LIVE Garden Report: Celtics Draft Hugo Gonzalez & Brad Stevens Addresses Media

LIVE Garden Report: Celtics Draft Hugo Gonzalez & Brad Stevens Addresses Media

hard hat’s all about showing up to play hard doing what it takes to win If you want to cement legacy win another He’s your third center You don’t want to pump him up too much but it’s hard not to This is maybe the most I’ve ever agreed with you You go All aboard the Yugo train John nonstop Anyway Boston we told you we’d be back as soon as Brad Stevens was done We wanted to jump back on there and just keep the momentum going Uh we got about 20 we got about 20 30 minutes before they kick us out of the Arback Center uh here So uh we’re going to get Bobby and Noah’s take We’ll play back a couple of those sound bites you just heard from Brad Uh and we’ll kind of talk about Hugo a little bit more uh as you know we’re things are marinating you know and we’ve had a chance to you know think about it talk about it Yeah Exactly Exactly So um you know uh as we said Noah and Bobby will be up in just a minute here I’m getting ready We’re going back first on on the Hugo uh uh thing again One of the things that Brad talked about was the playing with men thing which is something I mentioned Like I do think I do think you have to factor that in when you’re like “Wow he didn’t do anything over there.” Because it’s totally different Uh you’re a kid playing with like former NBA guys and international professionals and like fully formed and developed people So uh that’s grown men grown men And then I do think the um you know what’s been reported and Brad kind of talking about that he’ll be here He’s going to be here uh to play Um I think there’s a few things that we hit on and Bobby and Noah give me a thumbs up when you guys are ready to go and we’ll we’ll we’ll throw you on there too Um all right they’re going to jump on Hey guys Um hey hey What’s going on guys we’re going to start with the Can you guys hear us we can hear you but you’re frozen I lost we lost the audio No we’re good Let’s start We just had it a second Yeah No you still have it We still hear you Hot mic Hot mic We still hear you You’re going back on You’re back on No A No A hot mic Hot mic You guys hear us yep We We could hear you guys We could hear Yeah Excellent Might be might be a slight delay so um I’ll just throw it out to you guys Uh first off uh what do you guys think about um the loss of Austin i’m just kidding Um the two the two recurring themes in that press conference [Laughter] I would say the Hey you had a great draft today The catchphrase the catchphrase from today’s press conference the buzzword the euphemism if you will for for for what is in store for this team in this season is regaining flexibility Yes we are here to regain Yeah for sure And that’s flexibility way to put it right you could call it downsizing payroll You could call it lowering the tax hit streamlining you could subscribe describe it but Brad was pretty adamant that they were hamstrung by second apron penalties and they needed to get out of that territory Now does that mean they’re going to go even further here there’s obviously first apron restrictions too So sounded like it They want even more flexibility Yeah if you want to go even further down here So um he mentioned some of the core I thought one of the more pertinent things we he said was mentioning core guys and there was what Brown White Pritchard and and Tatum and Tatum before he mentioned I mean there’s also the only four that are left right now So um I mean I guess Sam and Luke and and Al Sam Uh but I was I actually I was going to follow up with him and specifically ask about Jaylen and Derrick and then he just mentioned their names but I mean I would imagine that right now he’s foreseeing them as as part of the court forward And I think he signaled trying to compete this year too as much as they can There’s obviously a balance between what they’re trying to do financially and structurally into the future here along with trying to keep the best team together possible And obviously no one directly asked about the availability of Brown and White in those reports here today I know in Utah the Jazz denied reports that they were uh pursuing Brown here So nothing went down there and never felt like anything was really close I think my sense was all that stuff was in the past as they assessed their many different options here and they cleared the second apron at this point So could they wiggle below the first apron it’s possible It’s possible cliffhanger question It is a cliffhanger When when I see movement I’ll put them back on the stream Uh on the Yeah On the stream But again we are battling with the Wi-Fi issues there Uh yeah Jimmy what what were your t I I I I find it hard to watch people squirm And I do think Brad was squirming a little bit Um this is a guy who’s usually in control of the majority of his press conferences He’s extremely smart and articulate He knows how to handle the media He knows how to say nothing um while saying something And I always think that that’s um you know one of the things Guys we’re bringing you back I think we got you again Bye guys Hot mic Hot mic Hot mic Um guys you hear us again are you hearing us okay we we we need There’s a crazy delay I think Are you guys hearing us okay Yeah Yeah Perfect We can hear you now Got it Got it Got it Sorry Technical difficulties back home Um so did you guys find I I was saying this