Surprisingly enough, after a solid but fairly uneventful rookie season, Hugo Gonzalez became one of the main characters of the Celtics' offseason. Drafted towards the end of the first round at just 19 years old, it took Hugo a while to make his way into the rotation, but when he did, he immediately made an impact with his defense and energy.
But by the time the playoffs rolled around, he was mostly back out of the rotation and became a spectator as Boston blew a 3-1 lead to the 76ers in round one. Then, the offseason began, and trade rumors swirled left and right, with Hugo hearing his name come up in talks for Giannis Antetokounmpo.
More than that, Hugo became a sticking point in talks and became a bit of a punchline as a false narrative took off, suggesting that the Celtics balked at trading for Giannis because Brad Stevens didn’t want to part with the young Spaniard.
We may never know exactly how much truth there was to those rumors, but it was clear that Boston was high on Hugo. He had an impressive showing at summer league, then played a key role for Spain in FIBA play, and it looked like he was primed to take a big leap this season in Boston.
Hugo on outside of rotation looking in
Yet so far, we haven’t seen that come to fruition at all. In the Celtics’ opener on Tuesday in Detroit, Hugo played just 10 minutes, struggled to guard Cade Cunningham, attempted just one shot (a missed 3), and finished a team worst, -15.
Then, in the home opener on Friday, Hugo was basically buried on the bench, playing just three minutes and making virtually no impact in the win over the Knicks.
I don’t think the team has given up on him or anything like that, but I think he’s got a long way to go before he’s a fixture in the rotation. Boston is still incredibly deep on the wing, and right now, he’s squarely behind Jayson Tatum, Paul George, Jordan Walsh, Sam Hauser, and Baylor Scheierman.
Hugo is victim of Celtics' logjam on the wing
There just aren’t enough minutes to go around for all of these guys to play and get into any kind of rhythm, and with everyone healthy, it’s going to be hard for Hugo to carve out a consistent role. I’m sure there will be nights when he’s called upon for more, and he’ll get plenty of opportunities as guys will inevitably be in and out of the lineup.
But I don’t think we should expect Gonzalez to start leapfrogging these guys for minutes and jumping into a much bigger role. Instead, we’re likely looking at another season of development and inconsistent minutes. And that’s okay. He’s still just 20 years old and has a lot of room to grow.
He shouldn’t get down on himself or lose confidence. Gonzalez is still a big part of the Celtics’ future plans, and nothing has changed in that regard. But the reality of the situation is that this roster is very deep, and there were always going to be some unhappy campers. For now, Hugo appears to be most impacted by the logjam, and without a roster move, that may not change any time soon.
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