The curtain at the Auerbach Center rose and guys dressed in green and white practice gear were playing basketball.
At one point, one of the guys in white rose up and threw down a nasty dunk on a guy in green.
“Who was that?” asked a photographer shooting still of the practice.
I looked, squinted, and said, “I don’t know.” So I turned to the other reporters and asked who that was.
“That’s a good question,” was the response.
And so we begin the summer league phase of the offseason. The Celtics are a reloaded team with championship aspirations, but they are also trying to develop some younger players. To do so, they have to fill the roster with some more, let’s just call them “anonymous” players; guys who will play and learn and all of that, but who are all hoping to make an impression with one of the scouts in the stands. Jericole Hellems, Aubrey Dawkins, and Bryton Hobbs probably don’t care much about Sam Hauser’s new deal.
But Hauser is one of the featured Celtics on this squad. Freshly re-signed to a three-year deal, he’s off to Vegas with the Summer Celtics to get some more work in and show Ime Udoka that he’s picking up on the concepts he needs to hone to become part of the rotation.
“Summer League is great in that there’s not a lot of chances you get to have 5-on-5, referees, scoreboards, fans, and have that kind of experience and go out there and get reps at doing that,” said Celtics assistant and summer league head coach Ben Sullivan. “We’re excited to see him, as we are with the rest of the guys, go out there and see what they can do together in these few games that we get out in Vegas.”
Hauser stands to gain the most from the next two weeks. This is a little different than Maine, where there is more structure. Summer league is haphazard, with guys often going off on their own trying to achieve their own personal goals. If he can find ways to thrive in that muck, then it’s a good signal of his improvement, especially as an individual defender.
“When you’re working to improve as a player, you got to understand individually what you need to do as a defender, and how you can be effective,” Sullivan said. “Sam spent some time in Maine, some time here, some time working in the play groups and all that stuff, and he was great every step of the way just really understanding there are different things he had to work on in order to get better and try to get on the floor.”
Hauser stands alone on this team as a player with a chance at rotation minutes. Others, like draftee JD Davison, and stashed draftee Juhann Begarin, are on longer-term plans.
“(I want to show) what I can do on both ends of the court,” Davison said. “Just being a dog, a leader on the offensive end, being a dog on the defensive end, just leading my guys to a win, just being that leader on the court.”
Davison’s season at Alabama didn’t go how he’d hoped, but he says the NBA game and spacing made him feel like he could make the jump. Vegas provides him his first chance to see if he was right.
“I know I can pass, I can score, and I can defend,” he said. “So really don't matter where I’m at, on the ball or off the ball, I’m just going to be a dog on both ends of the court.”
Davison’s inner dog is something he clearly wants to show the team, and it’s something Udoka can certainly appreciate. That kind of attitude will serve Davison well as he makes his way through the Celtics system.
It’s a system Begarin still wants to crack. He will have an uphill battle to make the team, but he was impressive in the short time the Summer C’s were scrimmaging on Tuesday.
“I’ve liked what he’s brought to the table: good athlete, good size, can pass, can find his teammates, get downhill, finish at the rim, can really defend, competitive,” Sullivan said. “So really just getting to know him a little bit and seeing his progression from last year in Summer League to this year and seeing where he’s at. I’ve really liked what he’s done so far.”
Those three players, at three different stages of their careers, are hoping to come out of the summer having made some progress … or at least with some added clarity about their futures. The same could be said of Sullivan himself, who is taking the reins for the summer squad and could be in line for a promotion after lead assistant Will Hardy left to become Utah’s head coach. For what it’s worth, Sullivan doesn’t seem this as some sort of audition.
“I’ve just been having fun doing this,” he said. “It’s been a great time to be with the staff and be with the players and get back in the gym and work on stuff and try to build up enough good habits in these next four or five days before we go to Vegas and see how it all fits together. I don’t know, it’s what I do for a living. It’s just fun. So I’m just enjoying it, honestly.”
The next few weeks can provide some insight, and maybe even a revelation or two about the guys who have real futures in Boston. Summer results can be hard to decipher, but the process is now under way. The hope for the team is that a seed is planted somewhere in Vegas that blooms as legitimate bench help for another title run.