Celtics Just Got GREAT NEWS From 2025 NBA Summer League

Celtics Just Got GREAT NEWS From 2025 NBA Summer League

[Music] Your Boston Celtics just got some great news. Yes, I know it’s just summer league going on right now, but we have seen the debuts of Celtics first round pick Hugo Gonzalez. Also have seen second and thirdear players like Baylor Shyman and Jordan Walsh show out and even some of the players that could be factors in Boston’s front court this upcoming season show flashes as well. We’re going to talk about all of it on today’s show as you’re watching Celtics Today by Chat Sports and I am your host Tyler Smith. The Celtics have done pretty well so far in summer league action to this point. They have been 2 and one to open the season so far. They have one more game coming up in a few days on Thursday. July 11th, they had a win big over the Memphis Grizzlies by 14. Then against the Knicks, they win by 13. And Ugo Gonzalez didn’t play in that matchup, but he ended up returning in the July 14th matchup where they did lose a clutch game to the Miami Heat. So, they got a little bit of uh you know, quasi revenge there against the Knicks, but you know, their Demons showing up again in the Miami Heat there, but they’re two and one looking to be three and one and have a good seed there in the Vegas summer league tournament. And look, I know it doesn’t mean all that much, but you do win a trophy at the end of the at the end of it. It kind of means something and it’s good vibes from the front office, people selecting these players and and just heading into next season. The Celtics are going to have a little bit of uncertainty within the back end of their rotation. So, if you want the Celtics to win the summer league this season, go down below and make sure it happens. Manifest it. Like today’s video, hit that thumbs up icon so the Celtics can have good vibes heading into the rest of their summer league journey. All right, let’s talk about it, man. Ugo Gonzalez. We’ll start with him first. And he’s only played two of the three Celtics games so far this summer league circuit. And he’s been solid. Look, the shooting numbers are not great so far for Ugo. He shot although from three-point range in the first game against Memphis, he was solid. Three of five from three-point, but then one of seven against the Heat. But that was never going to be his calling card heading into the league. Like this wasn’t a player who was going to show up in the box score a ton as far as like what he’s going to contribute to winning even though he did so against Miami against Memphis, excuse me. Had five assists, crashed the glass. Miami, he has seven boards, a couple of different great offensive rebounds. Like there was a great uh defensive sequence that he had that led into a step-in three-pointer against the Memphis Grizzlies. Like Ugo has shown great great flashes so far. is that consistency and the just adjustment to the pro game that he has to uh kind of adjust to is he’s a really really young player as well, 19 years old. He talked about these kinds of struggles that he’s going to have early on uh with with media availability. He said, “If I’m having a bad game, I’m having it. I’m not looking for excuses today. I got a lot of turnovers and bad decisions.” Talking about the Heat game, a lot of fouls. I wasn’t playing like I have like how I should play or they’re expecting me to play. So, no excuses for that. Just try to clear up my mind. clean up my mind and work for the next game. He had six turnovers in that game against Miami. This is a player who’s going to be sloppy uh coming into the league here, but he’s not going to be relied upon to be a huge ball handler or anything like that. His calling card is going to be his defense and his effort level, his 50/50 ball like IQ and kind of magnetism that that he’ll have in those situations. And look, I want him to keep making these mistakes. Like I want him to learn in this situation so later down the line when maybe he’ll be playing some key minutes for the Celtics potentially next season that he those those things will kind of be cleared up a little bit or at least to a lesser extent than we’re seeing so far in the summer league. We don’t want six turnovers in an NBA action game. Let’s get those out of the way right now. And I want to see those mistakes. I want I want him to learn from them and I want you know the coaching staff to instill in him they believe and they want him to keep making these mistakes as well. More from Gonzalez here. He said, “I’m trying to have a positive message in my mind after a turnover or miss shot. I’m trying to have the mindset of I have to take the best decision next play. But yes, try to live with the mistake. That is what basketball means. This guy’s got it, man. In between the ears, Ugo Gonzalez is a smart basketball player. And we know like drafting a 28th overall, like Brad Stevens really hasn’t had the opportunity as well as GM, just a quick side note, to, you know, draft a super highly touted prospect or somebody who’s going to be an immediate contributor right away. We know we drafted a raw prospect in Ugo Gonzalez. But what we also know is that we drafted a guy who has it between the ears. A high IQ player who has been around professionals for his entire basketball career up until this point. He’s been with Real Madrid. He was 9 years old for God’s sake. So he has the toutelage and and all the things that you need up in his noggin to be able to be a successful NBA player. Now he just has to put the raw tools that he has to work and get and get polished by these the this coaching staff and continue to work as he, you know, and continues through summer league and into the early stages of his NBA career, which I want him to be thrown into the fire for early on. Matt Reynolds, the Cell’s head coach in summer league, had this to say about Ugo as well. He said, “I think he just struggled with some shots. Like look