Gordon Hayward 1st Press Conference Call w/ CELTICS
- 6 years ago
Gordon Hayward Press Conference Call w/ CELTICS. Highlights from Gordon Haywards 1st conference call with the Boston Celtics' media.
Gordon Hayward introductory conference call
Mike Petraglia (CLNS Media): Bring us up to speed on what the last couple of weeks have been and what really led to your ultimate decision to sign with the Celtics?
Gordon Hayward: The last couple of weeks have been pretty crazy for me since the season ended. Up until we made the decision, I was probably on the phone with my agent every single day. Mark and I have talked about this for a while now, and at the beginning of it, we wanted to narrow it down. We didn’t want to go into July 1 with a lot of different teams. We wanted to make sure we were ready and focused on the teams that we wanted to look at. I think we did a really good job of picking three first-class organizations. I said in my thing for Players Tribune that this has been one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever had to make, and that truly is how it was.
Every place that I went to I was blown away by the meeting. Pat Riley and Spo in Miami, that’s a tremendous organization did a terrific job and I remember calling Mark right after that and saying I could see myself playing for Miami next year.
Then, obviously, go to Boston the next day and same type of feelings, I’m blown away with the presentation and everything about the Boston Celtics. Turn around and fly all the way back to San Diego and meet with the Jazz. After meeting with them there was a feeling of how could I ever leave the Jazz.
Then you take about 24 hours and try to take some of the emotion out of the decision.
I think I’ve gone on record to say this, but I wanted to make it clear how much I appreciate everybody in the Utah organization and Gail Miller and the owners and Dennis and Quinn and all the teammates that I’ve played with. They’ve all been just tremendous to me and the last seven years playing for the Jazz was something that I’ll never forget. I truly did mean what I said and want to thank them for everything that they gave me.
That being said, I think after talking with Mark and my wife and thinking it over, there was just something different about Boston and different about being a Celtic. It was just a special feeling when talking about being a Boston Celtic, and that ultimately won me over and I decided to join the Boston Celtics.
Jared Weiss (CLNS Media): Can you walk us through what was going on that day when the report initially broke and then going through that whole process before actually informing the teams and releasing the Players Tribune article?
GH: That was definitely a hectic day. My mind was in all kinds of different places that day. It is definitely fair to say that I was leaning towards Boston, but at the same time, we hadn’t figured it out. I was going back and forth with Mark and we were really discussing throughout the day different reasons why or why not I should go to a different place.
I was literally on the phone with Mark when the story broke online and I’m getting stuff to my phone and I’m getting blown up saying I decided to become a Boston Celtic. Everybody knows it was all over the internet. At that point in time, we decided we have to step away from this.
I was pretty upset that that had happened. I didn’t feel like I was ready to say, ‘Yes I want to be a Boston Celtic.’ So I had to take a step back and we regrouped and I think we talked about it more and more and finally we put out the article.
I know there were a lot of reports of people saying we were finishing up the article for the Tribune, which is completely false. I had a ghost writer that I was talking with throughout the course of my visits and I was sharing my thoughts the whole time. It was one of those things where once I finally made the decision now it is like five minutes and we finish it up and we’re ready to go.
It was definitely a crazy day. Kind of bummed how it happened, but this day in age that type of stuff goes on and there is not much you can do about it.
*Full Transcription Available Upon Request
_________________________________________________
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A Production of CLNS Media Network.
-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-
Please watch: "FULL KYRIE IRVING and GORDON HAYWARD CELTICS Press Conference"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7FoDj4-Nzw
-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-
Gordon Hayward introductory conference call
Mike Petraglia (CLNS Media): Bring us up to speed on what the last couple of weeks have been and what really led to your ultimate decision to sign with the Celtics?
Gordon Hayward: The last couple of weeks have been pretty crazy for me since the season ended. Up until we made the decision, I was probably on the phone with my agent every single day. Mark and I have talked about this for a while now, and at the beginning of it, we wanted to narrow it down. We didn’t want to go into July 1 with a lot of different teams. We wanted to make sure we were ready and focused on the teams that we wanted to look at. I think we did a really good job of picking three first-class organizations. I said in my thing for Players Tribune that this has been one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever had to make, and that truly is how it was.
Every place that I went to I was blown away by the meeting. Pat Riley and Spo in Miami, that’s a tremendous organization did a terrific job and I remember calling Mark right after that and saying I could see myself playing for Miami next year.
Then, obviously, go to Boston the next day and same type of feelings, I’m blown away with the presentation and everything about the Boston Celtics. Turn around and fly all the way back to San Diego and meet with the Jazz. After meeting with them there was a feeling of how could I ever leave the Jazz.
Then you take about 24 hours and try to take some of the emotion out of the decision.
I think I’ve gone on record to say this, but I wanted to make it clear how much I appreciate everybody in the Utah organization and Gail Miller and the owners and Dennis and Quinn and all the teammates that I’ve played with. They’ve all been just tremendous to me and the last seven years playing for the Jazz was something that I’ll never forget. I truly did mean what I said and want to thank them for everything that they gave me.
That being said, I think after talking with Mark and my wife and thinking it over, there was just something different about Boston and different about being a Celtic. It was just a special feeling when talking about being a Boston Celtic, and that ultimately won me over and I decided to join the Boston Celtics.
Jared Weiss (CLNS Media): Can you walk us through what was going on that day when the report initially broke and then going through that whole process before actually informing the teams and releasing the Players Tribune article?
GH: That was definitely a hectic day. My mind was in all kinds of different places that day. It is definitely fair to say that I was leaning towards Boston, but at the same time, we hadn’t figured it out. I was going back and forth with Mark and we were really discussing throughout the day different reasons why or why not I should go to a different place.
I was literally on the phone with Mark when the story broke online and I’m getting stuff to my phone and I’m getting blown up saying I decided to become a Boston Celtic. Everybody knows it was all over the internet. At that point in time, we decided we have to step away from this.
I was pretty upset that that had happened. I didn’t feel like I was ready to say, ‘Yes I want to be a Boston Celtic.’ So I had to take a step back and we regrouped and I think we talked about it more and more and finally we put out the article.
I know there were a lot of reports of people saying we were finishing up the article for the Tribune, which is completely false. I had a ghost writer that I was talking with throughout the course of my visits and I was sharing my thoughts the whole time. It was one of those things where once I finally made the decision now it is like five minutes and we finish it up and we’re ready to go.
It was definitely a crazy day. Kind of bummed how it happened, but this day in age that type of stuff goes on and there is not much you can do about it.
*Full Transcription Available Upon Request
_________________________________________________
Follow @CLNSMedia on Twitter
Subscribe to CLNS Media YouTube Channel
Download the free CLNS Media Mobile APP for Android & iOS
Support our sponsor:
Hello Fresh! Go to www.HelloFresh.com and use promo code BEAT30 for THREE FREE meals & Free Shipping
A Production of CLNS Media Network.
-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-
Please watch: "FULL KYRIE IRVING and GORDON HAYWARD CELTICS Press Conference"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7FoDj4-Nzw
-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-