It’s fitting that the NBA holds Summer League in Las Vegas. The 10-day event is a hoops oasis in a four-month long desert, spanning from the end of the NBA Finals until the preseason begins again in early October.
Rookies, sophomores, and NBA-adjacent players shine in the spotlight, while fans and media members have nothing else to do but overreact to what they’re watching play out on the UNLV campus.
Naturally, I have no choice to overreact to the different showings from the Boston Celtics’ Summer League squad. Let’s start with Hugo Gonzalez.
Hugo Gonzalez Summer League Grade: A-
Gonzalez entered the Celtics’ summer slate as the squad’s most-experienced member. He logged 1,084 minutes as a rookie last season, more than double any other player on the team. Right from the opening game, it was clear that the Cs were going to ask a lot out of the young Spaniard.
He saw his role expand from a three-and-d player off of Boston’s bench, to the group’s primary initiator. The ball was in Hugo’s hands a lot in Vegas, and it looked like it belonged there, to be honest.
“We’re not asking him to do anything that I don't think he can do every time he steps foot on the court,” Celtics Summer League head coach Amile Jefferson told reporters last Wednesday. “He showed why he’s a really talented young player.”
There was a clear difference in how smoothly the Celtics’ offense operated with Gonzalez on the floor, versus when he was on the bench, or had the day off.
He averaged 18.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game in Vegas across three appearances. Those numbers alone are enough to capture anyone’s attention. Gonzalez impacted the game across multiple lanes. He brought the same hard-nosed competitive spirit that he’d shown in the regular season to these exhibition games.
Hugo's rough shooting might've actually been a good thing?
The fact that he did so without shooting the ball well at all (31.8%/25.9% splits) tells you all you need to know about his mental fortitude. Boston’s summer opener was an obvious tone-setter in that regard. Gonzalez had an atrocious shooting day. He said as much himself after the final buzzer. Yet, he still managed to score 17 points, nearly logging a triple-double with 10 rebounds, and eight assists.
When his jumpshots weren’t dropping, Hugo just decided he was going to find another way to get in the scoring column. He earned nine trips to the free-throw line, which doesn’t tell the whole story because the NBA was trying out a new rule, where players only shoot one foul shoot for each foul (before the final two minutes). Realistically, those nine attempts could’ve been closer to 15 or 16, which would’ve been an insane total.
This remained a trend throughout his trio of games. Hugo averaged five free-throw attempts per outing. Drawing fouls is an underrated aspect of putting up consistent offensive numbers. It’s the best way to remove shooting variance from productions. As we all saw in that first game, the best way to mitigate a bad shooting day is by getting to the line.
Gonzalez made an obvious leap as a playmaker this year, too. His 5.7 assists to 3.7 turnovers isn’t ideal, but it’s not horrible, either. If you did the math on potential assists, the ratio would likely look better. Last year’s 28th overall pick didn’t look frazzled when making decisions in traffic, and did a great job of finding his teammates.
There’s a real possibility that he’ll be tasked with doing something similar at some point over the next few seasons.
The only reason why Gonzalez didn’t earn an A or A+ is because of how inefficiently he shot it. Yes, he saw far more attention from opposing defenses than he’s used to, but still, you’d like the see more shots fall.
With that being said, there’s reason to feel like that’ll be the case once the games start to count. Hugo’s mechanics look smooth. His shot has great rotation and arc. The signs of a good shooter are there, the results just need to come.
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