With the departure of Jaylen Brown, there’s an opportunity for Boston’s plethora of wings to take his place in the rotation.
Yes, the veteran Paul George will get a lot of that playing time…when he’s available. For one reason or another, the 16-year pro played just 37 and 41 games in his two seasons with the 76ers. Thankfully, there’s a plethora of wings to backup the 36-year-old.
Over the summer, the Celtics decided to sign Ron Harper Jr. and extend Jordan Walsh to multi-year contracts. They also
still have two seasons of Baylor Scheierman on his rookie deal and head coach Joe Mazzulla visited him in Nebraska to catch a Creighton workout. They’re all votes of confidence from the franchise, but if you ask the fanbase, all eyes are on last year’s rookie phenom.
After promising turns with the Spanish national team in their FIBA qualifier and the Summer Cs in Sin City, Hugo Gonzalez could be up for a big promotion in his sophomore season.
Despite his last place finish in the poll, there was a spirited debate by a pair of our readers on whether it would be Walsh or Gonzalez:
Maye The Force Be With You: Walsh. I think the other guys improve to some degree as well. But with Walsh the timing is right on a combo of factors:
- Saw increased opportunity last year and performed with great D and noticeably improved shooting
- Role/Opportunity: with Jaylen gone and George destined for streets cloths maybe half the year, the need for a 3 & D wing like Walsh is big.
- Improved shooting: he took more shots and saw bests in FG and 3pt shooting (got over 38% I believe)
- Age: he’s 22, which surprised me when I was thinking about this exact question a few weeks ago. Given how much NBA action he’s already seen, he has shown he can hang and provide a useful, playable NbA skill, namely elite D. For Joe and Brad, that’s what gets you on the court. And 22 is a prime age for NBA level players to take a major leap.
Ability, timing and opportunity all point to Walsh.
Tenacious D: Gonzlez, as a rookie, performed nearly as well as Walsh in his 3rd year.
HG 74 gp 3.9ppg 47.6 / 36.2 splts 3.3rb 0.5 assts 0.6 stls 0.3 blks
JW 68gp 5.4ppg 50.9 / 38.4 splits 4.0 0.8 0.7 0.5He flashed improved shooting and playmaking in Euro league and summer league. My money’s on Hugo.
Maye The Force Be With You: Hugo is exciting too and played well. Last year they gave Walsh more minutes and he had a higher EPM, so I just expect they continue to give him a bit more opportunity than Hugo this coming year. If Hugo skyrockets this year, I can see it and I won’t be upset about it either!
The biggest NBA news yesterday was LeBron James joining Brown in the City of Brotherly Love, but our band of brothers on the wing could give them a run for their money in the East. Our friends at FanDuel have the Celtics just behind the 76ers (+390) to win take home the conference crown (+500).
