careers.

And while I understand Ainge’s concerns about too much success too soon, I think the support system in place in Boston will minimize that for them.

Boston has stable ownership, unlike other teams whose owners may capitulate to star players. No matter how good these guys get, they know the ownership stands by the structure they’ve put in place.

Boston has a very capable front office, unlike other teams who bend to pressure (often put on them by bad owners) and make bad trades or signings creating problems in the locker room.

Boston has a very capable coaching staff, unlike other teams whose coaches make poor decisions on and off the court and let whatever locker room problems they have fester.

So let’s say Tatum or Brown blossom into one of the league’s next superstars… where in that chain of command is the weak link that will cave to them? Where in that is there someone who’ll allow a growing young player to grow into a selfish NBA star?

You never know what kind of outside influences there are with guys and even the coolest, most humble-seeming kid can be poisoned somehow into becoming something different as he grows. It’s definitely possible something could come along to cloud these two players’ judgement.

It doesn’t feel very likely, though. These seem like two guys with good heads on their shoulders with good outside influences. The Celtics are a team with strong support from top to bottom in and out of the locker room. A great coach who communicates well, high-quality veterans, and, former players constantly around the team giving advice on what to expect in a unique situation like Boston.

A guy would really have to try hard to go off the rails in a situation like this.