this is my observation Brad is pretty unflapable in general Um he looked a little flapped tonight Like he looked this was Brad reeling a little bit Crazy couple days Yeah But recognizing one you could definitely talk about the emotions of having to let people hear but I think tasked with the mission that’s before him uh which is regaining flexibility Um he didn’t have a lot of places to go with some of the the questions here And I do think that um normally he’s really good at saying uh something while saying nothing but in this case I think it was hard for him to hide the fact that he was basically telling everybody we know we’re not going to be great next year Um that was my read and I don’t think he did a really good job of of hiding it I mean and again Noah asked you know the question and boy was that an oans answer You know it was just a word salad off of that you know like what are you going to do question The question was great He just kind of ran from it like we’re going to compete We’re going to compete It was just word salad You don’t believe him Goodness I I honestly as soon as I finished talking he looked so upset I was like I’m sorry Yeah No I I totally agree with you John I do think that he this was not an enjoyable press conference for him to do And it doesn’t help that there are two big reported trades that we all know are reported that he can’t acknowledge on the record like that just creates like a weird dynamic where the big story he can’t like actually talk about But honestly he may have been relieved because those aren’t fun moves to talk about either Um so I didn’t get a whole lot from him on next year or just really the camera when we last heard from him about five weeks ago he said on draft night I’ll be able to talk more The only thing I really got is that he’s they’re more adamant about being out of the second apron Like he explicitly said that’s been hamstringing me And I honestly I wish I had followed up and said what’s specifically about the penalties because whenever I look at the second apron I don’t see it I don’t see what is the thing we said Yeah It’s just an excuse Remind me next time there’s a Brad Stevens press conference to ask that question because I actually do think that that should be like I want to hear which part of it is the thing He said it’s staring me in the face and I didn’t realize how daunting But we’ve kind of been over this Like if you’re a contender you can live with the penalties and just have a good team and the restrictions aren’t going to affect you as they didn’t wouldn’t have affected them last year It’s the money tax It’s it’s $280 million in tax which no one wants to pay And we’re going to keep talking about that I even thought and earlier I didn’t put it up there but Adam Himlsbach had a tweet which was like you know uh you know Brett about the Celtics and the necessary changes that were made Those were his words not the Celtics but that was that was necessary in what capacity necessary because the owners don’t want to pay a massive tax for this team which is understandable but let’s not pretend it’s mandatory like you can The second apron was created to put a hard cap on teams and to limit spending Yeah we can because Mike’s Aaron’s doing a Zoom press conference tomorrow He’s the salary cap guy We can ask him tomorrow about what specifically it is That’s a good point Yeah And listen yeah I’m sure management They’re with teams Yeah Like there’s going to be all this he might lip service right about trade flexibility and midlevel usage and draft picks seven years down the line And listen that stuff is prohibitive if you’re going in a different direction and you’re focused more on the long term here So I get it They might have wanted to do trades that they couldn’t do above the second apron that we might see now Um as you mentioned aggregating salary specifically I think is most prohibitive when it comes to managing a team here But this was about $200 million in tax plus $200 million in salary this upcoming year And like you said John nobody has a problem with them not wanting to pay that because of the fact that Jason Tatum’s down and their window appeared to have been closing at that point Sure But let’s not say it was second a scaring you It was the tax and I asked about the ownership He said they’re willing to pay Again I’ll believe it when I see it I want them to pay some amount of tax here to keep as much of this roster together as possible Uh well again there’s two parts to that Bobby Uh and and Jimmy I think you’re probably kind of in my camp on this Like yeah you’re paying tax for a team that can compete for a title tomorrow You’re not paying it for a team that’s going to win 40 games So like what’s the point of going theoretically right now where you are 4.7 million under that second apron okay you’re looking at the roster and thinking how can I compete this year well I probably need a center Well I got to pay Al 1012 million Oops back over the second apron but I really do need Al because I don’t have a center That’s not something you’re gonna do That’s not something owners are going to allow you to do So why are we talking about paying the tax for a team that if you do pay a little of it unless you go back 200 if you 200 million over you’re not competing this year Uh so I don’t understand I have to imagine they’ve been told “No no we’re not doing that Not for this team Not this year Not paying any taxes.” I look maybe