LAS VEGAS — Hugo González faced a different path to Summer League than most rookies. His Spanish season ended with Real Madrid winning the league championship on the same night the Celtics drafted him.
Brad Stevens cast doubt then that the guard would play in Summer League due to the turnaround, despite the fact that González did not participate through the postseason run and logged limited minutes throughout the season. González stayed up all night to hear his name called, got on a flight days later and the following afternoon, at his introduction, expressed hope he’d play.
“I’m pretty excited about it,” he said. “I just want to get to work already.”
Yet when González stepped onto the floor on Friday in Vegas, nine hours behind Madrid time, he sipped water for a while on the sideline before beginning his warmup. He slowly broke into his shooting routine, looking tired and later calling his debut hard, much like the rest of his transition to Boston. Celtics coach Matt Reynolds acknowledged that the team threw tons of new terminology at him in recent weeks to integrate him into the system, and said González would play a lot this week in Summer League.
Despite feeling the challenges of the NBA playing style, González posted 12 points, four rebounds, five assists, a steal and two blocks while Boston beat a good Grizzlies team. Nerves disappeared quickly once he focused on the basketball being the same even if his league changed. He shot 3-for-5 from three, making progress on acclimating to the NBA three-point line, his biggest Vegas goal.
“In Europe, the game is a lot of times a little bit slower,” González said. “We’re trying to have the best possession until the end. Here, if you’ve got a shot, you gotta take it. So that’s making the game really up and down. You gotta catch up to that if you want to play. So I’m just trying to adapt as soon as I can, so I can, as I said before, contribute to the team.”
González missed four first half free throws, however, and beat himself up by shooting them at halftime. He beat himself up for the misses, saying he’s obsessed with giving his best. González sounded like a seasoned professional from the moment he arrived, fielding questions comfortably in English and his native Spanish.
He finished the win with a team-high 28 minutes filling various roles from point guard to screener to running a full court press. He opened the game flying in for a put-back on Baylor Scheierman’s miss, grabbed a steal on defense then lost the ball in the lane for one of his three turnovers. González showed the highs and lows of his game immediately.
The 19-year-old joined the Celtics as a blank canvas they can completely mold into the role and style they want him to play. On Friday, he joined Max Shulga, Kenneth Lofton Jr. and Scheierman as initiators alongside Amari Williams, who helped push the ball in transition. Despite not having a traditional point guard, Boston created 92 points in a 40-minute game. They managed turnovers early, committing eight in the first half before accumulating 20 later.
“I think these reps are excellent for them,” Reynolds said after the game. “And I don’t think it’s unexpected that they play well. Memphis is a pretty heavy ball pressure team. I thought that they handled the backcourt pressure well. There were some moments throughout the course of the game where they were a little frazzled, but I think for the most part, we showed composure. Our bigs did a good job of getting our ball handlers some space, and those guys made plays when it mattered.”
Reynolds shouted instructions to González throughout the game, often directing him off-ball where he spaced to the perimeter and got involved through some screening actions. His lauded cutting game showed briefly later in the game, when he caught the ball on the move and made a quick dump-off pass. He popped into three-point attempts early and showed a mix of passing prowess and needing to make quicker decisions on the drive.
The Summer League environment didn’t prove easy to thrive in either, as González bounced between roles, Lofton dribbled the air out of the ball at times, Scheierman struggled to find his shot and Isaiah Wong cycled into ball-handling reps later in the game. The Celtics also stressed playing faster as part of an organizational effort to evolve their offensive approach. That challenged González physically, as did two hard falls, with one appearing to injure him briefly before he exited the game. Teammates and staff came away impressed, his poise stood out, alongside a skill foundation that exceeds what many younger prospects would provide as rookies.
“He’s great man. He can shoot it,” Charles Bassey said. “He loves that Euro-Step floater. I’ve never seen anybody block it. I tried to block it, I couldn’t. But yeah, he’s a good player. He’s learning, he asks questions. I like him.”
- Bassey made a surprise appearance in the Celtics’ lineup and powered Boston’s win with seven offensive rebounds out of his 11 total, 7-of-8 shooting with 14 points and two blocks. The Celtics won his 18 minutes by 20 points. He appeared at practice in Boston earlier in the week, but the team did not announce his addition to the Summer League roster until game time on Friday. The four-year NBA veteran isn’t two-way eligible so the Celtics would need to clear a standard roster spot before the regular season begins.
- Bassey’s rebounding and defense intrigue on a roster without proven center depth. He would rank alongside Neemias Queta and Xavier Tillman Sr. as the most experienced NBA centers on the roster if the Celtics signed him, though significant knee injuries limited how often Bassey played at the start of his career. With Queta, Tillman, Luka Garza, Josh Minott and Amari Williams on the roster already, Bassey’s addition on a standard contract would require some shuffling for tax and roster space reasons. That makes it unlikely he will join Boston should other opportunities emerge this week elsewhere.
- The Celtics have 15 players under contract, and although you can roster 21 in the summer, Boston only has one fully non-guaranteed deal in JD Davison. Jordan Walsh and Queta have partial guarantees. A fully guaranteed 15th minimum roster player would cement an $86 million tax bill as the team stands.
- Amari Williams blocked a pair of shots, flashed his playmaking with a skip pass to Miles Norris for three and hit all three shots in his solid debut. Max Shulga played an understated game but Reynolds leaned on him heavily at the point. Lofton shot 1-for-8 from the field, 9-for-10 at the free throw line and grabbed nine rebounds in a high-usage performance. Jordan Walsh shot 3-for-6 from three and played patiently, scoring 17 points with two assists and three turnovers into his third Summer League.
