Celtics president Danny Ainge says he shouldn't have used the word "setback" when describing an issue during Gordon Hayward's rehabilitation from a broken ankle.
Ainge told the Boston Herald that he used the wrong word in a radio interview late last week when he was referring to some soreness Hayward experienced some six weeks ago.
"You know what? Sometimes I talk too much," Ainge said. "'Setback' wasn't the right word, so let me rephrase that because it's not exactly true to say it — or say it that way.
"What happened is he went on the (specialized) AlterG (treadmill) the first day and he felt some soreness. It was the first day he tried the AlterG, a long time ago. He just wasn't ready for it at that point. That's all it was.
"I used the word 'setback,' and it became a headline. Like, 'Oh, setback.' It got blown out of proportion. It's my fault. I'm not blaming anybody. 'Setback' was probably too strong of a word."
Appearing on his weekly radio show on Boston's WBZ-FM last week, Ainge described his star forward as experiencing the setback "maybe a month and half ago." It apparently was an effort by Ainge to quell recent talk, some of it by Hayward himself, that he might be back at some point in the playoffs.
"The bottom line is he's not on the court other than shooting and ballhandling and some sidestepping," Ainge told the Herald. "But he hasn’t done any running or even jogging or real jumping on the basketball court yet, and we have less than a month left in the regular season.
"It just doesn’t seem likely, so I don't want to put any pressure on him. Gordon can say whatever he wants, but we are not planning on him playing this year. I don't see that happening; that's why I keep saying that."
