Celtics' Irving, Hayward ready for camp, can go 'full speed'

Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge says Kyrie Irving (knee) and Gordon Hayward (ankle) appear at full health and are ready for the new season.

Irving underwent season-ending knee surgery in April, while Hayward suffered a fractured left ankle in the Celtics’ season-opening loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Oct. 17.

Irving and Hayward will return to Boston next week and are expected to join their teammates in informal workouts, as Celtics players begin pickup play in advance of the start of training camp in late September.

"I don't want to hype it up too much, but I'm saying that, if our training camp were starting today, that they would be here today going full speed," Ainge told Chris Forsberg of ESPN. "It's not like they need an extra month. I think that they know they have an extra month so they are sort of pacing themselves. They're playing as if to build up to that opening day of training camp [on Sept. 26].

"They'll both be here within the next week or so, by the time Labor Day is over, they will all be playing 5-on-5. I think it's just a matter of, if they're not playing 5-on-5 now, then it's only because they want it more of a controlled environment, I guess. They're doing everything -- dunking the basketball off both legs and playing 1-on-1 live and jumping and cutting and defending. I'm excited for them."

Irving averaged 24.4 points and 5.1 assists in 60 games in his first season with the Celtics, shooting 49.1 percent from the field and 40.8 percent from beyond the arc. Hayward has been doing full speed training for almost a month now. His trainer, Drew Hanlen, says Hayward is "doing really well."

The Celtics went to the Eastern Conference Finals and were a game away from reaching the NBA Finals. They did all that without the services of Irving and Hayward, so expect the Celtics to be even more dangerous with its two stars back.