When the Goodman League competes against the Indy Pro-Am on Sept. 24,  Celtics draft pick JaJuan Johnson will reportedly suit up for the Indy Pro-Am squad. He will compete against Jeff Green, who could potentially be Johnson’s teammate whenever the NBA returns.

John Wall, Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley and DeMarcus Cousins have all committed to join Green in representation of the Goodman League, according to separate reports by Mike Wells and Michael Lee. Johnson’s Indy Pro-Am team will reportedly also include Zach Randolph, Mike Conley, Eric Gordon, George Hill, Lance Stephenson and Gordon Hayward.

Note: I am about to ramble about Gordon Hayward for a short period of time, just because his name triggered some great NBA League Pass memories. Bear with me.

On April 5, 2011, Hayward put on one of last season’s least-expected shows, metaphorically staring Kobe Bryant straight in the eyes until Kobe blinked.

Two nights before, Hayward had established a career high of 19 points against the Sacramento Kings, but nothing about his bland rookie season signaled that Hayward was ready to build on the career night, especially not against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Jazz had played the Lakers earlier in the week and Hayward was both inefficient and  unproductive. He finished the game with 7 points on 3-9 shooting, playing 29 minutes and barely putting his fingerprints on the game. The Jazz lost after leading by 17 points and Hayward scored only two points in the second half, an alley-oop from Earl Watson after the game was already out of reach.

The Lakers were on a typical tear, winning 17 of their past 19 games, and the Jazz were somewhere between listless and helpless, losers of eight straight, a franchise in shambles after Jerry Sloan’s retirement and Deron Williams’s trade, a franchise watching idly as the memories of two great decades burned slowly to the ground. Al Jefferson was acquired in the offseason, but he and Paul Millsap did not mesh in the front-court. Derrick Favors came to Utah as part of the Williams trade, and he could provide occasional entertainment with a fierce dunk or a high-flying block, but his prime was years away at best. Tyrone Corbin tried to fill Sloan’s enormous shoes, but Utah’s talent was lower than it had been in years and Corbin, well, Corbin was not Sloan. Meanwhile, the Jazz’s lottery draft choice, the league’s next white hope, Gordon Hayward blended into the background, struggling to deal with the strength and quickness of his NBA opponents.

Kobe Bryant is not normally the right prescription for a rookie struggling to find his NBA calling. But the second time Hayward played Kobe that week, he transformed into something different, something better, the player Utah hoped he would be, a player his parents and friends could be proud of, a player who dueled against Kobe Bryant and scored 22 points, including 10 in the final quarter, grabbed 6 rebounds, dished 5 assists, drilled the game-winning free throw, forced Bryant into a turnover on the game’s final possession, and walked off the court with at least one new fan.

“I’m very, very fond of him. He’s a very-skilled, all-around player,” said Kobe Bryant. “I think he’s going to have a very bright future in this league. He reminds me of a more talented Jeff Hornacek. Jeff couldn’t put the ball on the floor as well as (Hayward) can.”

Less than two weeks later, the Jazz ended their season by beating the Denver Nuggers. Hayward pumped in 34 points.

Some bad blood between these two players.

Sunday’s game between the Celtics and Cavs revealed no love lost between the two teams.  Play was chippy, tempers ran high, and profane strings of trash talk could be heard all over the court.  Let’s put it this way: Nobody contemplated delivering an Easter basket to the opposing team after the game.

And that’s just how Doc Rivers likes it. (Boston Herald)

“Well, I like the hatred,” Rivers said. “I think that’s good. I do think the two teams don’t like each other for whatever reason, and I don’t ever think that’s a bad thing personally. I think that’s a good thing.”

Told that James believes the NBA needs to rekindle the nastiness between teams of ’80s and ’90s, Rivers said, “I’m all for it. I love it. He’s the new leader. I think we should all listen to LeBron if that’s what he’s saying. I really believe that.”

The coach then traced the peace on NBA earth back to AAU ball when players become friendly.

“It drives me nuts,” he said, “but that’s just the way it is. I used to fight that my first couple of years here and in Orlando. In Orlando I went so far as if you shake a guy’s hand before a game I’m going to fine you. I was trying everything. Then I realized it doesn’t work. They know each other. They’re friends. So I gave in.”

It’s odd how Rivers has evolved from a coach strict enough to fine a player for shaking hands before the game into the ultimate “players’ coach.”  But, for this group, I think it’s for the better.  Veterans who have been in the league forever don’t need to be micromanaged.  If Doc slapped Ray Allen with a fine for saying what’s up to fellow UConn alum Ben Gordon, he might risk losing Allen’s respect.

Back to Doc, I love the emerging hostility between the Celtics and Cavs.  It pains me to see players help opponents up after knocking them down.  That’s why I was so jarred when my cousin pointed out that Larry Bird help Kurt Rambis up after Kevin McHale clotheslined Rambis.  Bird has always been known as the one of the fiercest competitors ever, someone who wouldn’t even speak to Magic Johnson for large parts of their careers, simply because Johnson was a rival.  But there he was, calmly extending his hand to Rambis as chaos ensued around them. I don’t want to say I was disappointed in Bird, because he’s Larry Legend and the idol I’ve looked up to for so many years, but I would have loved to see him walk right by Rambis and into the fracas.

For the same reason I would rather see Bird spit on Rambis’s face than help him up, I loved that Duke’s Lance Thomas let Butler’s Gordon Hayward find his own way to his feet after Thomas’ hard foul knocked him to the floor in yesterday’s National Championship.  There’s no need to help him up; if you’re a true competitor, you want to see Hayward stay on the floor as long as possible.  You want him to think you’ll foul him even harder the next time.  You want him to know you aren’t going to give him an inch, not even during a stoppage in play.

When it comes to basketball, and especially in big games, Eff sportsmanship.

The Baby-Faced Assassin is no Larry Legend.

I hope this was a joke.  Please tell me this was meant as a joke.  I think it must have been. If it wasn’t…

I know Gordon Hayward is white, but he should not — now, or ever — be compared to Larry Bird. (Slam)

Isn’t Gordon Hayward (17 pts, 5 rebs, 2 stls) overdue for the “next Larry Bird” hype that guys like Keith Van Horn, Wally Szczerbiak and Adam Morrison typically get around this time? Hayward definitely fits the profile, and throw in the fact that he looks like an Eagle Scout in the face, it seems like a no-brainer. But maybe because we’ve been burned before — Michael Jordan drafting Morrison ahead of Brandon Roy may have been the last straw — nobody wants to jock Hayward like that prematurely.

There are two things Hayward and Bird share: The pasty color of their skin, and the fact that they’ve both played basketball in the state of Indiana. Beyond that, there is no comparison, and never will be.

If we’re going to compare Hayward to Bird, we might as well compare Shaq to Jerome James, or David Ortiz to Wily Mo Pena.