Ainge: Gordon Hayward Close To Being 'Permanently Out' Of Walking Boot
BOSTON (CBS) -- Gordon Hayward's wife Robyn caused brief hysteria on social media on Wednesday when she shared a video of her husband without a walking boot. The Celtics forward still needs the boot despite being able to remove it at night, but Danny Ainge revealed that he could be mere weeks away from losing it entirely.
The Celtics president of basketball ops. joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich for his weekly call on Thursday, and told them that it could be just two weeks before Hayward is completely done having to wear his walking boot. Ainge still won't give Hayward any kind of timeline or suggest that there's a chance he plays this season, but his recovery continues to go well and the impending removal of the walking boot is certainly a good sign.
"He's progressing along. He can take the boot off for short periods of time. hes doing really well. His therapy is going great. He's right on schedule," Ainge said of Hayward. "He's doing sometimes two workouts a day and trying to get stronger. The next phases are just getting out of the boot completely. But I still think that's a couple of weeks away from being permanently out of the boot."
Ainge was also asked about how much stock he puts into the plus-minus stat for players, which is often used from game to game to point out who is playing good defense or has a well-rounded game. He may have disappointed some proponents of plus-minus with his harsh comments about it on Wednesday.
"The individual game plus-minus stat is worthless," said Ainge. "Occasionally it has some relevance. You can watch a game and say 'OK, that guy had a major impact on the game' ... but oftentimes if you're just on the court with the players who are having great games, you can have a big plus-minus and play a terrible game. I wish they wouldn't even put that on an individual game. I think over the course of a season they can be valuable, but I don't put too much stock on them."
"We have adjusted plus-minuses that are much more complex that we put a lot more stock into than just the raw plus-minus."
Listen above for the full interview!