Through his first 21 NBA games, one thing has been made clear about Celtics first round pick Hugo Gonzalez, he impacts winning. According to PBP Stats, the Celtics net rating is 8.9 points better with
Gonzalez on the floor vs. when he is on the bench. The sample is small, just 247 minutes, but I don’t think it is an accident.
The side of the floor that he has impacted the most in his rookie season has been on the defensive end. The Celtics give up 118.1 points per 100 possessions with Gonzalez on the bench while giving up 110.6 points when he is on the floor.
His effort is what jumps off the page the most. On the season, he has twelve steals and a lot of them are just because his effort is higher than the other guys.
— #LetsGoCeltics (@gobosceltics) December 17, 2025
This is a lazy pass by Tyus Jones to Franz Wagner and Gonzalez just beats Wagner to the ball, creating an extra possession for the Celtics with his effort alone, which led to an Anfernee Simons three.
These are the types of things Hugo needs to do to remain on the floor. His defense has really stood out, often putting pressure on the guy bring the ball up the floor.
In Boston’s win over the New York Knicks on December 2nd, Gonzalez showed off his defensive versatility, frustrating Karl-Anthony Towns throughout the game and getting a shot at guarding Jalen Brunson as well.
— #LetsGoCeltics (@gobosceltics) December 17, 2025
Brunson is one-on-one with the rookie here and Hugo shows off his quick hands by getting his hands in the cookie jar to strip Brunson of the ball but more importantly, not fouling and creating a turnover and a run out for the Celtics layup.
— #LetsGoCeltics (@gobosceltics) December 17, 2025
Matched up with KAT, Hugo cuts off KAT’s drive and forces him to dribble into Payton Pritchard who steals the ball leading to a Celtics and-one.
We know being able to guard one through five is a skill in the NBA, one that Hugo hasn’t totally mastered but I think he can get there. At practice on Wednesday, Gonzalez was asked about his role changing throughout a game, specifically when he plays center like he did in Monday’s loss to the Pistons.
“Try to get advantages of my ability against the big man,” he said. “Whenever I have him in a close out, try to attack him, try to get an advantage. Then, space the floor in the corner. If we got him at the rim and he has to close out, we get a lot of looks at the rim so just try to understand my role.”
He was also asked if it is tough when Joe Mazzulla pulls something out that Boston has not done in a while. “(The coaches) do a really good job at (projecting) what the game is going to look like,” Gonzalez said. “Whenever we are going to use something, we don’t say, ‘hey guys remember this?’ We practice it, we make sure that everything is alright and whenever we feel ready, we do it.”
He is also hitting his three pointers to start his young career. This season on corner three pointers, Gonzalez is shooting 57%. Granted he is only 4/7 so we really can’t say anything. He is 7/16 on above the break threes so that is encouraging but also a really small sample size.
He hasn’t stood out offensively in any real way yet but his defensive effort combined with making the three pointers he has taken has been very fun to watch early in his career.
