The Celtics drafted 19-year-old guard Hugo Gonzalez with the No. 28 overall pick on Wednesday, a surprise selection despite Gonzalez firmly projected to go in that territory, or earlier. A likely development project in the back court, Gonzalez played a limited role on a Real Madrid back court, but showed defensive promise in his stints and flashed potential in Spain’s international youth basketball competitions.
“We’ve been watching Hugo for a long time. He’s obviously been on everybody’s radar, I think, for a long time,” Brad Stevens said. “Followed his year with a great Real Madrid organization and team closely and watched him in all the (youth) teams and those types of things, and just a big fan of how he plays. He’s tough. He’s hard-playing. He cuts. He goes after the ball. He competes, like he’s got all the intangibles of a winning basketball player, and there are things he can get better at, just like everybody else at that age, but the competitiveness is at a high level.”
This past season, which ended on draft night with Real securing the Spanish league title over Valencia, saw Gonzalez average only 10.7 minutes per game across 69 appearances. He averaged 3.4 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game on 40.8% shooting and 28.4% from three. Per 36 minutes, that amounted to 11.4 PPG, 5.9 RPG and 1.9 APG, with 1.0 steals and 1.0 blocks per game. He did not play in the postseason.
Gonzalez’ Real Madrid featured former NBA players Mario Hezonja, Serge Ibaka and Facu Campazzo. Former Celtic Bruno Fernando logged nine games with the team, Dennis Smith Jr. appeared in two and Real staples Edy Tavares and Sergio Llull headlined the loaded roster. That left Gonzalez with limited opportunities that he excelled in, and prepared him for his reality in Boston next season. Stevens confirmed Gonzalez will play for the Celtics and that the rookie embraced any role he’ll potentially play.
“When we interviewed Hugo a couple of weeks ago on Zoom, it’s really clear that he’s about the team, and he accepts and is willing to play any role it takes,” Stevens said. “That’s not a learned trait for everybody that’s in the draft because most of these guys have never sat. And with that comes a humility and also an understanding that you’ve got to invest every day just to take advantage of whatever opportunity you get.”
Like most of the NBA Draft on Wednesday, opinions varied on Gonzalez widely among evaluators, unsurprising given his playing inexperience. In reality, he established a strong foundation by growing through Real’s youth system since nine-years-old, and became one of the youngest contributors in Spain’s international youth competitions. Gonzalez thrived when playing among his peers, and struggled as he pushed himself to compete with senior teams and Real Madrid, who compete in what’s arguably the world’s second-best league.
That makes Gonzalez’ statistical output difficult to draw from. Concerns certainly exist surrounding his shot, which settled at 23-for-85 across his time with Real (27.1% 3PT). He shot 28% from deep this season and 25% in his national competitions. A 79.5% mark at the free throw line with his club presented some hope for shooting improvement, which could come down to creating consistency with his mechanics, but Gonzalez does not project as a shooter.
“Cutting. And a willingness to do sacrificial things,” Stevens said. “We talk about sacrificial cuts that open up opportunities for other people. We talk about sacrificial cuts that end up in you getting an offensive rebound. We talk about sacrificing your body on defense. We talk about competing on defense, talk about flying back in transition and blocking a shot, catching up to a play. Those are the things that he’s willing to do that I like. He will become a better shooter, I believe that. We’ve got a good development program for that. I’m excited about him.”
Gonzalez joins a Celtics team that doesn’t cut. Only three teams averaged fewer than Boston’s 6.5 cuts per game, since Joe Mazzulla favored spacing the floor. Boston’s roster already changed, and could transform further this offseason after Stevens stressed reclaiming flexibility as a driving goal for the Celtics this summer. More moves could come, though Boston made none on draft night. The week’s, and past several months’ events appeared to weigh on him, and he could not comment on the team’s two pending trades.
Stevens also referenced the impact of Jayson Tatum’s injury several times before emphasizing that Boston won’t rush him back.
“The biggest challenge for our team is our First-Team All-NBA player is in a boot,” Stevens said. “That’s number one.”
After two trades that sent out Boston starters earlier in the week, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard and Anfernee Simons remain in the back court alongside JD Davison, whose $2.3 million team option could be declined this weekend before the June 29 deadline to further reduce payroll. Simons and backup wing Sam Hauser could also become part of the team’s continued cap management.
Any subtractions could clear playing time for Gonzalez, who Stevens indicated likely will not play in Summer League next month after his season ended less than one month ago. Drafting a younger, less experienced player for their potential could point toward the Celtics taking a longer-term vision. That already became apparent with moves from earlier in the week, alongside them reportedly at least fielding calls on White and Brown, who now appear safer than they did 24-48 hours ago.
“We’ve got a lot of really good basketball players that have done a lot of good things in this league,” Stevens said. “Several of them have done a lot of great things here. And so, we’ll see how it all pans out, what it all looks like, but I expect us to go out and compete, and compete with all we’ve got to be the very best we can, and that will always be the case. We’ll do our best to put the right group together, and at the same time, regain some flexibility and maximize asset return. But I do think we’ve got a good group, and we’ve got the foundation, obviously, with Jaylen and Jayson and D-White and Payton and all those guys that a lot of teams would love to have.”
