Celtics Fans Get MAJOR NEWS On Hugo Gonzalez, Amari Williams & Max Shulga Before NBA Summer League

Celtics Fans Get MAJOR NEWS On Hugo Gonzalez, Amari Williams & Max Shulga Before NBA Summer League

[Music] The Boston Celtics have three rookies in their 2025 draft class and on today’s show we’re going to talk about them. Celtics fans are going to get to know this rookie class that includes Hugo Gonzalez, Amari Williams, and Max Schulga. You’re watching Celtics Today by Chat Sports. I am your host Tyler Smith. And if you’re excited for the Celtics rookies who might have the opportunity to get a decent bit of playing time next year, go down below and hit that thumbs up icon and tell me which rookie you’re most excited for down in the comments section as well. All right, let’s get to know the Celtics first round pick, Hugo Gonzalez, like Jason Tatum got to last week. And this is a player who is going to embody the the Celtic pride and the Celtic way of of playing basketball and and and winning. He’s been a part of the Real Madrid system for the last 10 year, you know, 10 years or so as he was he’s been there since he was 10 years old. And this is a player who doesn’t really show up on the box score. And he definitely didn’t show up on the box score during his time with Real Madrid last season because that team was just so stacked. He was playing with former NBA players, former top college stars who have already had years and years of professional experience overseas. But this is a player who was also, you know, very close with Luca Donuch during his younger years with the Real Madrid Academy. So like he’s going to come in with a winning mentality and he is uh from the Real Madrid system that wins every year over in the Euro League. And he doesn’t necessarily bring you an elite trait off of the bat, but he’s got a ton of potential to evolve in those areas. he already doesn’t, you know, show up in the box score like he he brings winning energy, diving on the floor for loose balls, um going out there and attacking the offensive glass, just generating possessions for his team and doing the little things that decide basketball games, especially in this NBA when the skill level team to team is so high that, you know, it’s the it’s the plays in between like the Alex Carusos of the world that really decide the Derek Whites of the world that really decide, you know, who lifts the Larry O’Brien trophy when it’s all said and done. He’s already got a player who’s had no ego. Like he also turned down multiple NIL offers of, you know, in the in the millions of dollars to develop a in a professional environment, an environment that he’s been in since he was 10 years old. So this is a guy who comes in just a lunch pay to work every single day. He’s going to believe in in what the vision is for the team moving forward and do whatever he can to contribute to that. Now Jay King of the Athletics sat down with a teammate of Ugo Gonzalez, by the way, Ugo Gonzalez. See that H in the parenthesis? This is going to be something the Celtics fans need to know and need to remember. Ugo Gonzalez. H in in Spain is very very silent. So it’s going to be Ugo for the time being and hopefully for a long time as a Boston Celtic making winning plays a little reminiscent of Marcus Smart. And he had a teammate talk about you know his whole mentality playing the game and how he you know adjusted or you know really acted as a professional as a 19year-old as a teenager in this environment with you know 25 30 year old players. He said he’s a kid who has no ego right away coming in and he’s going to do whatever it requires for the team to win. Like don’t take it from me. This is a player. This is a guy who’s playing with him uh you know for a long time and and was a standout division one player. He says that being said it was important for him to you know get to an organization that can allow him to really develop with no pressure to be this great player right away at 19 years old. I think the Celtics have that opportunity with this gap year coming up. He’s going to be able to get thrown into the fire a little bit but there won’t be much expectation around him. He said, “I think in the right scenario, and I think he has that with the Celtics, his ability to come in and just, you know, learn and get to better and develop, I think you’ll see him really, really flourish.” He talked about how the fit with Boston really, really pairs up well with a player like Hugo Gonzalez. Look, man, just get him on the floor like just get him out there like throw him into the fire and just get ready to the get him acclimated to the, you know, NBA flow, this the speed of the game. It’s all sped up, especially more than the Euro League game, which is rather slowed down. Like I don’t even care about the mistakes that Ugo makes. Like like it does not matter to me if he’s really turning the ball over at a maybe more than we would like to see or not hitting the three-point shot at a high enough clip. Like I don’t care about all that. If he can just get adjusted to the game speed, be able to play well off of Derek White, Jaylen Brown, Pritchard Hower, whoever’s, you know, in in this Celtics crop this in this gap year. I’m totally cool with that. I I I expect him to really carve out a rotation spot as the season goes on. expect, you know, into 2026, he’ll really be a factor for for the Celtics home stretch of the season. Now, more from this Madrid teammate on Ugo here. I wanted to kind of summarize all the quotes he said. I didn’t want to flush you guys too much because we will be having a lot of quotes from this show. Uh he embraced, you know, the hostile Serbian environment that they played in. Only played six minutes in this big time game over there against like Red Star Belgrade or whatever the the team is called. He was a plus 10 in six minutes, grabbing a bunch of bores. He I think he even knocked down a three-point shot in that game as well. So just doing what he can to get that team over the hump and they ended up winning that game. He was a plus 10 in six minutes in the first quarter and then they never put him back in. So like if you if you really want to boil down his stats like the Euro League in their rotations is so weird and they don’t give a ton of burn to guys who were just 19 years old. he played well with a bigger role in the ACB league when things kind of got into like I guess conference play for them which uh was he was playing 20 to 25 minutes a game and you know he said he really really flourished or Rathan Mays did um and he said he was really really good in transition but he’s not a coast to coast player he’s a guy who is going to be running along the sideline he’ll get the pass the the upcourt pass and he’ll just put one one dribble two dribbles down he’s at the rim and finishing because he is a decent enough athlete not going to jump out of the gym but this guy can you know play above the rim a little bit based on just how bad he wants it. He also