The Celtics took a chance at the end of the first round of the draft by selecting a young teenager out of Spain, Hugo Gonzalez. He hasn’t been lighting the world on fire or anything, and his stats are fairly pedestrian, but he quickly established a hold on a rotation spot and has been making a much larger impact than people realize.Â
On the surface, it may not seem like much. Hugo is averaging just 3.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 0.6 assists per game. He’s not in the running for the Rookie of the Year Award, and he didn’t get selected to the Rising Stars Game, or anything like that.
But if you use the eye test and the advanced metrics, it’s clear that Gonzalez is not only one of the most impactful rookies in the league, but one of the highest-impact players overall.
Hugo currently leads the NBA in individual plus/minus, with a Net Rating of 16.8. The next five highest players in Net Rating all play for the Thunder, then it’s Victor Wembanyama and Nikola Jokic. But ahead of everyone is Hugo Gonzalez, as the Celtics are a whopping 16.8 points better than their opponents per 100 possessions when he’s on the floor.
Gonzalez on pace to break Duncan's rookie plus/minus record
For the season, Hugo’s cumulative plus/minus on the season is far better than any other rookie in the league, and it’s putting him on pace to break the all-time record held by Tim Duncan. For reference, Duncan started all 82 games for the Spurs that year, won the Rookie of the Year Award, finished 5th in MVP voting and 5th in Defensive Player of the Year voting, and made first-team All-NBA and first-team All-Defense.
Nobody is saying that Gonzalez is going to be the next Duncan or anything like that, and this stat is clearly not the be-all, end-all, or anything like that. But seeing how poised and impactful he already is as a 19-year-old, and seeing his name on lists with Hall of Famers, is certainly a great sign.
The Celtics are in the midst of a mini-rebuild around Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Derrick White, and filling out the roster with the right players and the right contracts is going to be absolutely massive. Boston has been about as good as anyone on the margins in recent years, and they’ve gotten great play this season from non-lottery picks like Jordan Walsh and Baylor Scheierman.
Gonzalez came with a little more buzz than that, and he still has a long way to go. But with the 28th pick in the draft, it sure looks like Brad Stevens and his crew nailed it, and added yet another high-impact player for the future of the team.