they’ll pay I don’t know We’ll see how low they go I don’t know Yeah because the thinking would be of uh we froze We froze We froze again We’ll try to get those guys back in a minute But like what do you think Jimmy i mean if you’re the owner right now is there are are like you don’t want to you wouldn’t want to tell Brad trade everybody like get you know get below the tax save as much money as possible But you think it’s beyond the realm of possibility that he’s like I would like to be under the cap not just under the first apron or you know I I want to be I don’t want to pay a freaking dime extra more than we have to for this team We’ll we’ll we’ll worry about taxes and I’ll be w you can pitch me why I need to pay taxes to go over when we have a contender to make moves but not right now Like I’m not doing that right i mean I I can see both sides of it I think from an optics perspective John you’re a new ownership group and you come in and strip the roster even if it does seem to be the right business decision you’re going to make a lot of enemies really fast as as you know the new owner of this team and you just traded away you know ABCDE player on the team You can get you can I think a lot of fans understand okay Holiday probably had to go Porzingis I think there was a lot of fans who had sold themselves on him not being the guy anymore that’s fine but if you start to really dig into this roster more and I’m talking about Brown talking about White um you’re going to you’re going to get a lot of raised eyebrows and like okay who just bought this team here what’s the goal here is the goal to turn a profit do are you not as rich as as the numbers might show you not care about you know a winning culture Like all those questions are going to start to be asked and that’s going to be really if you think Brad SAS was uncomfortable tonight just wait until you know if those types of moves started to happen I wouldn’t be shocked by a couple other guys uh leaving the team and that number getting a little bit lower John I don’t think we can make that determination just because of the way they drafted tonight or just because of the trades they didn’t make on draft night I still think there’s plenty of time and we haven’t even begun the free agency period yet So I think some of those questions will answer themselves in time but I did find Brad Stevens’s um answers or a couple of them uh interesting Anyways and again has to do with that flexibility Here’s the one to here’s the one to Bobby who asked him about you know the moves to get under Don’t know how much you can say about some of the reported moves at this point but in terms in terms of the strategy offseason here as you developed it so they’ll have addressing the second addressing the luxury tax payment How have you guys gone about the decisionions you could potentially make there to downsize from a second apron standpoint from a tax standpoint yeah I don’t think we need to go into any specifics I think the the biggest thing is is there clearly is a need to prioritize regaining our flexibility and you know maximizing um from an asset standpoint what we can But you know as far as whatever moves that those are a part of they’re all separate and um you know hard and things that you know are going to be um you know you’re just going to have to do your best to make sure you put yourself in the right positions but um you know I do this is about we we have to and we knew this was coming right this isn’t a huge surprise um we have to make sure we prioritize um that flexibility obviously we got other things that we got to prioritize we got to prioritize JT’s health and make sure that he comes back fully strong JD had a surgery although it’s his his timeline to be back will be much quicker obviously but um you know and obviously ready at the start of the season and so I think like um you know the biggest thing for us is just making sure that we you know balance that maximizing um what we can with regard to what we bring back so we can you know continue to build and grow when you have an in ownership like you hear what’s the communication process like in terms of luxury tax the commitment to spending that sort of thing as they transition our owners our owners old and new are committed to spending this is this is there’s a lot of things that go into these moves and a lot of things that are really important and listen again it goes back to prioritizing our flex and you know I think the second apron basketball penalties are real and I’m not sure I’ve I I understood how real until they were staring me in the face in the last month Um so I do think that there’s um you know I think that that that can’t be overstated So again Bobby coming in there with a couple of questions Um Brad they’re killing me Yeah it’s okay It’s not their fault It’s not your fault Our back center Wi-Fi Damn it Amit Brad Um Brad jumping off uh you know you know trying to cut Bobby off there saying he can’t talk about it and then trying to trying to pivot off of this uh talking about prioritizing Jason Tatum’s health which is something that they actually can’t do like it’s not a thing you don’t you can’t prioritize his health prioritizing a person’s health would be if they were injured and wanted to play or were close you would really take your time with them and not force them back prioritizing their health He’s out for the freaking year You don’t prioritize anything Jason Tatum’s health is