The narrative around Gordon Hayward is complicated. We are slowly shifting from “when is he going to regain his All Star form?” to “will he ever regain his All Star form?”
On the bright side, he has recovered from his very, very scary and serious ankle injury. He has clearance to play and there have even been moments when he’s looked like his old self. He even completed the alley-oop play that caused the injury in the first place (more of a mental hurdle than a physical one).
On the not-as-bright side, he hasn’t had the same quickness off the dribble, hasn’t always looked comfortable creating contact, and generally hasn’t produced as much or as consistently as we had all hoped.