Hugo Gonzalez turned in a surprisingly strong rookie season after being selected with the 28th pick in last year’s draft, but it wasn’t enough to earn him a spot in the Celtics‘ playoff rotation, writes Brian Robb of MassLive. Gonzalez made three brief appearances before playing 13 minutes in the Game 7 loss to Philadelphia, ceding time to Baylor Scheierman and Jordan Walsh. Gonzalez went scoreless in the series, missing all three shots he took from the field and two from the line.
“He didn’t separate himself from those other guys,” president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said. “As a front office person, I can’t sit here and say that one person should have been playing over another. There wasn’t enough separation. I knew Jaylen (Brown) should be playing. I knew Derrick (White) should be playing, I knew Payton (Pritchard) should be playing. At the end of the day, that’s part of a team, but I’m encouraged by all of them, but there wasn’t a lot of separation.”
Gonzalez finished second on the team in plus/minus rating during the regular season, and Stevens indicated that the Celtics still have confidence in him to be part of their future. Robb views Gonzalez as likely to work on his skills in the Las Vegas Summer League.
“Hugo has had a great rookie year and I think is a critical part of us moving forward because his athleticism can beat the moment in the big games,” Stevens said. “That’s a real thing. You can see it, you know it. His strength is off the charts. He’s probably the strongest, he’s one of the strongest guys on our team pound for pound right now as a 20-year-old, so he’s got a bright future.”
There’s more from Boston:
- Stevens told reporters that the decision to hold Jayson Tatum out of Game 7 came after watching him work out last Saturday morning, per Souchi Terada of MassLive. It became clear that the stiffness in Tatum’s left knee wouldn’t allow him to participate. “It’s not like a long-term concern, but it certainly didn’t look right when he was working out and didn’t feel right,” Stevens said. “So it made sense to be smart about that. I think the obvious answer is anytime you’re coming back from an injury like he was coming from, there’s a tendency to overcompensate, and there’s probably a little bit of that there.”
- The Celtics promoted Amari Williams from a two-way deal to a standard contract in early February, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be part of the main roster moving forward, Robb states in a mailbag column. Robb notes that Williams will be given plenty of opportunities to prove himself during Summer League, but he’s already 24 and doesn’t offer much shooting range or strength around the rim. Robb suggests that Williams might come back on another two-way contract next season.
- In the same piece, Robb notes that Stevens offered only a tepid endorsement of head coach Joe Mazzulla while saying that everyone in the organization has to be better. Robb points out that Mazzulla didn’t do a good job of incorporating Nikola Vucevic after he was acquired at the deadline, and some of the rotation decisions in the playoff series were puzzling. Robb expects Mazzulla to be “under the microscope” in next year’s playoffs, especially if Stevens is able to improve the roster.
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