not has nothing to do with this What I think he’s trying to say there is kind of Tatum’s out and that’s a concern of ours and it probably impacts our decision- making this year and that’s what we did But I mean he’s out man He’s gone He’s gone He’s out for this year You’re not prioritizing health You’re just not you just don’t have him So again I kind of wish I kind of wish you got the answer to the question did owners tell you you got to get under the second apron like and then how much lower do you have to go how much lower do you have to go because I don’t know yet That’s that’s the big question to me Jimmy You know debating with people on Twitter and people who want to take a sunny outlook on things I this isn’t negative for the sake of being negative The Celtics are in a big are in a hole that’s hard to dig out of and it might not happen right away It’s going to take time They have to be creative It’s not magic Brad Stevens can’t just wave a wand and get him out of it It’s just an economic reality and a team that doesn’t have much in the pipeline to be able to get out of it quickly So they have to go backwards here The only the question here is what everyone’s saying don’t judge the moves they’ve made now until they make them all What I’m saying is don’t judge what’s happened in terms of spending until you see whether or not there’s more slashing to happen Right if this is round one of layoffs and then a couple months later there’s another round it’s then you know that ownership’s telling them “Guys we’re we we don’t we really don’t want to we don’t want to spend a nickel beyond what we have to on this particular team here.” We don’t know And I I don’t think it’s a fire sale and I don’t think everything must go on day one right so it might just be a process It might have to do with who’s available at what time I’m sure there might be a lot of teams that might be more interested than they were before the draft because maybe they had their eyes on a certain draft pick and maybe they wanted to see what they could do to move up and down the draft Now that the draft’s over teams can kind of focus on the next thing which would be free agency which would be okay what have teams been calling around about which players are available what what direction do we want to go in now and that could be the Celtics as well I think Brad Stevens answered it a little bit indirectly when he said that regain flexibility answer to Bobby I think that was his PC way of saying yes we needed to get under that second apron and there may may even be additional moves that need to be made in order to regain you know some more of that flexibility whether that’s cap or not We got Noah and Bobby back and I think our signal is stronger here now Um we are going to quickly play Noah’s question to Brad Stevens basically saying “How the hell are you guys going to compete next year?” Oh there’s a lot still a lot of uncertainties this off season around what this team look next year We’ve heard the term retooling rebuilding all those kind of floating around in the media How would you describe where you guys are at and what are some things you can say are certain or likely about next year’s roster well I think we’re certain to have some really good players on our roster right i mean even you look at our roster right now today we’re gonna we’ve got a lot of really good basketball players that have done a lot of good things in this league and several of them have done a lot of great things here Um and so we’ll see how it all pans out what it all looks like but like you know I expect us to go out and compete and you know compete with all we’ve got to be the very best we can And that will always be the case and um we’ll do our best to put the right group together and and at the same time regain some flexibility and maximize some asset return Um but I do think like you know um we’ve got a good group and it’s a really again we’ve got the the foundation obviously with Jaylen and Jason and and Dy and Peyton and all those guys that you know a lot of teams would love to have Shout out Payeyton shout out who was left Yeah he was he was kind of like who’s left Let me think I was like is Jordan Walsh getting a shout out baylor Charming Yeah they don’t have a four on the roster They don’t have a five It’s a foundation John They don’t have a four They don’t have a five And they’re probably going to trade their two uh before the season starts but yeah sure We got some good players here anyway Okay Anyway um so I mean look I mean those were the questions that were relevant um that that you two asked um and then A and then Phil Pressy Um and and then come on someone asked about Joe And I’m just kidding And we are gonna get the Joe answer The problem is is now when I sit in these press conferences I view it through your lens John So I’m already like I’m grim Do not let him do that to you No Yeah He know he has It’s too late It’s too late Sorry We’re Look we got We have very little time with these guys right we got to get to the meat of it You’re You guys are sitting here saying “I wish I had more time to ask follow-ups.” I would have rather you guys got your follow-ups in I’m going to be honest than than than some of the stuff that because you’re Look it’s you want to know some there’s stuff What do you want to ask Aaron tomorrow we got another press conference tomorrow Honestly like I’m just really curious from the owners on down like what if they