said he has the ability to guard ones, twos, and threes. An incredibly versatile defender. So, I’m very excited to see him and just the dog that he’ll have in, you know, on on that side of the floor. He said he’s really, really good defensively as well. So, that’s going to be his calling card, defense, winning plays, and getting out in transition, do making the easy things happen for this Celtics team to just, you know, get further and further bigger leads on their opponents. And, uh, more from the teammate here. He said a raw talent. So like he there is stuff to work on and you know he alluded to it earlier when he said this is the right position for him to be in coming to Boston. Not much expectations right away. He said he has all the attributes to be a good NBA player and to be a surprise that down the road people look back on the pick and they’re like I had no clue he would be so good. And honestly that’s what the Celtics need at this point. The C’s need players who can go under the radar and Ugo Gonzalez is absolutely one of those guys. not super flashy box score stats over there in um the pro league, but you know, you got to think about the context of the situation where he’s not going to have a huge role as a 19-year-old. Um this is a player with no ego who just wants to go out there and win basketball games. I am super super excited for him to play a major role down the line once Jason Tatum comes back and this team is back contending. Ugo said about getting drafted by the Celtics, being drafted by the Celtics is a dream come true and that is the type of player that I want. I want a guy who is 100% invested in being here, knows about the winning culture, and he spoke spoke more on how that Real Madrid experience is helping him transition to a being in the a Boston Celtic, saying that it’s the most winning franchise in the whole NBA, and it’s a privilege to be a part of a franchise like this. It’s more or less like what I was used to being in Real Madrid, that they’re the most winning club in Europe. So, like having that type of transition, similarities, and everything like that is something that’s going to be easier. Playing for me Real Madrid Academy since I was 10, it was almost like playing for a team that winning was a must every year for every title. They play for a bunch of different cups over in Europe and they to take them all seriously. So, I’m pretty used to learn, you know, to team success and it’s the first and main thing for the whole season. It’s nothing that I need to learn either. It’s something that I already have in my DNA. So, I think it’s going to help a franchise like the Celtics and I hope that it does. We just draft the next Marcus Smart baby. Winning plays. He’s going to be out there diving on the floor, getting out in transition, you know, chase down blocks, like again, not a jump out the gym athlete, but neither is Derek White. I think he’s going to be a Marcus Smart, Derek White hybrid. Maybe a little bit better shot selection and less of an ego than Marcus Smart may have had cuz look, for better, for worse, we love Marcus and everything he does, but uh he he took some wild shots down the stretch of games. I don’t anticipate that with Ugo Gonzalez. So, I’m very very excited for him to be a member of the Boston Celtics and embodying everything that Smart did well and Derek White continues to do well as well. I don’t never anticipate him being a volume three-point shooter in this league, but who knows? This guy’s going to improve as the years go on. He talked about playing in summer league as well, obviously with the way that his, you know, for Real Madrid season goes and just not in a lot of time to really have a breather here in the offseason. You know, getting drafted into the NBA, the season’s going to roll around about three more months. doesn’t have a ton of time to really just sit back, relax a little bit and embrace being in in the NBA. But he said I he hopes to be in there. I’m pretty excited about it. I just want to go out there and work and already and look and look out for the next steps. And you we we’ll probably know by the time that you guys see this video if he is playing in summer league. So, uh I’m excited if he is. Uh the summer league schedule has been released. The Celtics have four games in Vegas before they get to tournament play in the Vegas summer league. 11th July 11th against the Grizzlies. And all these games are on I mean uh national TV by the way. the 13th against the Knicks, July 14th against the Heat, and then a late night game against the Lakers on July 17th. So, I’m excited. Are you excited? And do you want us to go live for summer league right here on Celtics today? Go down below and like the video if you do. If we get 500 likes on this video, then, you know, I I’ll know that the S’s fans, they they really want to see more watch parties even in the offseason. All right, we’re going to talk about more of the Celtics draft picks here as Amari Williams, let’s talk about him. It’s round two, 46th overall pick. Celtics made a draft day deal to get two second round picks. Uh trading away the 32nd overall pick to the Magic I believe it was and they had picked up Amari Williams here in the middle of the second round. And this is a player who I think is going under the radar a little bit uh for a lot of people like we our own draft analyst Nick Roloff had a first round grade or like maybe it was early second round grade on Amari Williams. He falls through the cracks, ends up in Boston. I think his skill set can provide a lot for Celtics fans. one of the best passing big men in the draft class. He’s an incredible uh rebounder on the defensive end and a incredible interior rim protector as well. Like a 7 foot five wingspan on a 611 player. Yeah. Or on a 7 foot player. I’m taking that every single day of the week. Amari Williams said this about joining the seas when the rookies got together at the YMCA. He said it’s just it’s fun being able to learn from the older guys, the vets who’s been here in quite a while. Just kind of being a sponge and learning as the season goes on. So, it’ll be a fun year. And I think honestly, Omari Williams is going to get a shot to produce in this league. Look, he doesn’t provide a lot as a score. I’m not gonna say he provides anything as a scoreer. He’s a bad free throw shooter as well. But at pick 46, you’re not going to get a perfect player. You’re not going to get a complete two-way player. His offensive work is going to be, you know, lobb threat and, you know, around the rim dump offs, offensive rebound, put backs, like he’s going to be a true big man center. But he does have some offensive qualities like his elite passing vision and precision that, you know, really could make him climb up the Celtics depth chart at the center position really, really quickly because I’m not too, you know, enthusiastic about what we got going on here. And I know a lot of Celtics fans share that sentiment. Like Luca Garza, I think, is