SALT LAKE CITY — Brandon Waters clutched two thick bags full of Utah Jazz gear with his left hand. With his right, he tugged on the bill of his burnt orange Jazz hat on Friday night in the concourse of Vivint Smart Home Arena. He was wearing an oversized Rudy Gobert jersey.
As he and his family anticipated Gordon Hayward’s initial return to Utah, Waters ticked off credentials that left no doubt of his die-hard status. He and his family left their home in Pocatello, Idaho, early to beat the traffic on a two-hour drive down I-15. In his home, Waters has a seven-foot replica of the Jazz bear. He says he’s been one of the Jazz’s biggest fans for each of his 23 years.
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Hayward was his boy, no doubt. Yes, Waters loved Deron Williams and connected with Paul Millsap. Yes, Gobert and Donovan Mitchell were there to pick up the pieces when Hayward matriculated to the Boston Celtics through free agency. But, Hayward, that was his guy. Through seven years of Hayward in a Jazz jersey, Waters rode with him on every step.
And that’s what made July 4, 2017, such a difficult day for Waters, and for almost every Jazz fan with a vested interest.
“It was so hard,” Waters said. “It was brutal. You’re trying to have your holiday with your family and you have this dread hanging over you. For seven years, we all watched Gordon go from a lanky kid who wasn’t that good to becoming an All-Star. It was a tough day. It kind of ripped your heart out.”
Friday night turned into a wild and emotional evening at Vivint. Hayward went through pregame shooting without much incident … until he left the floor and those in attendance booed lustily. He was booed in the layup line. He was booed during introductions. He was booed every time he touched the basketball. Mitchell was in turn given a standing ovation at almost every opportunity.
Two years after Hayward left for Brad Stevens and the Celtics, the hurt still runs deep. It doesn’t matter that Mitchell and Gobert led the Jazz to the second round of the Western Conference playoffs last season. It doesn’t matter that Utah has a bright future with its two biggest stars well under 30, an elite coach in Quin Snyder and a smart front office that’s made good move after good move for the past five seasons.
Hayward was a homegrown star who left a small market. Think Kevin Durant. Obviously, Hayward, who is still fighting to regain peak form following his horrific ankle injury last season, isn’t anywhere as good as Durant. But, the similarities are there. Durant grew up with the Oklahoma City Thunder. He came into his own, he involved himself into the OKC community, and he made himself the very identity of the Thunder, before abruptly leaving for the Golden State Warriors.
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The Jazz and their fans watched Hayward mature from a boy to a man. Hayward was timid as the skinny kid who almost won a national title in his time with Stevens at Butler. Williams once famously during a game fired a basketball at Hayward’s head, when Hayward made the wrong cut in an offensive set. Delonte West just as famously gave Hayward a wet willy, and Hayward responded by doing. . . nothing. His initial years with the Jazz favored a baby deer: You could readily see the potential. But you could also see he had a long way to go.
“I grew up here,” Hayward said following Utah’s 123-115 win over the Celtics. “I got married here, I had a couple of kids here. I went from playing on teams that weren’t very good to playing on a team that went to the playoffs and won a round. I’ll always have fond memories here.”
And, that’s why Jazz fans were relentless in booing Hayward on Friday night. They are a prideful and rabid fan base without another professional franchise within the four major sports. When Jazz fans love, they tend to love hard. And in some ways, John Stockton and Karl Malone spoiled them. They played in tandem for almost 20 seasons, hardly ever missing games. They twice pushed Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls to the brink, before losing in consecutive NBA Finals. Stockton never left. Malone left for one season with Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The fans wanted Hayward to be the modern day version of that, the homegrown star who came into his own and never left. When he did in fact leave, with the way he left, the community felt shunned.
“It ripped our hearts out,” Waters said. “It stunk to see him go.”
The vitriol was significant. One fan wore a Jazz jersey with Hayward’s number that said “Coward” on the back. When Hayward tripped and fell early in the game, the jeers were loud. Hayward said he noticed. So did his Celtics teammates. He tried to smile through it all. He talked good-natured trash with his former teammates. He exchanged pleasantries with his former coach and the rest of the Jazz staff. His wife Robyn flew in for the occasion. For Hayward, Friday night in many ways was an event for him as well as the Jazz fans.
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“That was the cool part,” Hayward said. “To see and talk to some of those guys that I don’t get to see anymore, Joe Ingles, all the people on the staff, some of the front office. I saw Gail (Jazz owner Gail Miller). All that stuff was good.”
The Jazz as a franchise did their best to be classy to Hayward. They sent a Twitter video welcoming him back. Players and coaches spoke well of him at shootaround Friday morning. But when the game started, it was evident the Jazz badly wanted to win this one.
Hayward’s currently not the same player he was with the Jazz, thanks to his ankle injury. He’s not as quick. He doesn’t have the same explosion off the dribble. Most glaring, he’s not nearly the same defensively.
And the Jazz took advantage of that, putting Hayward in pick and roll time and again and scoring relentlessly. In all, the Jazz drove 11 times on Hayward, and scored 1.11 points per drive, while scoring less than a point per drive on the other Boston defenders. Hayward scored 13 points and handed out seven assists in 26 minutes. He went 3-of-9 from the field and made all six of his free throws. He seemed mostly relieved at the end that it was all over.
“I thought he did a lot of good things,” Stevens said. “It’s probably not the easiest position to be in. But I thought he handled it well from a playing standpoint.”
He even had fans in the building that were still fans. Kellyn Goodrich and his family came from Rock Springs, Wyoming, in support of Hayward, driving three hours down the I-80 corridor. Goodrich dressed for the occasion, with a Hayward jersey, a Celtics hat and plenty of enthusiasm for the moment.
“After his injury and everything he went through, I had to be there for him,” Goodrich said. “I had to support him. I’m just happy to see him back and see him playing.”
(Photo: Russ Isabella / USA TODAY Sports)
Tony Jones is a Staff Writer at The Athletic covering the Utah Jazz and the NBA. A native of the East Coast and a journalism brat as a child, he has an addiction to hip-hop music and pickup basketball, and his Twitter page has been used for occasional debates concerning Biggie and Tupac. Follow Tony on Twitter @Tjonesonthenba