ordered the code red you know like how how low do they go you know how low does this have to go you know u in that regard you know and I know Xarin is the one who’s like you know doing the books and he has a good sense of the number but sure you can talk about the the penalties and all of those things but I am really curious what the what what the message on down is uh here for these guys I don’t know because the ownership group hasn’t even been approved yet Like I’m sure they’re involved in the decision-m process but like we’ve talked about with this ownership group anyway it’s a bunch of different people It’s a bunch of different groups um the head you know face of the sale is probably just a small percentage of the bigger decision- making process here And now you know Wick’s still the governor technically and all that too So we have no idea the specifics of how the decision-m is going to work at the ownership level I know Brad described it as the same today and that they’re going to continue to spend and all that I think that’s always easy to say but again you’re looking for action at this point You’re looking for tangible moves that show that they’re willing to do that And again you understand it going down this summer If it goes below zero I’m gonna have some problems with that The biggest thing though is that we it will never know what this would have looked like had they had the same ownership group in this situation It’s like it’s it’s one of those things like like we we can’t AB test it You know what I mean like this is such a unique situation There’s a question if they would have signed all those extensions if it was the same Yeah Who knows i mean they knew they were going up for sale was all it was in the midst of all those extensions but also like what are you know what are the Pacers going to do next year the Bucks like these teams that have a gap year in the way that they’re constructed because of these Achilles ruptures which is kind of wild that there’s three you know playoff teams in the Eastern Conference that are dealing with this like it does kind of put you in a weird spot if you’re effectively eliminating yourself from contention like how do you you know this go into next you’re not going to contend but because of the situation that’s that seems to be the mindset so that’s how you’re feeling No that they feel that way Mhm I don’t think they can they feel like they can contend without Tatum I think I have more confidence in what kind of roster they could assemble without Tatum than they do than they do I mean I said and maybe that’s blind optimism but I don’t get the sense from anything I’ve heard seen moves that they feel like they can put together a contender next year and that that’s the goal I I do I will say we didn’t see any trades tonight We didn’t see any more roster activity and cap management but I felt like there was going to be one thing tonight that did point toward their direction and it was the draft pick Again a 19-year-old who’s probably not close to being ready to contribute at this level I think that says a lot You could have drafted a ready-made guy You could have drafted a guy who’s ready to fill a role There were plenty of them available and they went with one of the less developed guys You can tomorrow Every guy you guys thought they would draft is there and they’re probably going to get one at 32 So I don’t think that this signifies that necessarily Bobby I think it was an upside pick knowing you’re picking four picks later and all three center all three of those bigs are on the board I I think that that’s actually probably a smart pick and has not my my opinion has nothing to do with clear direction because 32 if you swapped them and you take who they take at 32 at 28 and took this kid at 32 you’d be fine with it So you know you’d have the readym made guy So I I I wouldn’t go that far I just think we don’t have to guess You just have to look at it and you can read Brad’s kind of vibe He’s he’s not he’s trying to look we’ve seen like you know I mean to the cross sports thing and you know Jimmy and Bobby you guys know this every this is every Red Sox doesn’t No I mean she knows she it’s not it’s not a knock It’s No I don’t It’s It’s every This is every Red Sox This is every Red Sox general manager press conference for the last five years You know we expect to feel the competitive team We think we have some quality players here It’s a And and what they’re like we’re going to be 500 You know it is what it is So sad dude It is right Yeah I think the one thing I’ll say is that in recent years they really haven’t drafted like an overseas player that has a potential upside Yeah So and it’s a risky move but I feel like when you’re building a championship roster right now like it’s there’s a temptation to avoid those kinds of players but that’s where you get the potential steals right like I don’t know has there I I I’m not I’m not a draft expert but Gavon today said you know this is one of the biggest deals of the draft has anybody that they’ve drafted over the last three four years potentially even been termed that by a draft expert and maybe he won’t be Maybe this guy will be a complete bust Not since Rob Williams right so I think like I actually I I don’t dislike the pick I will be honest I know very little about the guy but the fact that he has this upside and that he’s an overseas player that’s playing poor basketball 19 years old Like there’s a lot