Two games into the preseason, the Celtics already have something worth watching in Baylor Scheierman and Hugo Gonzalez.
Boston hasn’t blown the doors off anyone, but the results have matched the idea of a team finding its footing early. And at the center of that buzz are two young players who have looked ready to matter right away. Scheierman and Gonzalez have not just filled space on the floor; they’ve produced real value for the Celtics.
That matters more now, with Jaylen Brown traded to Philadelphia this summer. Boston is not going to ask Scheierman and Gonzalez to replace Brown piece for piece, but if both players keep trending up, the gap gets a lot easier to manage. Their early numbers suggest this isn’t just a hot start, either.
Stat Defender showed Gonzalez and Scheierman sitting No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, in individual offensive rating among players who have appeared in two preseason games and averaged at least 20 minutes per game. Gonzalez is at 145.2, while Scheierman comes in at 130.9. The only player between them is OKC rookie Aday Mara at 132.7.
The encouraging part for Boston is that this came with some foundation behind it. Both players helped keep the Celtics afloat before Jayson Tatum returned, so their preseason jump doesn’t feel like a random spike. It fits the belief that they can handle more responsibility, especially with Brown gone and with a larger share of the second-unit load likely waiting for them.
That second unit could end up being a real problem for opponents. Boston won’t lean on Scheierman and Gonzalez the way it used to lean on Brown, but if those two keep posting numbers like this, the Celtics get deeper, tougher, and harder to pin down.
And there’s still some flexibility here. Boston’s starting five isn’t even fully set, which says plenty about the roster as a whole.
We know most of the pieces, but not quite all of them. That leaves room for Scheierman and Gonzalez to fit in wherever the coaching staff wants them.
Either way, the Celtics seem comfortable with what both bring.
Scheierman gives them playmaking. Gonzalez brings more athletic ease.
Both understand what’s happening around them, both can defend, and both process the game at a high level. They’re not Brown, and Brown showed up at No. 10 on that same list at 124.1, but that comparison isn’t really the point.
What Boston has here is two young players giving the team legitimate reasons to believe the rotation can absorb more than expected.
In Other News...
Derrick Whites Place In Bostons Title Core Looks Bigger Than Ever
Derrick Whites rise in Boston has become one of the clearest signs of how the Celtics built their championship core around more than just star power. Since arriving in a trade from the Spurs in 2022, White has grown into a fixture on both ends of the floor, and his role only expanded during Bostons 2023-24 NBA Finals run, when he averaged 16.7 points per game and kept showing the kind of two-way impact coaches love to trust.
The bigger picture now is just how firmly White is planted in the middle of the teams future. Boston already committed to him with a four-year extension in 2024, and his standing around the league keeps climbing as his reputation for defense, composure and leadership strengthens inside the organization. For a Celtics team that has leaned on chemistry as much as talent, White looks less like a complementary piece and more like part of the foundation. [Read more 🡒]
Sam Hauser Is Forcing A Real Celtics Starting Lineup Debate
Sam Hauser has spent enough time around the Celtics to know how his value is supposed to show up: hit open threes, make the right read, stay solid on the other end, and let the stars do the rest. Entering his sixth season in Boston, he has again looked like the kind of low-maintenance wing every contender needs, and a recent preseason game against the 76ers only reinforced that he can tilt minutes in the Celtics favor without needing the ball in his hands.
What makes this more than a routine depth conversation is how often Hauser keeps pushing his way into bigger lineup questions. Boston already knows what it has in Jayson Tatum, and the presence of Paul George only adds another layer to the wing rotation, but Hausers steady shooting and smart defense are making it harder to treat him like a simple bench piece. If he keeps stacking games like that, the debate around Bostons best starting group is only going to get louder. [Read more 🡒]
NBA Legend Points To What Helped Split Tatum And Brown
The Celtics championship run in 2024 ended with a title, but the conversations around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown never really stopped. DeMarcus Cousins recently pointed to one of those moments as a turning point in how the outside world framed Bostons star duo, saying Jason Kidds comments during the Finals helped deepen the perception that the two were being measured against each other.
Kidd, then coaching Dallas, praised Brown after Game 1 in a way that fed the debate about who Bostons true alpha was, even as the Celtics moved on to win the series. Brown had already claimed East finals MVP honors, and the chatter lingered long after the parade, with the two All-Stars no longer teammates two years later. [Read more 🡒]