Coming into the season, if you told someone that Sam Hauser would be a fixture in the rotation, looked at to shoot 40% or better from three for the fifth season in a row while also providing underrated defense, they likely wouldn’t have been surprised.
If you told someone that Neemias Queta would become an advanced-metrics darling, flirt with near double-double averages and exceed most expectations in his first season as a starter, you’d likely be met with a fair amount of skepticism.
But I know for
sure if you told someone that Jordan Walsh would start the season with three DNP-CDs, logging just five minutes and 18 seconds across the first six games, only to later start thirteen straight contests emerging as one of the league’s best defenders while shooting 49% from three, they would run away trying to preserve whatever sanity they still had.
Besides the fact that they all are very tall, one important common denominator here is that they all spent substantial time in the G-League. That gritty, often overlooked proving ground helped Hauser, Queta, and Walsh go from hopefuls to bona fide NBA contributors, proving that sometimes the real magic happens where the lights are dimmest.
Furthermore, last year’s 30th overall pick, Baylor Scheierman, played 25 games with Maine during the 2024–25 campaign. Like many rookies, he started slowly, but those reps proved invaluable fueling the confidence he flashed late last season and has carried into this one. Scheierman has appeared in 21 of the team’s first 25 games this year, knocking down 47 percent of his three-point attempts.
Fast forward to this year, Maine is home base for all three of Boston’s two-way players. Ron Harper Jr, Amari Williams, and Max Shulga headline a roster that has flipped its season on its head, winning nine of its last ten games after an 0–3 start.
Williams, the rookie big out of Kentucky, has already shown flashes in meaningful NBA minutes against quality opponents, and much of that readiness can be traced to the growing connectivity between the Celtics and their G-League affiliate. A pipeline designed to help past, present, and future Maine standouts evolve into rotation players.
That alignment starts with culture, as coaches throughout the organization, led by the head coaches, emphasize a shared vision of accountability, professionalism, and impact on and off the floor.
“It doesn’t matter whether they’re in Boston or Maine; the standard is the standard,” said first-year head coach Phil Pressey. While Williams noted that Pressey and Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla are “pretty different” personality-wise, there are clear similarities in the messages they emphasize and the habits they reinforce.
Off the court, it’s all about being a professional. When asked about Walsh last year, Joe Mazzulla said, “What you do in the G-League from a statistical standpoint is important, but it’s more about your daily approach and professionalism.” Just five days ago when Williams posted his first career triple double in the G, coach Pressey told reporters that “he’s a big point guard,” but then reiterated being a pro. “But for him it’s just about building these professional habits of off the court taking care of your body, eating the right things, going to sleep at the right time…those are professional habits that an NBA player has.”
Mazzulla is well known for using movie scenes from “The Town” and other films/sports to drill points related to his coaching. It was also reported that Pressey spoke about using a quote from “Kung Fu Panda” to help his team after an 0-3 start.
Hearing the same things from both coaches and everyone else in both settings most likely played a role in why Williams felt prepared for his first real NBA minutes. Afterwards, he said, “I felt like everyone around me the coaches, my teammates always kept me ready for that moment.”
We also have heard Mazzulla say winning is everything so many times and Pressey shares that same sentiment saying after a win that “I just try to voice that winning is everything.”
On the court, Maine’s offensive playcalling is very similar to Boston’s. I was in attendance for both of Maine’s matchups with the Capital City GoGo (Wizards affiliate) which they split without Harper Jr and Williams. In the first matchup, I was fortunate enough to sit close enough to hear coach Pressey during the game and in timeouts.
When the offense is freelancing, Pressey routinely calls out “Angle” signaling Angle Pick and Roll, which Boston also runs a ton. He’s always coaching within the play making sure players not directly involved in the PnR have the correct spacing. But on the plays they do set, you can clearly see the similarities.
Here both teams run “Chest” which is when someone sets an on-ball screen, then receives a Flare screen. The on-ball screen can either be a regular screen or a Ghost screen. Hayden Gray is able to get a step back three, and Boston plays great basketball after creating an advantage. You can even see Mazzulla saying Chest at the beginning of the second clip.
On this one both teams run Spain Pick and Roll (back screen for on-ball screeners man) and get open corner threes.
Another similarity beyond just running the same action is that both squads have an elite scorer in their respective league. Jaylen Brown is sixth in the NBA in scoring averaging 29 points while Ron Harper Jr leads the G-League in scoring at 26.9. Having these guys allow them to run Killer Whale Pick and Roll where they target a weak defender. Both guys are able to reject the screen and create offense for themselves.
Lastly, both teams love to have their centers play as Handoff passers. They go to “Zoom” or “Chicago” action (either one works) which is when a player receives a pin down or off ball screen to get a handoff. Derrick White and Harper Jr start in the corner and get the handoff after a teammate sets the pin down for them. This gets them going downhill.
None of this is accidental. From Hauser’s consistency, to Queta’s emergence, to Walsh’s unlikely rise, and now to the steady pipeline flowing through Maine, the Celtics have built a development system rooted in alignment, accountability, and opportunity. And as long as the standard remains the standard, the next unexpected contributor is probably already earning minutes in Maine.
