I think I remember hearing the bolded too, but it looks odd in hindsight. He started just 18 games that season, only 3 of which came after Thanksgiving. Of course the former all-star in his prime was going to start coming back from injury, and Brad gave him a month to work it out before benching him. All other issues aside, that team just couldn't work without Hayward playing at an all-star level. Tatum/Brown weren't ready, Morris/Rozier were playing for contracts, Kyrie at his best was a terrific offensive player that gave a lot of it back on defense. Horford was great but just a borderline all-star, and Smart was nothing more than a good role player. Without anyone resembling a top 10 player, they didn't have a shot at winning anything. Hayward was supposed to make the jump into being that guy, and the injury just killed him.