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New Orleans •
Gordon Hayward's father still has the piece of paper, now "beaten up and abused," upon which he helped his son map a path to his childhood dream all those years ago.
"He was young and I told him it's great to have goals and dreams, but you have to have steps along the way," Gordon Scott Hayward recalled last week.
The list started with a seemingly simple task: making the junior high school basketball team. It ended with the kid from Brownsburg, Ind., making the NBA.
After six full seasons of living that dream, however, Gordon Hayward realized that alone wasn't enough. So the Utah Jazz forward set out to make a new list, meticulous and displayed in the team's practice facility so it would be impossible to ignore.
"One of the goals was to be an All-Star," Hayward said. "That was written on a calendar on the wall. It's something I saw every single morning."
On Sunday night, when his name is announced among a list of the best basketball players in the world, Hayward will be able to check off another item.
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Changing it up • Hayward's road to becoming the Jazz's first All-Star selection since Deron Williams in 2011 started years ago as the scrawny tennis player from Indiana slowly transformed himself into his team's No. 1 scoring option on the basketball court. But in April, after the Jazz had faltered in the final week of the regular season and missed out on a playoff berth, Hayward knew he had to make some changes.
"It's because we were losing," Hayward told The Salt Lake Tribune this past week. "I felt like I wasn't good enough to put the team in the position where we wanted to be. I hate losing. I hated having to sit there and watch the playoffs. Sitting home in April, it left a bitter taste in my mouth."
At Hayward's exit interview, Jazz coach Quin Snyder and general manager Dennis Lindsey suggested the forward change up his usual summer routine and stay in Utah with his coaching staff rather than return home to Indiana.
"I had a couple of decent seasons and they asked me, 'Is this all you want?' " Hayward said. "They challenged me to get uncomfortable, to become a better player, and to be a great player."
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Sticking to a plan • To become an All-Star, Hayward and his coaches needed a plan.
First, simply, the Jazz needed to win more. To do that, Hayward would need to boost his production. To do that, he would have to address his weaknesses, such as his footwork, his ball handling, his left hand. To that, he would need to improve his hand-eye coordination and balance. The list on the wall went on and on.
Then, with the NBA playoffs in full swing, Hayward went to work with Jazz assistant Johnnie Bryant and strength coach Isaiah Wright.
"He was tired of being home early," Bryant said. "He's a competitor, and we all see that in the way he plays and his approach. We basically sat down and talked about different areas of his game that needed improvement. … He was hungry to learn, hungry to get better."
Every day at 7 a.m., Hayward arrived at the team's practice facility for a workout. The sessions were moved to 8 a.m. for a short time, until Hayward moved them back to the earlier start.
"I was running into people too much," Hayward said. "I wanted it to be just me and [Wright] in there before everybody."
Hayward didn't want anything to interfere with his work.
His family was disappointed, but understanding, when he told them he wouldn't be coming home to Indiana for the summer. And when USA Basketball offered him a spot on the Olympic team, Hayward turned it down after putting together a list of pros and cons with Bryant.
"It was a combination of things," Hayward said of his decision. "The birth of our second baby was huge for me. I wanted to support [my wife] Robyn. And I felt like this summer was big for me with the chance to improve my game. The Olympics was an amazing opportunity, but I didn't want to go two months of not being able to work on my game."
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From good to great • Instead, Hayward dedicated himself entirely to the goals written on the wall.
"He amped it up this past summer," Snyder said. "You look at the things that would be considered weaknesses at some point, I think he addressed them. … The results speak for themselves."
Hayward worked with Jazz assistant Igor Kokoskov, practicing the off-balance, wrong-footed layups the coach had once taught former NBA MVP Steve Nash. He spent a few days with Lakers legend Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, working on his midrange game. He spent hours in a pool, exercising to improve his balance. Every Friday morning, Hayward worked with a boxing trainer to improve his hand speed, coordination and footwork.
Hayward watched film of each of his own workouts.
"We were honest," Bryant, the Jazz assistant coach, said. "We pulled the gloves back and said, 'Hey, this is where we're at.'"
The star forward focused on himself, never playing a game of five-on-five until September, when his teammates began to arrive ahead of the start of training camp. And when he did get back to playing, Hayward noticed a difference.
"Playing with each other in open gyms, it was a lot easier to score and do what I wanted on the basketball court," he said. "The game had slowed down for me."
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Transformed player • These days Brad Stevens hardly recognizes the player who helped lead the Butler Bulldogs to the 2010 NCAA Tournament championship game. When Stevens recruited Hayward to Butler out of high school, the rail-thin 6-foot-8 teenager could bench press 185 pounds just three times. Now Stevens, the head coach of the Boston Celtics, marvels at Hayward's strength and force on the court.
"It's special to watch him," Stevens said. "He's made great strides. He's certainly earned" his All-Star selection.
This season Hayward is averaging a career high in points, 22.2 per game, despite only a modest uptick in his field goal attempts, as well as a career high in rebounds (5.6 per game).
"It's taken a couple of years to adjust to" being a No. 1 scoring option, Hayward acknowledged. "I've had my struggles, for sure, some sleepless nights, some long seasons."
But now he has the Jazz in a place they haven't been in years. Utah is 35-22, a half-game back of fourth place — and home-court advantage in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs — with 25 games to go.
For Hayward, this year is all about breaking new ground.
As he thought back to the tattered piece of paper, that precious memento that outlined his boy's dreams, the elder Hayward chuckled.
"We never had the NBA All-Star Game on the list," he said.
Gordon Hayward time line
1990 • Born Gordon Daniel Hayward on March 23 in Brownsburg, Ind., the same day as his twin sister, Heather.
2004 • Entered Brownsburg High School as a 5-foot-11 freshman; grew to 6-4 by his sophomore year.
2008 • Growing to 6-8, led Brownsburg High to Indiana state 4-A championship after hitting game-winning shot vs. Marion.
2008 • Signed with Butler University out of high school; averaged 13.1 points per game as a freshman.
2009 • Named to the Team USA under-19 team; played in the World Championships at Auckland, N.Z., averaged 10.7 points and 5.7 rebounds in nine games.
2010 • Led Butler to the NCAA championship game, where the Bulldogs nearly shocked favored Duke when his shot at buzzer just missed.
2010 • Declares for the NBA Draft after sophomore season; is chosen as the ninth overall pick by the Utah Jazz.
2011 • Averages 5.4 points and 1.9 rebounds per game during rookie season on Jazz team that includes Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer, and is coached by Jerry Sloan.
2012 • Is selected to play in the NBA's Rising Stars Challenge during All-Star Weekend in Orlando.
2014 • A restricted free agent, he signs four-year, $63 million offer sheet with Charlotte Hornets; re-signs with Jazz after Utah matches the offer.
2014 • Married girlfriend Robyn Van Vliet; couple now has two children.
2016 • Named as a finalist for U.S. Olympic men's basketball team, but withdraws for family reasons.
2017 • After averaging a career-high 22.6 points per game, is named to the NBA's Western Conference All-Star team