The box score made Monday night look routine for Boston: a 134-99 blowout of a young Chicago Bulls team at TD Garden. But tucked inside the Celtics’ runaway win was a far more interesting development - the first NBA minutes for rookie Chris Cenac Jr.
"It was pretty cool," Cenac told Hardwood Houdini a day later. "Just stayed ready and went out there and competed."
The moment came with the kind of ripple effect rookies dream about. Cenac said his phone lit up afterward with congratulatory messages, and he also checked off another first: his first official bucket. Baylor Scheierman found him as he moved from the corner to the slot, and Cenac caught the pass a couple of feet beyond the arc before firing with confidence and drilling a 3 that barely touched the net.
"It felt good," said the Celtics' first-round pick. "Just all the work paying off in the gym with [director of player development] Craig [Luschenat], getting shots up every day. So, it was only right for my first shot to go in."
For Cenac, the debut was less about novelty than about confirmation. The six-foot-11 stretch-four/center had already logged plenty of time in the preseason, but he quickly learned that the regular season brings a different edge.
The game speed picks up. The attention to detail gets sharper.
And the urgency hits harder.
He had a close-up view of that in Boston’s first two games before he ever stepped onto the floor in meaningful minutes. The Celtics opened against the Detroit Pistons, then came back home to face the New York Knicks and earned a 107-103 win.
What changed for him once the games started counting?
"It's just [a] higher competitive level. Everybody's out there trying to win, so the games are a little more intense, a little faster, a little more attention to detail," he shared.
That adjustment fits the way Cenac has been wired for a while. The New Orleans, Louisiana, native has put in steady work with Craig Luschenat, and that grind is part of his makeup.
As the son of two parents who work multiple jobs, he’s built around effort. That same approach helped him flourish as a top-seven recruit in Kelvin Sampson’s demanding program at the University of Houston, and it’s carrying over now in Boston.
The shot from deep is a good place to start, and fittingly, that’s where his first NBA points came from. If Cenac becomes a dependable threat from 3, the ceiling rises fast.
But his value doesn’t stop there. He can help with the possession battle, and he brings underrated passing to the table.
He also has the length, athleticism and handle to attack slower bigs off the dribble. If he grows into a solid screener and pick-and-roll partner, he could become a useful target for Boston’s ball handlers.
There’s an even louder upside on defense. Cenac’s 7'5" wingspan and 9'0.5" standing reach jump off the page, and he moves well enough to make those tools matter.
In college, Houston’s system didn’t fully put his shot-blocking in the spotlight, but the potential is obvious. He can protect the rim from the weak side, erase shots from behind, and cover a lot of ground in a hurry.
That showed up quickly in Summer League and the preseason.
He also has the mobility and reach to function as a switchable defender, one who can protect the paint and still get out to the corner to contest efficient 3s. That’s the kind of versatility teams hunt for in the modern game.
Cenac is still raw, and Boston knows patience is part of the process. But the tools are real, the work is real, and the development program around him is built to sharpen both. On Monday, he got his first official taste of NBA basketball, and it offered a glimpse of what the Celtics believe is coming next.
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