guys, like shooting is going to come as time goes on with Ugo Gonzalez, but we’re asking him to do the same thing every game. that’s impact the ball on defense. Active shifts, rebound, handle, screen, cut off ball. He’s such a versatile player that you want to put him in all these spots and just didn’t have it for much of the game. But I still think he made a bunch of big plays for us throughout the time that Ugo has been playing in summer league. He has been tasked with being on, you know, the other opposing team’s ball handlers for a large portion of the minutes. And you know, like when I think about this player, and yes, he’s a little bit bigger than these two guys, going to play a little bit more on the wing, maybe a 23 than a particular point guard or true backcourt player, but I I feel like his ceiling as an NBA player is a Marcus Smart and Derek White kind of hybrid. You know, you get the tenacity that that Smart had and the the on ball, you know, just just dog that that he was and the 50-50 balls that he would dive on the floor for. You know, you get that with Derek White as well, but you know, White is a player who can crash the offensive glass at a super high rate, which Smart did to an extent, but White is, you know, that that shot blocker for for a smaller player. Um, and he has obviously the much more consistent three-point shot of these two guys. If he can become a hybrid of one of these two guys, then he’s absolutely like a a smash a home run hit at pick 28 overall in this past draft. So, if he can ever reach that ceiling, then I I’m all in on Ugo Gonzalez. I think what he wants to do in this league is contribute to winning, which is what these two players do. So, if he can ever reach those heights, I am all in on Brad Stevens as they drafted there late in the late in the first round. What do you guys think though? I looked at Baylor Shyman’s numbers as the 30th overall pick back in 2024. In the games that he saw action in last season, he played 12 and a half minutes a game. I think Ugo Gonzalez a little bit better and can probably translate quicker to the NBA than Baylor Shyman did. So, I’m putting his at 14 and a half minutes per game this season. you guys predict it for me down in the comments section. Over or under? Is who is Ugo getting a big role for the Celtics this upcoming season? You let me know down below. All right, let’s move on to another player the Celtics fans I’m sure have been pretty um you know kind of intrigued by is this is his third summer league now. Jordan Walsh. And I guess this is a good transition because Ugo was kind of involved in this little scuffle that Jordan Walsh got into in the Heat game just 10 minutes into his action. Walsh is actually ejected after shoving P Larson in the back. He was frustrated and um look is it’s not the best look to get eject ejected from summer league games. But don’t tell that to Joe Missoula because he had this to say about the whole ordeal. Jordan Walsh revealed this to the media after the game. He said, “Joe Missoula told me he loved it. As soon as I got to the locker room and got ejected and checked my phone, he was texting me like quote, I love this out of you.” Look, I’m not going to lie. Like this is not the most surprising answer from Joe Misoula to, you know, Jordan Walsh getting ejected from a summer league game. If Joe Missoula could get ejected from every game without penalty, he would in my opinion. So that’s just the type of guy that he is. But look, man, I I would love to see Walsh play this kind of like I I wrote enforcer here, but I don’t know if it’s as as much enforcer, but like kind of get under your skin. Maybe a Dylan Brooks type of player because I don’t think Jordan Walsh is like this tough guy who was like, you know, be the James Johnson type, get in your face, try to fight you guy, but he’s going to try to get under your skin. he’s going to try to do the little things that will, you know, throw you off your game as an opponent uh in a competitive setting. So, I would love to see him play that role and kind of carve that out in the rotation this upcoming season if he is, you know, shown enough to this coaching staff that he’s worthy of being in Joe Missoula’s, you know, kind of rotation for the regular season and potentially beyond. Walsh said this about playing, you know, the these past couple games for Boston, and he says, “I feel like I’m just trying to get under people’s skin. I’m trying to get them confused and throw them off of their rhythm.” It ended up, you know, happening to me, but I wanted to to disrupt everybody. I want to take out your rhythm. I want to take you out of your play, your sets, and I just want to I just want to speed you up. And like that, look, I I think that’s awesome. I think the Celtics need more of those guys. I think Ugo Gonzalez is one of those type of players. And I think he could play a role Jordan Walsh can if he buys into it. Remember what he said before summer league started when media had first started talking to the roster and all that stuff? They were. He said that I was trying to be Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown and I need to start to be try to be Jordan Walsh instead. Yeah, you think you were drafted in the 40s in the second round. You were never going to be Jaylen Brown or Jason Tatum. Like you could be a specialist in this league, a true theient three and D player, super long wingspan, solid athlete, can really get out in transition where he was getting his work done early on in that heat game. And he can also if he can hit the three at a decent enough clip like he’s going to be a player in this league. like throughout the summer league game so far, he’s been okay um shooting the basketball like three of six in from three-point range in the in the Grizzlies game. Uh one for six in the Knicks game. Like, you know, I’m not going to lie to you guys, it’s not crazy um often where players are super efficient in