Hugo Gonzalez went from offseason buzz to early-season bench guy in a hurry.
Not long ago, the young Spaniard was suddenly right in the middle of Celtics chatter. After being drafted late in the first round at 19, Gonzalez spent a while finding his footing as a rookie. Once he got a chance, he flashed exactly what Boston liked about him: defense, energy, and a way of making himself felt fast.
Then came the late-season slide. By playoff time, Gonzalez had slipped back out of the rotation and was watching from the sideline as Boston blew a 3-1 lead to the 76ers in round one.
The offseason only made his name louder. Trade rumors started flying, and his name even surfaced in conversations involving Giannis Antetokounmpo.
That led to one of the stranger storylines of the summer, with Gonzalez turning into a sticking point in those discussions and, at points, a punchline tied to a false narrative that the Celtics passed on a Giannis deal because Brad Stevens didn’t want to move the young wing.
Whether there was real substance to those rumors or not, Boston’s interest in Gonzalez was obvious. He looked sharp in summer league, then gave Spain an important boost in FIBA play. All signs pointed to a possible jump this season.
Instead, the first two games have told a different story.
In Tuesday’s opener in Detroit, Gonzalez logged only 10 minutes. Cade Cunningham gave him trouble defensively, he took just one shot - a missed 3 - and he finished with a team-worst minus-15. On Friday in the home opener, his role shrank even more, as he played just three minutes in the win over the Knicks and barely registered.
That doesn’t read like a player the Celtics have written off. But it does look like someone who has work to do before becoming a regular part of the night-to-night mix.
Boston’s wing rotation is crowded, and Gonzalez is currently behind Jayson Tatum, Paul George, Jordan Walsh, Sam Hauser, and Baylor Scheierman. With that much competition, there simply aren’t enough minutes for everyone to get comfortable, let alone find a rhythm.
There will be nights when Gonzalez gets more run because the lineup is always going to be shifting. But based on how things look right now, the more realistic expectation is a season of uneven minutes and steady development. That’s not a setback for a 20-year-old with plenty of room to grow.
The Celtics clearly still view Gonzalez as part of what they’re building. The bigger issue is the roster squeeze around him. For the moment, he’s the one paying the price for it, and unless something changes on the roster, that probably won’t be different anytime soon.
In Other News...
Jordan Walsh Is Giving The Celtics A New Lineup Dilemma
Jordan Walsh has suddenly become part of the Celtics starting conversation, and it has little to do with scoring. In recent games, Joe Mazzulla has leaned on Walsh for his defense, using him in the opening group because he can take on difficult perimeter assignments and stay connected on that end of the floor. For a team that values versatility and edge, that kind of trust matters, especially when the coaching staff is looking for reliable minutes against top opponents.
The catch is that Walshs offensive game is still a work in progress, which is why his long-term fit remains a live question. Boston likes what he brings defensively, and the early returns with him in the starting mix have been encouraging, but the Celtics still have to figure out how much room there is for a player whose value is built more on stopping others than creating for himself. That makes Walsh both useful right now and a little tricky to project going forward. [Read more 🡒]
Neemias Queta May Be Giving The Celtics A New Offensive Option
Neemias Queta gave the Celtics a useful jolt off the bench against the Knicks, finishing with 15 points and adding a little extra intrigue to his role in the process. Boston has long valued what he can bring around the rim, but any sign that he can stretch his game beyond that area only broadens the options available to a roster that is always looking for more ways to bend defenses.
The appeal is not just in the one game, but in the possibility that Queta's outside touch can become something the Celtics can actually trust. If that part of his game keeps developing, it would give Boston another wrinkle in lineups that already ask centers to do plenty, and it could make him more than just a situational big in the rotation. [Read more 🡒]
Celtics May Already Be Seeing Why They Passed On Giannis
The Heats decision to swing big for Giannis Antetokounmpo was supposed to change the balance of the Eastern Conference, but early results have only sharpened the debate around how much a superstar trade can alter a roster. Miami is already dealing with three losses to open the season, and the early unease has centered less on Giannis himself than on what the deal took away, with the move forcing the kind of trade-off that can leave a team top-heavy and thin everywhere else.
For the Celtics, it is a reminder of why they were unwilling to fully meet Milwaukees asking price when Antetokounmpo became available. Boston has long valued roster depth as much as star power, and this kind of story plays directly into that philosophy, especially when title teams usually need more than one great player to survive the long season. The question now is whether Miami can find enough balance around its new centerpiece before those early concerns become a season-long problem. [Read more 🡒]