BOSTON – The Celtics are a legitimate threat to win the Eastern Conference next season, and if you don’t believe that you haven’t watched enough Boston games – and you haven’t seen enough of Gordon Hayward. Putting aside Tuesday’s optics – and it sure looked like Hayward’s camp, panicking after word leaked that Hayward intended to sign with the Celtics, spent the day trying to make people believe he was still on the fence until his 2,000-word Players Tribune piece was ready to be posted – this is a flawless fit, a springy, scoring small forward joining forces with a 53-win team that sorely needs one.

For months, Boston hunted Hayward. It liked Jimmy Butler, it wanted Paul George, but it needed Hayward. Jae Crowder is a sturdy defender, but his offense comes and goes, and the Celtics desperately needed a wing player who could take some of the pressure off Isaiah Thomas. That’s Hayward, an efficient scorer (47.1 percent) who knocked down nearly 40 percent of his threes last season.

Hayward averaged a career-high 21.9 points, and there is no reason to believe he can’t duplicate, or exceed, that production next season. He’ll benefit from playing faster – the Jazz played at the slowest pace in the league last season; Boston was in the middle of the pack – and his open looks will multiply with all the attention Thomas draws on the floor. Finding clear paths to the basket could be difficult in Utah with Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors out there; the Celtics’ floor-spacing bigs will open up the court.

View photos Gordon Hayward shot 47.1 percent from the floor last season. (AP) More

Hayward developed rapidly the last three seasons, but there are facets of his game that are still untapped. Boston loves to play through its wing players in the post – Evan Turner and Marcus Smart are recent examples – and Hayward has the size and athleticism to become a double-team-drawing weapon on the block.

Hayward was light on the details when it came to explaining his reasons for leaving Utah – he wants to win a championship and he wants to play for Celtics coach Brad Stevens – but it’s easy to see why. For one, the Western Conference is an arms race, with the reorganization of talent (Chris Paul to Houston) and the influx of others (Paul George, Jimmy Butler and Paul Millsap) making the West as tough as it’s ever been. Utah was a 51-win No. 5 seed last season, but it might take that many wins just to get into the playoffs next season.

Another thing: Hayward was a first-time All-Star last season, and you can’t underestimate the importance of that honor on a young player. In the West, Hayward’s path back to All-Star status was keyhole narrow; in the East, barring injury, he’ll be a frontrunner to make the team every year.

Now, about that conference contender stuff: Skeptics will say Boston needed a monster game from Smart in Game 3 of the conference finals to avoid getting swept by Cleveland. But there’s a flip side to that – a horrendous performance by Smart in Game 4 contributed to the Celtics blowing a 16-point lead. Boston wins that, reclaims home court … and, yeah, the Cavs probably still take the series. But the gap is closer than you think. And Boston just added an All-Star while Cleveland, terrified at the thought of LeBron James bolting after next season, missed on George and has a “Help Wanted” sign outside its general manager’s office.

Is Boston the favorite? No. Is a Cavs-Celtics series competitive? Absolutely.

View photos Isaiah Thomas should form a potent combo with Hayward. (AP) More

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