of unique things about his circumstances He stood out to me when I was reviewing prospects as the only guy that’s pretty much not actually in a rotation right now which is kind of wild that you can go from that to the NBA But like I I think you’re right John that tomorrow they’ll probably draft one of those bigs because there’s so many of them available Call Breno Like there’s they’re all still there Yeah I like the idea But guys because you’re going to be kicked out in a minute uh uh I do want to address one thing I found this extremely interesting uh at the very end of the press conference We’ve been talking about this too Um we believe Joe Musli is in is in the final year of his extension and typically uh of his original uh you know extension This would be year three Uh he was um of him as a head coach I believe he was given a third-year extension during his first year So that’s a very rare thing to have a coach enter in a in a in a contract year without a contract And he was asked at the very end of the press conference Joe uh you know uh Brad Stevens about Joe Misoula and this was his answer Brad has there been any discussion with Joe Missoula about a contract extension joe and I first of all I’ll keep any of those discussions in house Um but we’ve got Joe under contract for um multiple years right now And so we we certainly want Joe to be around here for a long time That’s news to us Yeah Like that he he has multiple years left on his contract He didn’t say that Can you play that again yeah For multiple years He’s been here for years Yeah And we want to keep him here longer No Play He said he said he’s under contract He’s under contract multiple years No I didn’t hear that I heard what John any discussion with mention Joe and I first of all I’ll keep any of those discussions in house um but we’ve got Joe under contract for uh multiple years right now and so we’ve got Joe under Joe to be around here I heard I hear we’ve had Joe yeah I actually just heard both I’ I’m going back and forth now this is like that dress blue dress or white address Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah I mean it’s a very important decision Hugely important decision Um but we’ve had Joe under contract for uh It’s like it’s skipping at that part Skipping I have John we have to go under contract for being told to wrap up here Yeah No tell them tell them we got to solve this first Hold on Yeah House Um but we’ve got Joe under contract for um multiple years right now And I think he said we’ve got now Yeah we we certainly want a weird thing to say I know that’s breaking news We’ve got originally I did We thought he had one year left Yeah originally I thought that he said we’ve got meaning there was multiple years Three years beyond his first year Interesting Okay we’ll see what happens Anyway we can’t go any longer These guys are going to be strong armed out of the building So Bobby and Noah are going to leave Jimmy and I will hang on for a little bit and kind of clean up the rest of it We will tell you we’ll be back on tomorrow Same exact thing at the start of the draft and we’re just going to try to roll right through it because they do pick we pick they pick early and they’re going to get they’re going to get their guy and that’s that So we’ll we’ll do a little pre-show We’ll see if there’s any news uh and updates and we’ll roll right into the start of the draft through the Celtics pick uh and take you home there So again thank you guys for jumping in and out of multiple streams with us Thank you to Noah and Bobby for doing all the work down there and bearing with us with the technical difficulties and hanging on Uh and they still have work to do after this So we’re going to let them go Jimmy and I will hang on a little bit So guys thanks Uh we we’ll talk we’ll we’ll talk to you guys tomorrow Um Jimmy Tusano uh final thoughts my friend baby on uh on everything that we just heard here Final thoughts Okay Well doesn’t have to be final It could be any thoughts Yeah Yeah Yeah Just any thoughts i I mean if if we want to circle back to the actual draft and and you go Gonzalez here um I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I’m really upset or really happy about it I didn’t go in with any high expectations or hopes for anybody until like two minutes before they were supposed to pick where I wanted the Michigan guy Wolf Danny Wolf he went to pick before It is what it is Hopefully he just sucks in Brooklyn and I don’t have to think about that Um I watched a Hugo Gonzalez highlight reel Um I love it Yeah In between our show and the Brad Stevens press conference I was kind of toggling back and forth And I got to be honest John he didn’t miss He didn’t miss Not Not a single not a single shot But what I did notice a lot of driving to the basket I know Brad Stevens mentioned the cutting I did see the off ball stuff but he’s physical He’s aggressive It looks like he’s not one of those guys that wants to park himself at the three-point line I don’t know if that’s going to change on this Celtics team Certainly we’ve seen players adjust to that style of play in Boston but he looks like a a completely different player than some of these guys in the NBA right now that are relying um more on the outside shot I obviously would like him to to develop an outside shot and he needs to But right now and again he’s playing against as you guys pointed out grown men He’s playing against former NBA players some of