The Celtics closed out their scheduled Las Vegas Summer League slate with an 82-76 win over the Kings, and the night gave Boston a little bit of everything: a big scoring burst from Hugo Gonzalez, another strong run from John Tonje, and encouraging signs from the big men. Rookie Dillon Mitchell sat out, and Boston finished its fourth game at 3-1.
Amari Williams was one of the most interesting pieces on the floor, even if the box score only showed 6 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks. After a rough outing on Sunday, he looked far more settled this time around, and the confidence seemed to build as the game went on. By the end, he was grabbing rebounds and pushing the break, tossing no-look passes and setting teammates up for easy looks.
Amari Williams and Hugo Gonzalez play so well together, especially in transition pic.twitter.com/jN928lgPnF
Head coach Amile Jefferson put it this way: “It calms everybody else down,” head coach Amile Jefferson told reporters in Las Vegas. “He’s creative, he can find you, and if you’re moving and open, he’ll get the ball to where it needs to go.”
Williams’ play still comes with that same split personality the Celtics have seen in summer league. When he’s confident, he looks like a player who can really move the game.
When he’s not, the questions come right back. If Boston can bottle the version it got here, Williams could eventually work his way into the rotation.
Chris Cenac Jr. also kept flashing real upside, and he’s starting to show some chemistry with Williams. One possession in particular stood out: a hand-off from Williams that gave Cenac Jr. a clean look at the next level of what he can do.
He finished with a double-double - 10 points and 12 rebounds - and added two more blocks, giving him 11 in four summer league games. That’s a strong continuation of a defensive profile that already showed up in college, where he blocked 18 shots in 37 games.
They changed this to an offensive foul on Chris Cenac, but I absolutely love how he goes for poster dunks every game pic.twitter.com/dv4kF2sWGV
Cenac has also played with a fearless edge in Vegas, going after poster dunks every game and showing the kind of attitude that fits with how he’s talked about his draft position. He has been open about feeling like he went too low and wanting to prove people wrong, and that mindset has shown up in the way he attacks.
Gonzalez turned in the loudest all-around line of the night, finishing with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists. The shooting numbers weren’t spotless - he went 8-for-18 from the field and 3-for-9 from 3 - but after a 1-for-4 start in the first quarter, he caught fire. From that point on, he shot 50% from the field and 43% from deep, which is exactly the kind of stretch Boston wanted to see from him in a summer league setting.
The two-way picture is starting to come into focus, too. Williams already has one of the three spots.
Dillon Mitchell, in the view here, is a near-lock for another after being drafted, playing well, and showing up everywhere on Celtics social media. That leaves John Tonje and Milos Uzan battling for the final opening, and Tonje gets the nod here.
He has simply been better than Uzan, and as older players - Tonje turns 26 in April, Uzan turns 24 in December - the Celtics may decide Tonje is closer to his ceiling. Uzan said after the game that he’ll be at training camp, and even if Boston waits until October to make the call, he should at least have a shot with the Maine Celtics.
In Other News...
Hugo Gonzalez Is Forcing Celtics Fans To Revisit One Massive Decision
Hugo Gonzalez has given Celtics fans a reason to look twice at a decision that once felt easy to file away. After a summer league stretch that showed real growth, the young wing has started looking less like a developmental piece and more like someone who could force his way into a bigger role sooner than expected, which is exactly the kind of progress Boston hoped to see when it brought him in.
The buzz around Gonzalez has only intensified because of the broader chatter surrounding what the Celtics were and were not willing to put on the table in a major offseason discussion. His recent play has added another layer to the conversation, since it is one thing to value a prospect in theory and another to watch him start flashing the kind of upside that makes every future roster call feel a little heavier. [Read more 🡒]
The Jaylen Brown Trade Could Have Left Boston Looking Very Different
When Boston explored moving Jaylen Brown, the conversation stretched beyond a simple star-for-star swap and into the kind of roster reshaping that can alter a franchise for years. Minnesota was part of that process, and the Celtics were weighing a path that would have changed the balance of the roster at a time when they were still sorting out how to build around their core and where the frontcourt fit would come from.
What makes the idea so interesting now is how different the Celtics could have looked if that route had gone through. The center rotation, the need for another big, and even the way the wings would have been deployed all would have shifted, while Minnesota eventually moved in another direction and Boston had to keep building along a different track. It is the kind of near miss that says as much about a teams long-term planning as any finished deal ever could. [Read more 🡒]