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Thank You, Utah
July 4 2017

GORDON HAYWARD
SMALL FORWARD / NBA


This has been the toughest decision that I’ve ever had to make in my life. This
weekend has probably been the longest weekend of my life. And today … well,
today has definitely been one of the craziest days of my life. But I wanted to
make sure that I got this right.




As you can see, it’s taken me a while, and thanks to everyone for their
patience. I can’t even begin to count the number of conversations I’ve had
with my wife, Robyn, and the rest of my inner-circle, since the season ended,
and all the way up to this evening — just going through every possible angle,
in every potential direction.





My meetings with all three teams during this process — Miami, Boston and Utah
— were just unbelievable. They couldn’t have been more impressive. Each
meeting left me convinced that the team I’d just met with was the right fit.
And even after I slept on it last night, while I was leaning heavily in one
direction … I still wasn’t 100-percent convinced about what I wanted to do.






What’s crazy is — before I even had a chance to make my decision, before I
had a chance to sit down and write this, and before I even had a chance to talk
about it with the people I love — I was already reading reports about where I
was going. And I guess that’s just the way things work, in 2017. But I’m
sorry it had to work out like that.





This was a life-changing decision for me and my family, and something we took
really seriously. And from the very start of this process, one thing stood out
as important: I knew that I wanted the fans and the organizations to hear my
decision directly from me.





After seven years in Utah, I have decided to join the Boston Celtics.


在猶他人生的7年後，我決定要加入波士頓塞爾提克隊。


I know that will be tough to hear for Jazz fans — and I really want you all to
know that you mean the world to me and my family. Over the past few days, I’ve
been genuinely torn. And I know that this process isn’t easy on the fans,
either. So I just want to be as straight-up as possible about why I’m coming
to Boston.




First, though, if you don’t mind, I would really like to just take a moment
and express how much these last seven years in Utah have meant to me. Because
there’s only one fair way to say it: They’ve meant everything.


首先，當然如果你們願意的話，我想花一點時間真心的表達，在過去的7年的猶他人生，對
我而言有多麼大的意義。因為只能用一句話形容，那是我的一切。



When I got to Salt Lake City, in the summer of 2010 — I know it’s a cliché,
but man, it’s the truth: I was just a kid. I remember the drive. I drove all
the way there, with my dad, from Indiana to Salt Lake City, just to save money.
I knew I had all of these expectations as a top 10 pick … but at the same
time, I was only 20. This was my first job away from home. And I was so nervous
about everything that was in front of me. I remember my first real routine as a
pro — finding a Subway near me (well, a mile or two away), and just walking
there, every day, so I could use my Subway card like I always had. And that was
really it for me, at first: Practice, and Subway, and video games. I was pretty
closed off.


回想起2010年的夏天，那是我第一次與鹽湖城相遇的時刻，我知道可能有點陳腔濫調，但
天啊，我說真的: 我當時只是個孩子。我記得那次開車，因為想省錢，我跟我爸一路從




And then I just think about how far I’ve come during my time here. I’ve truly
grown up in Salt Lake. I’ve become a man, and I’ve become a professional. I’
ve gone from being a kid … to now having a wife and two kids. I’ve gone from
having anxiety over leaving my family … to now having a family of my own. A
lot has happened to me during my time here, and I honestly can’t think of any
part of it that I haven’t cherished. This is a special place, and I know that
the impression it’s made on me will long outlast the impression I’ve made on
it.


然後我才想到一路過來我的猶他人生。我真的在鹽湖城成長了好多。我變成了一個男人，
我也變得更成熟更專業。一路從一個孩子‧‧‧走到現在我有了妻子還有兩個小孩。從



The Jazz organization, and everyone there who’s played a part over the course
of my career in Utah … more than anything else, they’re the people who make
this decision so difficult. Steve Stark, and the entire Miller family — they’
re first-class in everything they do. Dennis Lindsey — if there’s anyone who’
s most responsible for the winning culture in Salt Lake, it’s him. I really
could just go on here, naming people, forever.





I was literally the last Jazz player left who played under Coach Sloan — and I
always took that as a lot more than just some piece of trivia. That was
something that truly made me feel like a part of the fabric of this franchise.
And that fabric is something that has meant a lot to me, ever since.






And there are so many people who have been a part of that fabric, who have made
such a huge impact on my life — people who a lot of casual fans probably don’
t even know. And when I think about leaving Utah now … those are some of the
people who I’m going to miss the most.





I think about our assistant coach, Mark McKown, who has been with me from Day
One. I remember he took me to Santa Barbara as a rookie, with Jeremy Evans,
back when he was our strength coach — he called us G-Dilly and J-Dally.
Because we were rookies, and “all we did was dillydally.” I doubt I’ll ever
remember that and not smile.






I think about Doug Birrell, who’s our massage therapist — who was there from
the start, with John and Karl. And we’ve just had … man, just hours and hours
of conversation, over the years. Everything from arguments, to debates, to
heart-to-hearts. Stuff that would never be repeated — which is something you
really learn to value as a professional athlete. But that’s how it’s always
felt within this organization. There’s always been real friendship here. There
’s a circle of trust.


我們的按摩治療師 Doug Birrell，他可是在 John & Karl 時期就在爵士的呢。我們有過
‧‧‧天啊，在這幾年間，聊天不下幾百個小時吧。所有包含意見相左、辯論，到真心相待
。你很難再遇到這樣的情誼了，也是你真正學會，怎麼去珍惜當一個專業運動員。但這也是
你一直以來在這個組織下感受到的。在這我們有著真正的友誼，在這我們也是互相信賴。



I think about Isaiah Wright, who’s now our strength coach — but when I got
there he was just a pudgy little ball boy. And we’re about the same age, so in
a lot of ways we’ve grown up together, and worked our way up together in the
franchise. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the work he’s put in with
me, just to make me a better basketball player. Oh yeah — and that one party
he invited me to, back when I was a rookie.