the best players in in all of Europe and he’s physical with them He’s not shying away from contact Um I saw a lot of um highlights of him um on the offensive glass on the glass in general um rebounding So I think they are getting a guy that can bang around out there and can be physical and can be athletic Um so we’ll see I think to your point sort of a swing for the fences type of a draft pick as opposed to a a guy that might just be a a B minus player Maybe this guy could be a complete flop Maybe could end up being an A player We won’t know obviously uh for a couple seasons or at least at least until we get into training camp here and see what they’ve got But pick is fine with me you know figure out figure it out from there Same thing I was saying it with Bobby I like the swing um you know uh of taking you know at a at a um Hold on one second Oh sorry I got to remove a couple things Um you know uh Gavon here for ESPN who I know was something people were talking about viewed him as a viewed uh this pick as a steel strength aggressive aggressive aggressive We we’ve talked about this swingman excellent frame inconsistent minutes have hindered ability to demonstrate the potential he showed over a decorated junior career in Spain So I do think some people who like that this pick like what they saw of him before he got to a league where he was playing with men uh as a 19-year-old 11 minutes per game long season remains unpolished The verdict a lottery level talent in multiple settings over the past several years So again looking at the entire body of work here judging him rather than just that final year uh including small doses this season with highlight reel plays on both ends of the floor Significant flashes of ability as a transition scorer pick and roll passer and especially a versatile defender despite not having the luxury of playing through mistakes Becoming a better shooter will be key for unlocking the value of his explosiveness and competitiveness at the highest level So again I I I love untapped talent or you know over I I the my least favorite player is the productive college player for three years I those are my least favorite guys Like if you’re productive in college for three years it’s because you weren’t good enough to come out as a freshman And you know those are the guys who have physical limitations and kind of low ceilings maybe higher floors lower ceilings And again I I do think you need swing for the fences sort of picks if you’re the Celtics right now because you’re not getting anywhere with another Luke Cornet or you know whatever type of like so again you don’t know it’s an inexact science One of the other guys and the best thing about it is every other guy who people mocked to the Celtics at that point is still there So right you might end up with both and this is your high-f flyier and the second round guy is the guy who contributes more next year I I I’m fine with it I like I I like the upside I love I way way way prefer the upside play It’s pick 28 you know i mean a couple of those guys I love this Judah Genobi vibes Give that to me Give it to me I would love that too Oh my god Genobi was a lot flashier as a scoreer so I think I don’t know That’d be great Um of course Jobi is an unbelievable player but um we’ll see I mean I I think it’s it’s it’s exciting to it’s the unknown right we we’re we’re in love with the unknown a little bit So it’ll be exciting to have a guy come in and otherwise probably not not very exciting for the right reasons type of a offseason for Boston Um you’re going to get a guy in Gonzalez We’ll see if um Simon sticks around Those guys are like polar opposites it feels like You know Simon’s a guy that is a shooter not much of a defender Um and and I think this Gonzalez guy is is going to be something a lot different than that So it’ll be interesting to see um if he can carve himself a little bit of roll I’m interested to see how Joe Missoula um does patience-wise with him if he can’t shoot and if he does make mistakes here and there I think Missoula is going to have to adjust his coaching style significantly this year if the goals have changed and there and this does become more of a development year if if that’s kind of the writing on the wall So I I think it it works out for Gonzalez that he does jump on this team uh in a situation where they their expectations are going to be a little bit different as opposed to how some of the last couple seasons rookies have you know gone on to teams with with little little to no role and it stayed that way Um so there’s going to be an opportunity for the guy which is which is exciting for him Yeah he’s in limited minutes in Spain I think I saw 11 minutes on that breakdown you just said 11 minutes per game which is not much That’s probably a little troubling because you’d expect maybe if he was uh you know playing that well he could stay on the court a little bit longer but we don’t know the situation and we don’t know the co like how the coaches you know treat the players over there or who gets playing time and why and and anything like that So I don’t want to over analyze that as much Um but we’ll see That’s my Hugh Gonzalez take I think he I think he is gonna be a versatile type guard you know swing for them though So that’s gonna be nice And that was talking Hugo That was talking Hugo Yeah A guy I had never seen or heard of until today Uh pe people are lamenting uh the Liam McNeely pick after out of