going to get some run as the, you know, kind of yin to Amari Williams’ yang. He’s not really a rim protector, not really much of a defender. Um, but he could put the ball in the cup, no doubt about it. Nimas Kada and Xavier Tilman. I I don’t know how much faith I have in in those two guys. Like Nimas Kada’s got major hands issues. Is he really he’s still not an offensive threat at all? And Xavier Tilman 6’7. So like are we going to be playing him at the center position? I don’t really anticipate that. And I would really be upset if we ran a lot of lineups that that looked that way. So Amari Williams and Luca Garza, I really would love that to be, you know, kind of just thrown into the fire together to get a lot of NBA experience in this gap year. And you know, I I think the the the Celtics front office feels the same way, too. Is Mike Xarin said this when the Celtics drafted Amari Williams. He’s one of the best passing big men in college for a long time. Played five years for Drexel, one at Kentucky. He’s an elite rebounder. When you meet him, he’s you see he’s got just enormous, enormous wingspan. And you’ll see on the court, he’s got incredible vision as well. We’ll talk more about these Celtics rookies in just a moment, but make sure you guys get hooked up with this awesome Celtics 2024 championship shirt. Let’s reminisce on better times when the sellers had the confetti coming down lifting the Larry. All the caricaturures of KP Drew Holiday when they were wearing green. Get it at this link right here. chatports.com/champsale. It’s only 17 bucks. Literally half off of what it used to be. It’s got to be a high quality shirt as well. So go get yours today. chatports.com/champsale. Links in the comment section and description of today’s video. All right, let’s talk about the Celtics final draft selection in 2025. Max Schulga. the player that I got the pleasure of watching a whole heck of a lot during his collegiate days where he played for VCU the past two seasons and he has been awesome. He really had a super high usage rate for them like dominated the ball. Uh just points, rebounds, assist like demon out there and he was really a a factor on the defensive end as well. Only 6’4, but this is a guy who has just gotten better every single year of his basketball life all the way dating back to his days in Ukraine where he’s originally from. Uh, so I’m excited to see him only get better as he gets to be in NB, you know, in NBA shape and deeper in his NBA career. He said this about getting drafted to the Boston Celtics that it’s still surreal. Hasn’t settled in fully yet. It’s going to take a couple of weeks, but it’s an unbelievable feeling and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Now, he did say that uh pretty quickly after being drafted, like I said, when the when the Celtics rookies went to meet fans at the local YMCA, but he better uh he better shake those nerves and uh shake that, you know, craziness. uh pretty quickly cuz he’s going to be in the summer league real real soon. And like I said, he’s gotten better every single year of his career. Like this is five years of college play, three at Utah State, two at VCU, and the efficiencies only went up when he was playing with the Rams as well. It was a 40 nearly a 40% three-point shooter last year at VCU. And like he brought them to an NCAA tournament. Like he’s a really really good player and just a guy who, you know, gets that bad rap because he’s a little bit old. It’s kind of like Amari Williams, two guys who played five years of college. They go a little bit under the radar. But for the Celtics who are kind of in this, you know, transition period, but like they’re still going to be relying on, you know, Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown in the prime of their careers. They need young players who can contribute right away. And I think Schulga is going to be able to do that. Now, Schulga also had this to say about adjusting to the NBA is it is going to be a transition process. He said he was talking to Nemia Kada and said, “Nemia said it’s going to be hard as a rookie especially. there’s going to be a transition period and just try to learn as much as I can from coaches, players on the team, the vets, just be a sponge and learn about everything as much as I can. Like these are two guys who are buying in like all three of the Celtics rookies really to me seem like players who just want it and and want to get better and and have been s chasing that next level of their basketball, you know, skill set, career, accolades, like all all that stuff. Every single year they they want to just elevate themselves in the basketball realm. So, I’m I’m excited for all these guys to continue that hunger as they get to the pro game. And we know some some of the best players in this league have evolved from the second round. So, I’m I’m excited to see all of these guys play. Now, Trogo was also asked about Joe Mazula and he’s know obviously got to see him, you know, in action. Obviously, all these guys watch the pro game as well. And here’s what he had to say about his early interactions and what he’s seen from Missoula overall. Said you see he’s a very straightforward guy. Says says how things he basically calls the way that he is. um he doesn’t really sugarcoat anything. And he said his first year was going to be hard. It’s the most important thing is you have to play hard and play for your teammates. These are the most important things. Have a passion for the game and just play like it means something to you. And look, look, I I I have no doubts that all three of these guys are going to play like it means something to them. And I would love to see Shoga get opportunities this year. This is a player who’s used to playing big- time minutes and getting a lot of opportunity with in in his collegiate career being a leader. So, uh, you know, in that second in that second, third unit, there’s going to be games where the Celtics going deep into that bench. He’ll be on a two-way contract. Could he end up getting converted to a standard deal or maybe the same for Amari Williams as well down the line? I’ll be very, very excited to see that. I think Sel made really, really solid picks in their draft class this year. Who are you guys most excited to watch? Let me know down in the comments section. If it’s Ugo Gonzalez, give me an HG, but the H is silent. If it’s Amari Williams, give me an AW. And if it’s Max Schulga, give me an MS. I want to hear from the Celtics fans out there on who they are most excited to watch out of the rookie class. And that will do it for today’s edition of Celtics Today by Chat Sports. Make sure you are subscribed to the channel because we’re going to continue to push Celtics content all offseason long. I know we’re getting into the dog days, things are drying up, but the Celtics content does not stop. So, lock us in, hit that subscribe button. We’ll see you guys all in the next one. As always, let’s go seize. [Music]