these summer league games. These are nasty like ugly basketball being played out there. Like like you can’t you can’t foul out. So like guys are literally being thrown around out there. So it’s very hard to get in a rhythm at all playing summer league. So, don’t take the efficiencies and the shooting numbers like to heart all too much when you’re watching these games. But, he’s been solid as far as like getting out in transition and disrupting plays, um, crashing the glass. Like, he he’s been okay for the most part. But, like, let’s be honest, this is Walsh’s last chance to be a rotation guy at all as a Boston Celtic, at least in this league. Um, he really hasn’t been able to carve out a role over these past two seasons. And granted, the Celtics have been one of the most stacked teams in the league. Now, the roster doesn’t look as stacked anymore. And there are opportunities for minutes on that wing, especially with Jason Tatum out all of next season. And with that being said, there’s going to be battles for those positions out there on the wing. Like, yeah, you have Jaylen Brown, but outside of that, I think he has Sam Hower as well, but outside of that, like things are pretty wide open for the Celtics off of the bench. And I didn’t even include George Nyang here, who I guess is a wing, but small ball forward. Doesn’t play any defense. It doesn’t really matter where you put him out there on the floor. Uh but you got Josh Mina out there who you signed to a two-year deal. Ugo Gonzalez your first round pick. Baylor Shyman last year’s first round pick and Jordan Walsh. We’ll talk about Shyman in a moment. But like this is what you got. This is going to be a battle between all of these guys. And Sam Hower has an established role already. The Celtics are holding him out of trade conversation. So you know he is going to potentially even start for the season’s next season for a bunch of time for a bunch of games. But after that like question marks. Josh might not. Is he going to be any type of offensive threat in his NBA career? We know he can play defense. We know he’s an athlete, but what else can he provide? Ugo Gonzalez, how ready is he to play at 19 years old, year one, never been even in the college setting just yet. Baylor Shyman, like uh we’ll talk about him. And then Jordan Walsh, like I don’t know, like Walsh has as good a chance as anybody to carve out a role, but it’s just going to have to end up being who beats out the other three in training camp for that established off-the-b. Now, let’s talk about Baylor Shyman because he’s absolutely in that conversation. And when we were talking about all the Celtics trade rumors and all that good stuff this early this offseason, like we were thinking about Sam Hower potentially being on his way out and Baylor Shyman, you know, kind of ushering into that Sam Hower role. Not so sure that he’s ready for that. Can he take the year 2 jump that we need for him in order for the Celtics to be competitive in that Eastern Conference? Look, so far his calling card coming into this league was going to be movement shooting, and he has not been a good shooter whatsoever. Now granted, he’s being tasked, especially on the summer league team, as there aren’t a ton of true point guards on the roster with a lot of the ball handling duties, but he has made the most of those. Like, he’s been initiating. He’s been finding open teammates. Like 21 assists in three games is really, really good, especially in the summer league with not scoring all that many points. Um, and you know, he showed the the scoring flashes a little bit better in that Heat game. But the Memphis and the Knicks game, like he struggled two for 15 from three-point range for a guy who shot it at a 40% clip at the college level. Look, if if Baylor Shyman cannot shoot, you know, he’s not playing for Joe Missoula. Like, we know the Sullies like to get up 45 plus threes a game. Baylor Sherman, if he’s putting up seven of those and he can’t hit any of them, then he’s not going to be in this rotation. No if ends or buts about it. If you can’t shoot on the Boston Celtics, you will not play unless you’re a sevenfooter because not many of the guys that are 7 feet plus on the Celtics roster can shoot or ever will be able to. But Brad Stevens said this on Bell Sherman. He’s pretty encouraged by what he saw at least in real NBA game action. There’s not as much to take away from summer league, but he said he played really well at the end of this regular season. The biggest challenge then as you now now stack another summer league on top of this is don’t try to do too much. Don’t try to be somebody that you’re not and just do what you would do within the confines of our team when we all get back together in September. And I do I do believe that Baylor Shyman is a better ball handler than like a Sam Hower type of player is. He’s more than just 3 and D. He can dish it out. He can run the pick and roll as a ball handler and he’s a really accurate passer. Has solid vision out there. I would love one of these players that the Celtics have taken in the back end of round one or into the middle of round two to be a long-term rotation piece cuz they’re going to need that. When you pay Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum 75% or over 70% of your salary cap percentage, then you’re going to need some of these cheap rookie deal level players to hit and be contributors early on. And Shyman, who’s a player who played four or five seasons in at the college level, is going to need to start contributing like sooner rather than later if he ever wants to be a long-term player in this league. So, I’m hopeful and I am hoping that the Cells get one of those guys, at least one of these three guys to be a long-term rotational piece, that bench wing uh for years to come. And and look, Walsh plays a different kind of style than a guy like Ugo Gonzalez does in my opinion. This and co coincidingly with Baylor