Boston Celtics draft Hugo Gonzalez with the 28th pick

The Celtics selected 19-year-old Hugo Gonzalez with the 28th overall pick. Gonzalez has been in Real Madrid’s system for 10 years, starting professionally as a teenager and experiencing a fair level of success against older, more established players. 

“We’ve been watching Hugo for a long time,” Brad Stevens said after the first round of the NBA draft ended Wednesday night. “Just a big fan of how he plays. He's tough, he's hard playing, he cuts, he goes after the ball, he competes. He's got all the intangibles of a winning basketball player. There's things he can get better at just like everybody else at that age, but competitiveness is at a high level.”

The 6-foot-6 Gonzalez was among the names expected to be on Boston’s radar at that part of the draft. The Celtics not only intend to keep Gonzalez in Boston, they plan to bring him over right away. There were some pre-draft rumblings that Gonzalez might be a draft-and-stash guy, and his youth seems to conflict with Boston’s more “win now” attitude of recent years, but Stevens is comfortable with his more immediate plan. 

“I think he's a young guy but a little bit of an old soul,” Stevens explained. “I think he's played with adults for a long time. He's playing on a team full of experienced former NBA players and high, high level pros all from all over the world. So this guy has been around it at a high level, been coached really well. I think when you talk about years overall, yes, he's young, but years of basketball experience, the things that we will think are important, it's probably pretty high.” 

Gonzalez was in Spain for Real Madrid’s ACB championship win. He did not play in the game, but he did stay up for the draft to hear his name called. 

“It’s 5 in the morning over there,” Stevens said. “I said enjoy your night, he said, ‘Eh, it’s a little late.’ So I said maybe I’ll enjoy it for you.”

Stevens seems to really enjoy the jolt of energy Gonzalez might bring to the team. When asked what he liked about Gonzalez’s game, he immediately said “cutting,” and he referenced the playoff loss to New York to highlight his point. 

“I felt that the part of those games that stood out to me was more -- more than anything, when we got stagnant and when we played without pace,” he said. “You could see the walking up. You could see all that. I think we'll try to address some of that.”

Gonzalez might be too young to push guys in games next season, but Stevens is sending a message to his team that the guy who is willing to do the little things is on the roster, and he might be the guy to replace some existing players if they aren’t willing to do the same. 

“We talk about sacrificial cuts that open up opportunities for other people,” Stevens said. “We talk about cuts that end up in you getting offensive rebounds, we talk about sacrificing your body on defense, we talk about competing on defense, we talk about flying back in transition, blocking a shot and catching up to a play. Those are things he’s willing to do that I like. He will become a better shooter, I believe that. We’ve got a good development program for that, so I’m excited about him.

Considering his season just ended, it’s unclear if Gonzalez will make it to Boston in time to start Summer League on July 10.

“You’re always anxious to get your guys over and do that,” Stevens said. “They play so late that we’ll see how he’s doing and see how he feels. Summer league won’t define what his career looks like over the course of time although, again, we’ll all be antsy to see him. That’s just kind of the way we’re wired. There’s nothing else to do in July.”

Stevens seems intrigued by Gonzalez’s pro experience, especially his time with a prestige club like Real Madrid. Gonzalez didn’t get much opportunity to play but the little that he did showed enough for Boston to roll the dice and give him a guaranteed contract so he can figure things out. 

“When you put on a Real Madrid jersey, you put on the responsibility similar to here,” Stevens said. “I think that that’s a good thing. When we interviewed Hugo a couple weeks ago on Zoom, it’s really clear that he’s about the team and he accepts and is willing to play any role it takes. That’s not an earned trait for everybody that’s in the draft because most of these guys have never sat. And with that comes a humility and also an understanding that you’ve gotta invest every day just to take advantage of whatever opportunity you get.”

OTHER DRAFT OBSERVATIONS

- The top of the draft was quiet. That probably shouldn’t be a shock when the consensus was the top was full of good talent and then things evened out from there. 

- The Jazz drafting Ace Bailey after he declined to work out for them is such an Ainge move. Either Danny is still pulling the strings or Austin learned well. 

- The New Orleans Pelicans made the most mind-boggling trade of the first round, giving up an unprotected 2026 pick and the 23rd pick in this draft to move up to 13 and pick Derick Queen. The pick going to Atlanta next year is the more favorable of New Orleans or Milwaukee’s pick. 

This begs the question, how good does New Orleans think they're going to be? 

Queen better become a perennial All-Star.

- The Charlotte Hornets really didn’t want Marc Williams, I guess. After trying to trade him to the Lakers, they moved him to Phoenix during the draft.  

- Yang Hansen was ranked somewhere around 40th on most big boards but the Blazers (via the Grizzlies) took him at 16. I don’t know if that pick or the Pelicans trade is the biggest swing in the draft.