Celtics 2025 NBA Draft picks are the main topic on this Celtics Today YouTube video by Chat Sports. Celtics fans, get ready to learn more about who GM Brad Stevens picked in the 2025 NBA Draft and what they can bring to the Boston Celtics roster in the 2025-26 season. Celtics rookies include Hugo Gonzalez, Amari Williams, and Max Shulga. How can these rookies help improve the Boston Celtics team as a whole with Jayson Tatum being injured. Tune into this Boston Celtics Today YouTube video hosted by Tyler Smith for the latest NBA news and rumors.

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Hugo Gonzalez on getting drafted to the Boston Celtics:
“It’s the most winning franchise in the whole NBA and it’s a privilege to be part of a franchise like this. It’s more or less like what I was used to being in Real Madrid, that they are the most winning club in Europe too so having that type of transition, similarities and everything like that, is something that’s going to be easier.”

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Celtics rookie Max Shulga on Joe Mazzula:
“You see that he’s a very straightforward guy, says things how they are. He doesn’t really sugarcoat anything … He said [the first year] was going to be hard. Just the most important thing is that you have to play hard and play for your teammates. Those are the most important things. Have passion for the game and just play like it means something to you.”

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Boston Celtics 2025 NBA Free Agents:
– Al Horford (UFA)
– Luke Kornet (UFA)
– Jaden Springer (RFA)
– Drew Peterson (RFA)
– JD Davison (RFA)
– Anton Watson (RFA)

Celtics Today is a give and take show! We give you these questions and you give your takes in the comments below:
– Which Celtics rookie are you most excited to watch? Type ‘HG’ for Hugo Gonzalez | ‘AW’ for Amari Williams | ‘MS’ for Max Shulga

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