There’s plenty Boston still has to sort out before the Celtics’ season starts, from how Paul George looks in Jaylen Brown’s spot to which young players are ready to take on more. But one thing is already clear: the Celtics know exactly what they’re getting from Sam Hauser.
At this point, that reliability is part of the pitch. It’s technically Year 6 for Hauser, who began his Celtics career in 2021 and is now the longest-tenured player on the roster behind only Jayson Tatum and Payton Pritchard. And six years in, his game still looks a lot like it did when he first arrived.
Hauser remains what he’s always been - a high-level three-point shooter, a solid enough defender, and a player who can occasionally chip in on the offensive glass. He doesn’t come with the kind of upside Boston sees in younger wings like Hugo Gonzalez, but he also doesn’t come with much uncertainty. In a roster full of moving pieces, that matters.
He made that case again in the Celtics’ preseason rout of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Against an undermanned Philly group, Hauser posted a quiet-looking line that still said plenty. He hit three threes and went 4-for-6 from the floor, which is pretty standard fare for him.
But the deeper numbers painted a bigger picture. He finished at plus-27, and his net rating came out to plus-55.6, trailing only Payton Pritchard and Neemias Queta among Celtics players.
That kind of stat is never the whole story, but it does line up with what showed up on the floor: Boston was noticeably better when Hauser was out there.
The matchup may have helped. Philadelphia was short-handed, and preseason blowouts can inflate some numbers.
Still, there was something more concrete in the way Hauser fit alongside George. In the highlights from George’s preseason debut, several Celtics turnovers with George on the floor included Hauser in the action.
He isn’t a stopper, but he is smart. He reads the floor well, and there were possessions where his positioning with George helped force turnovers that turned into fast-break points.
That matters because Hauser already has a built-in advantage: he’s a tall shooter who spaces the floor the same way George does. If the two of them can also connect defensively, it becomes a lot harder to make the case against Hauser starting with George and Tatum. Boston already knows Hauser works well next to Tatum, and now the Celtics have another reason to believe he belongs in that group when the season opens.
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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 🡒]
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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 🡒]
Celtics Second Unit Suddenly Looks Like A Real Strength
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The bigger question now is how that depth gets deployed once the games count. Boston still has some uncertainty around its starting lineup, and both Scheierman and Gonzalez appear positioned to matter either way, whether they are asked to open games or provide scoring and energy off the bench. For a team trying to stay balanced while sorting out its rotation, that kind of flexibility can go a long way. [Read more 🡒]