Sherman, maybe all three of these guys can carve out a role one day, but who are you most confident in on the Boston Celtics? If it’s Ugo Gonzalez, give me an HG. If it’s Jordan Walsh, give me a JW. And I wouldn’t be too uh enthusiastic if that was your answer. and then Baylor Shyman. Give me a BS down in the comment section. You let me know who you’re most confident in carving out a role next season as it’s wide open on that Celtics bench. Before we move on to this the Celtics front court players, I got to tell you guys one more time about this awesome deal. Commemorate the good times. Look back on when the Celtics were dropping confetti from the ceiling of TD Garden and go get yourself a Celtics championship t-shirt with all the caricatures on the front. I think this is an awesome shirt. I’m going to get myself one because it’s literally over half off. It’s like 65% off. It’s unbelievable deal. Go get it at this link right here, chatports.com/champsale. And I put, don’t worry, I put that link in the comment section and description of today’s video to make it easier for you guys. So, go get yourself some commemorative 2024 NBA champions, your Boston Celtics here today. All righty, let’s talk about it. Charles Bassie, my guy, another solid showing against the Miami Heat. Didn’t play as much as he did in the previous two matchups, but he still stuffed the stat sheet, guys. He put up nearly a double double once again. 10 points, nine rebounds, a block, was efficient from the floor as well. Only 23 minutes played. Um, so like look, this is a guy who is going to be an around the rim player and a big body at that. He’s played in the NBA before and he has shown us throughout the summer league so far that he has been a big time contributor and a winning contributor at that. Like he was a plus 20 in his first game against the Memphis Grizzlies and he only played 18 minutes, a plus 15 in the 22 that he played against the New York Knicks. like this is a guy who joined the summer league roster late and you know a player who hasn’t really seen as much opportunity as maybe we think or maybe he should have so far through the first four years of his NBA career and that’s why I kind of want the Celtics to go out there and make a move for Charles Bassie in the 2024 25 NBA season only played 376 minutes so not too much but if you look deeper at his percentages in this league they’re really really good block percentage rim protector he’s got a 4.1 block percentage that’s in the 98th percentile of big men in this league. Oh, Celtics going to struggle on the glass this year. He’s one of the best offensive rebounders in the NBA as well. Got a 15.6 offensive rebound percentage. That’s in the 98th percentile again of bigs in this league. So, we have a true specialist on the Celtic summer league roster who also deserves to be on an NBA roster this season. I think the NBA roster could be the Boston Celtics. There’s so much uncertainty with the front court in Boston right now. Like the centers on this roster, you could argue that any four of them are not NBA players at this point. Like Luca Garza, he hasn’t seen the opportunity. Yeah, he was a n a college player at the highest level, but can he do it in the NBA? Amari Williams, rookie, Xavier Tilman, is he still an NBA player? Talk about all those guys in just a moment. What do you guys think? Should the Celtics sign Charles Bassie after a couple strong summer league showings? Let me know down in the comments section. Yes or no? I’m trying to hear what the Celtics fans have to say. I’ll tell you, I would say yes because of all the reasons I just mentioned. This Celtics front court is not good. Luca Garza not really uh much I may experience to this point. Can work on the offensive end. I think he can be a connector, but the defense is a big big question mark as well as his lateral quickness and overall mobility. Neasada, does he have any NBA skills really whatsoever outside of being big? Uh I don’t know. Solid enough lob threat, but his hands are questionable. Um can defend the rim. Uh, he’s an okay rebounder, too. I I I just don’t know. Maybe he’s just a more souped-up version of Charles Bassy that I’m underrating a little bit. Xavier Tilman, uh, I’m not so sure he’s an NBA player. He’s also 6’7, so I’m not really counting on him to play much minutes at the five. Omari Williams, he hasn’t really got much opportunity. We’ll talk about Amari in a second, but not much opportunity so far in the Celtics summer league run. This is what Brad Stevens had to say about the Celtics front court group and a kind of reading between the lines here. I think they is the reason the Selties could bring in uh a guy like Charles Bassie. So that group will not be the group the pink people single out based on paper on what they’ve done with their careers thus far as our strongest position. But it’s up to them to prove it otherwise. And one of those guys, like I mentioned, is Amari Williams. And he has shown flashes and a couple nice passes from the top of the key. Uh you know, rebounding solid as well, but hasn’t, you know, been the player or at least been marked as the player that Charles Bassie has so far through summer league action. I still want to sign Bassie. So, I’m going to be on the lookout for that. That’s why you subscribe to the channel is that we’ll do it for today’s edition of Celtics today by chat sports. Look, it’s been think it’s been great news overall for the Celtics fans throughout the summer league. Like guys are playing at a really really high effort level and the Celtics are winning games as well. So, great news overall from the summer league so far. Looking ahead to this Laker game where hopefully they can lock up Brownie who’s having a really solid summer league as well. Lock us in. Hit that subscribe button though for the best Celix offseason content on YouTube. YouTube.com/selix TV. We’ll see you guys in the next one. And as always, let’s go see. [Music]