u Connecticut Yeah Yeah As somebody uh as somebody people liked here as well So again I don’t know U we don’t know We’re not going to pretend that we know I again I’m more going about vibes and I or just does he pass the vibes check it’s not the vibes as much as it is the theory behind a player of his ilk who’s an unfinished product where you see a lot of potential and people um had him highly rated Um didn’t have the year you know didn’t have a huge year there and that’s probably why he fell But um coming coming into this year somebody that was on people’s radar uh and like again you like to hear draft experts say lottery level talent that when you get that at 28 pick right you know a guy with high you know upside and and a lot of unknowns attached to here’s a here’s a great little tweet Ready 15year-old Hugo took on 15year-old Cooper Flag in the in the FIA uh U7 World Cup championships Gonzalez team high 16 points and three steals Flag 10 points 17 rebounds Let’s let’s for who outplayed the top player in the draft So the first head-to-head matchup went to Yugo Yugo I like that I like that a lot Well USA won but but Yugo had himself a game against Spain Okay USA Well we like that too So again this is what people are talking about the arc of his career And again it you’re talking about I’m not making excuses for it but the context between playing against kids in college as a 19-year-old versus playing against 27year-old former NBA players in in you know internationally It’s it’s a different world It’s many levels ahead of college basketball where those guys are playing So it’s a different ballgame He didn’t get to show his stuff So you’ve got he gets an incomplete Oh I hate to say it John but he’s he’s going to an even he’s he’s going to an even harder league now So it’s not going to get any easier for Mr Gonzalez Luca as an 18-year-old did tear it up with Real Madrid though So I mean you know well Luca could shoot Yeah Luca could do it all Anyway um yeah but it’s different It’s completely different uh why that is there Um anyway uh we’re wrapping up a full night of draft coverage and we do appreciate you guys for hanging out with us here Uh again on multiple streams throughout the night a really good audience uh from the pre-draft show Yeah All the way through the pick the Brad Stevens presser and then again here uh as we talk about everything that happened No splash no fireworks no big trades doesn’t mean something can’t still happen but all of the places the Celtics were rumored to potentially be exploring a big trade or any of the teams uh made their picks and all are reportedly keeping those players They love those players They don’t want to trade those players Um so the Celtics are going forth with the roster they have now Could be more trades tomorrow I know Noah had theorized that Sam Hower could have been a a salary shedding move to potentially get up higher into the uh first round U I wouldn’t be stunned if he got moved for a second rounder or future considerations tomorrow So that’s a name to watch Uh we’ll see what else happens here Sammy for a second rounder He could get moved still for a second and potential future considerations Yeah I mean how much is he worth i think he’s worth more than that Who knows um but yeah stuff could still happen We’ll be back tomorrow uh here and again Uh you know uh we’ll we’ll we’ll watch more Hugo clips Uh we’ll get some more intel We’ll see what the uh what the people are saying here and I’m sure we’ll come up with some more good stuff for tomorrow So again thank you guys for watching You can watch back anything and everything uh from tonight on our YouTube channel as well as a Brad Stevens press conference Also you can watch any of our recent interviews with draft experts many of whom talked about several of the players uh picked tonight including Yugo and some of the ones who are eligible uh to be picked again tomorrow And also our run of Boston Celtics interviews which include Baylor Shyman Craig Drew Peterson and Jordan Walsh All done in the past couple of weeks A lot of lot of terrific content there as well as a zillion other basketball podcasts You can get in on the action I’m sure some people will be potting on our channel tomorrow uh to give their takes on everything that has transpired tonight and in the last 48 hours which has been really eventful for the Boston Celtics Jimmy Tuscano coming in saving the day during technical difficulties jumping on the stream racing home in his car Thanks Jimmy needs me I had the video on one hand I had my hand on the wheel and the other I’m like oh my god he’s going on the he’s talking Red Sox right now I can’t believe it Oh my John’s lost it Yeah Uh yeah So thank you Jimmy Thank you Bobby Thank you Noah Uh thank you guys Everybody in the chat hanging out with us tonight and we’ll see you tomorrow No one’s sneaking a vegan brownie by me I’ll tell you that Okay You know what John we’re going to do it You have to feel that way too Bobby I have to feel that way Slide out over and and make Luke your first center Bobby we gave you Luke hour earlier We are not going to end this on a damn conversation about Luke

The Garden Report’s Bobby Manning, John Zannis and Noa Dalzell go live after Celtics select Hugo Gonzalez with the 28th pick. The panel reacts to the pick and discusses other possibilities Boston could do on Day 2 and the rest of the offseason.

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