For much of his sprawling, half-hour, end-of-season chat with reporters earlier this week, Brad Stevens spoke in generalities about the Boston Celtics’ progress and the work ahead to construct a more surefire championship roster.
Then, at the finish line of that session, Stevens both revved the hype train for rookie Hugo Gonzalez and delivered the sort of fuel that might help further push the 20-year-old whirling dervish.
“The reality is Hugo had a great rookie year and is, I think, a critical part of us moving forward,” Stevens said. “Because his athleticism can meet the moment in big games. That’s a real thing. You can see 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.”
Gonzalez, whose playing time dried up late in the season as head coach Joe Mazzulla leaned on more experienced wing options, turned in 13 high-energy minutes in Game 7 against the Philadelphia 76ers, helping to fuel Boston’s first-half comeback and giving the team a chance to steal the series at the finish line.
Gonzalez confidently took turns on Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe and Joel Embiid during the middle quarters of Boston’s finale. He nearly forced a Maxey turnover early in his first shift before the speedy guard hit a tough pull-up over him. Gonzalez followed with stops against Edgecombe and Justin Edwards.
But the highlight moment came when he twice took shoulder bumps from a driving Embiid near the free throw line and threw his hands straight up to contest a fadeaway miss. In total, 31.9 percent of Gonzalez’s total defensive matchup time came against Embiid and he more than held his own despite giving up so much size.
Gonzalez, the 28th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, logged 1,084 minutes in 74 regular-season appearances overall. Despite his teenage status, he never got sent to the G League squad in Maine, spending the entirety of his rookie season with the parent club.
Opponents shot 3.6 percent below expected output this season when Gonzalez was the primary defender, which ranked in the 93rd percentile for his position. What’s more, Gonzalez grabbed 15.2 percent of all available defensive rebounds during his floor time, which ranked in the 94th percentile.
Offensively, he’s still very much a work in progress. Gonzalez shot 36.2 percent on 3-pointers but could be hesitant when shots didn’t fall. One of his best strengths on offense was crashing hard from the corner, often creating havoc in the aftermath.
Stevens made sure to note that Gonzalez must work to differentiate himself from Boston’s gaggle of young wings.
“It’s really hard when there’s not separation,” Stevens said, acknowledging how Boston’s depth was both a blessing and a curse that made it difficult for Mazzulla to know who to lean on, especially in the postseason.
“[Gonzalez] didn’t separate himself from those other guys. And so, as a front-office person, I can’t sit here and say that one person should have been playing over another. There was no separation.
“I knew Jaylen [Brown] should be playing. I knew Derrick [White] should have been playing. Payton [Pritchard] should play. At the end of the day, that’s part of our team. I’m encouraged by all of [the young players], but there wasn’t a lot of separation.”
Gonzalez played just six total minutes in three appearances against Philadelphia in Games 1-6 before his longer Game 7 stint. Summer League could provide an opportunity for him to build offensive confidence and differentiate himself from other young NBA talent.
Stevens’ acknowledgment of the wing logjam does make you wonder if some of Boston’s offseason changes could include trying to consolidate at that position. While the depth was a regular-season blessing for the Celtics and became part of their identity, we remember seasons that Stevens coached in Boston where Danny Ainge fretted giving him too many options to play.
The Celtics might need to identify the players who are most willing to lean into and maximize that playing time moving forward. Gonzalez, despite his limited time at the end of the season, might be the top priority.
His ability to defend up against Embiid was giving us Marcus Smart “stretch 6″ vibes. Gonzalez likes to gamble on defense and got burned at times during the regular season, but his ability to create chaos is undeniable. That combination of energy and strength made good things happen more often than not.
And the Celtics only scratched the surface of what’s possible for Gonzalez moving forward.