Boston Celtics News Today comes after three Celtics Summer League games that saw Boston come out victorious in two of the three games and young players such as Hugo Gonzalez, Jordan Walsh and Baylor Scheierman all have standout moments. We’ll break down all the Celtics summer league highlights from the 2025 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas that also saw players like Charles Bassey potentially emerge as a Celtics signing in NBA Free Agency. Celtics Today host Tyler Smith breaks down all the latest Celtics rumors and news from the Vegas Summer League on today’s Boston Celtics YouTube video.

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Boston Celtics Summer League Schedule:
– July 11: 92-78 WIN vs. Memphis Grizzlies
– July 13: 94-81 WIN vs. New York Knicks
– July 14: 100-96 LOSS vs. Miami Heat
– July 17: vs. Los Angeles Lakers @ 9p ET

Matt Reynolds (Celtics Summer League HC) On Hugo Gonzalez:
“I think he just struggled with some shots. But we’re asking him to do the same thing every game. That’s impact the ball on defense. Active shifts. Rebound. Handle. Screen. Cut off-ball. He’s such a versatile player you want to put him in all these spots and just didn’t have it for much of the game. But I still think he made a bunch of big plays for us”

We got you covered with more Boston Celtics YouTube videos to get you through the 2025 NBA offseason:
– Boston Celtics Fans Just Got MAJOR NEWS On Jaylen Brown & Jayson Tatum https://youtu.be/dBAOH84qBf8
– 🚨NEW Celtics Free Agency REPORT On Damian Lillard + Celtics SIGNING Summer League Standout? https://youtu.be/wDx7OCyi8nI
– MAJOR Celtics Rumors On Payton Pritchard, Jaylen Brown & Center Rotation | Celtics Mailbag https://youtu.be/bEVtzcvasU4

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Let Celtics Today host Smitty know how you feel in the comments:
– 14.5 MPG for Hugo Gonzalez this season: Over or Under
– Should the Celtics sign Charles Bassey? Yes or No

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Celtics Bench Wing Depth:
– Sam Hauser
– Josh Minott
– Hugo Gonzalez
– Baylor Scheierman
– Jordan Walsh

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