Max Shulga proved one thing above all else about Celtics future

Max Shulga was a mystery to most fans when the Boston Celtics selected him 57th overall at the NBA Draft last month. The 23-year-old guard played his super senior with the VCU Rams last season, helping them to an NCAA Tournament berth.

NBA Draft and college basketball experts painted Shulga as a three-and-d guard who could someday fit nicely into a winning team’s rotation.

The Celtics community got their first glimpse of the Ukrainian at NBA Summer League over the past few weeks.

If there’s one thing that’s certain about Shulga, it’s that he’s going to defend. He, much like his fellow draftee Hugo Gonzalez, didn’t let his assignment breathe, picked them up at least halfcourt, if not full, and was just a tremendous pest overall.

His peskiness was on full display in Vegas, as the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year averaged just under two steals per game.

At six-foot-five, Shulga has the size needed to defend at a high level in the NBA. He could probably serve to bulk up a bit, but he’s got the tools to make a real impact on that side of the ball sometime in the future.

The rookie probably overdelivered in the playmaking category, at least compared to what stood out in his scouting report. Shulga showcased great patience and vision throughout his five outings at the summer showcase, posting 3.8 assists per game.

He spent a lot of time serving as a primary ballhandler for Boston in Vegas, and he thrived.

His standout moment had to be his eight-assist, zero-turnover performance against the Miami Heat. Throughout the afternoon, Shulga handled a wide range of scenarios with ease.

“He’s the guy that is more cool-minded on the team, for sure,” Gonzalez said of Shulga last week (via Hardwood Houdini’s Bobby Krivitsky).

He looked great in the pick-and-roll, made great reads on drives, and consistently found his teammates.

Max Shulga HAS to shoot better if he is going to be an NBA rotation player

Unfortunately, all of the great defense and playmaking won’t earn Shulga a rotation spot until he improves as a shooter, or at least improves on the shooting performance he had at Summer League, where he logged 24.1%/21.4% shooting splits.

His struggles putting the ball in the basket were pretty shocking, considering that Shulga was a legitimately good three-point shooter in college at 38.7% on 5.3 attempts per game. With that being said, some of his misses in these five games were BAD.

We’re talking about shots not even hitting the rim, some complete airballs, too.

Maybe nerves had something to do with it? It’s very possible that Shulga, who is, again, a good shooter, just got in his own head on some of these misses. At the same time, the reasoning behind the cold streak won’t matter if it happens in the future. Second-round picks don’t traditionally see a ton of opportunity in the NBA. If Shulga isn’t ready when his number is eventually called, it certainly won’t help his path forward with the Celtics, or another team for that matter.

Fortunately for him, his rough patch didn’t leave a lasting impression on Summer League head coach Matt Reynolds, who thinks Shulga could play a ball-handling role in the future.

“I think he’s gonna have a mixed bag of offensive responsibility as a primary or secondary playmaker,” Reynolds told Krivitsky Sunday. “I think he had a pretty good, consistent floor game creating for others… It was a really good start for him, and we’re pretty excited to have him.”