I think about all of the great teammates I’ve had here, like Jeremy. I’ll
never forget — 2012, Jeremy is in the dunk contest, and I’m supposed to help
him with a dunk. And it’s the night before, and we’re at our hotel in Orlando
… and we’re like two kids who didn’t study before the final. We’ve got
nothing. And man, we’re just panicking, we’ve got no ideas, we’re trying to
think of something. And then we finally end up finding this ratty little YMCA
court, near the hotel, at like 3 in the morning, and we try to get a few reps
in. And that’s when Jeremy thinks up his dunk where I toss him two balls at
once. So we practice it one time, literally once, and that’s it. Totally wing
it. And of course Jeremy ends up nailing it, and winning the dunk contest.






I think about Coach Snyder, who, our first conversation, when we met for dinner
after he was hired — we didn’t even talk basketball once. Not a single word.
It was just life … and family … and who we were as individuals. As a coach,
Coach Snyder is incredible in every aspect of the game. His leadership, his
unique ability to motivate, and his insane attention to detail are such special
qualities that I will miss so much. There’s a lot of people I have to thank
for where I am today as a basketball player, but honestly none more than Coach
Snyder.



Snyder教練。


I think about Johnnie Bryant, a guy who was a developmental coach when I first
got here, and now he’s on the bench as an assistant. This past summer was
probably the most important summer of my career, basketball-wise — just
training to really take that next step as a player. And Johnnie, he’s just the
best there is — he was right there, every step of the way, with me. He’s the
guy who was having me work out with Kobe. He’s the guy who was sending me
texts, late at night, early in the morning, just encouraging me, pushing me, “
study this video,” “look at this game film.” He’s really the guy, at the
end of the day, who found the All-Star in me.





And then I just think of the people of Utah, in general. They say that Salt
Lake is a great place to raise a family — and I know that sounds like
something people just say. But you spend enough time here … and you realize
that it’s true. And for me, as far as that goes — I feel like I’m indebted
to Salt Lake, twice over. Because not only has this been the city where I’ve
started my family, and not only has this been the city that’s helped raise my
daughters for the last couple of years … but long before that, during my first
few years in the league — I also feel like this city helped raise me. And I
feel like this city took me in, as part of its own family.



我覺得這個城市也養育了我，它接納了我，讓我成為鹽湖城大家庭的一份子。


And I just wanted to say thank you for that.


我只是想說，謝謝你。


And thank you for everything.


謝謝你為我做的一切。



The last time I had a decision this tough … it was in college, during my
sophomore year, after we lost to Duke in the national championship game. I’d
gotten on NBA radars as a result of my play that March, and there were
projections that I might even be a first-round pick in the draft. And so I had
a decision to make: Should I leave my comfort zone at Butler and move on to the
NBA? Or should I stay another year, and give it another go, and try to finish
what we’d started — try to win a championship?



選秀名單中。當時我面臨到一個選擇: 我應該離開Bulter大學的舒適圈投身NBA，還是應該

再多留一年，不管選秀，去努力完成我們最初的目標，贏得NCAA的總冠軍?



It was such a tough decision. But there was one person who I knew I could talk
to about it from every angle, who I knew would give me the smartest and most
honest perspective available: Coach Stevens.


當時真的也是超難選擇。但我知道有一個人，在我不管面對任何事情都可以討論的人，一個
我知道他會給我最有智慧，也最由衷的建議: Stevens教練。


Coach Stevens was so great about it, all of it. He helped me lay out my
options, and talked it through from both sides … but in the end, when I needed
it, he also gave me my space. And he also let me know that it was my choice to
make — and that he would be there for me, on the other side of it, either way.
And of course I ended up deciding to leave: I declared for the draft, and got
drafted, and started my new NBA life in Utah. But it always meant a lot to me,
to know how, in that moment, even with our lives at this strange crossroads
together, Coach Stevens was someone I could count on.






And I guess it’s pretty crazy. Because seven years later, I had to make an
even tougher decision — and again, Coach Stevens and I found ourselves at a
crossroads together. And again, he was the person I knew I could count on the
most.




And now I’ve decided to sign with the Boston Celtics.


而我現在，也決定要跟波士頓塞爾提克簽約了。


There were so many great things pulling me in that direction. There was the
winning culture of Boston, as a city — from the Sox, to the Pats, to the
Bruins. There was the special history of the Celtics, as a franchise — from
Russell, to Bird, to Pierce, and it goes on. There was the amazing potential of
this current Celtics roster, as a team — from ownership, to the front office,
to a talented roster with Isaiah, and Al, and everyone else. And of course,
there was Coach Stevens: Not just for the relationship that we’ve built off
the court — but also for the one that we started building on the court, all of
those years ago, in Indiana.



是天賦濟濟，而球隊本身，從領導層、到制服組、再到不單單只是交情好，幾年前我們也在

印第安納從零開始，打造屬於我們場上陣容的 Stevens 教練。



And that unfinished business we had together, back in 2010, when I left Butler
for the NBA … as far as I’m concerned, all of these years later, we still
have it:


而在2010年，當我為了追求NBA離開 Butler 後，我們那未完成的理想‧‧即便在這麼年後
依然還縈繞在我心頭:


And that’s to win a championship.


那就是成為冠軍。



https://www.theplayerstribune.com/gordon-hayward-decision-free-agency-nba/




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