LAS VEGAS — Just two days into Summer League, there’s already been plenty of action. Joe Mazzulla, Derrick White, Neemias Queta, and others have all shared their thoughts on the Jaylen Brown trade. Jayson Tatum and Queta were working out together on Friday morning. And Bam Adebayo — reportedly — hit Tyler Herro in the face. Perhaps what happens in Vegas might not actually stay in Vegas.
In theory, Summer League should provide the Celtics with a break in the Brown-led action. In reality, that’s been a hot-button topic. Obviously, all the players have been asked about it, but they aren’t the only ones.
While chatting with other reporters, scouts, and draft experts during my escapades at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion, the first line has often been something along the lines of: “I bet you’ve been having a wild summer.” The Brown trade is almost always front of mind.
Even during the Celtics’ Summer League game against the Toronto Raptors on Friday night, there was a Brown-induced intermission. During a timeout in the third quarter, White — who was sitting courtside with Tatum, Queta, and Jordan Walsh — took a few minutes to speak with reporters. Can you guess what the primary topic of conversation was?
“I was at my house. My wife told me,” White said of his reaction to the Brown trade. “Obviously, it’s tough to see someone get traded, and JB’s been an amazing teammate, amazing friend to me, and [he] kind of welcomed me when I got traded to Boston. So, I’m always thankful for my time that I spent with JB, and it’s obviously always tough to get traded, and I know how that feels. But also getting PG [Paul George]– He killed us the whole series, it felt like. So it’s kind of like a mix of emotions, I guess. But sad to see him go.”
White struggled mightily last season. He knows it. Though his defense remained elite, earning him an All-Defensive First Team nod, his shooting woes persisted. Now, with Brown in Philadelphia, he’ll have to work hard to get back into form.
“Honestly, I just wanted to attack the summer and get better,” White said when asked how the trade will affect his role. “Obviously, I don’t think I played that great last year, so that’s kind of what I’ve been focusing on this whole summer. That really hasn’t changed with the trade.”
In 77 regular-season appearances, White shot just 39.4% from the field and 32.7% from deep on 8.3 3-pointers per game. In the playoffs, the splits got even worse, dipping to 32.1/27.3 on 7.9 long-range attempts a night.
“I gotta shoot it better, obviously,” White said. “But there’s a lot of things that I want to work on, and I think summer is a good time to get better.”
Inevitably, Boston will play differently with Brown out of the picture. George, health willing, will provide support. But guys like White and Payton Pritchard will need to take a step up as well. Though White said the team hasn’t spoken about just how different things may look.
“Nah,” White said. “It’s still July, so all that stuff has not really been talked about.”
White reached out to Brown after the deal: “Obviously, just reach out to JB, tell him thank you for everything they did for me, and just know how much he means to me.” But he wasn’t the only one.
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Derrick White and Jaylen Brown
During his post-trade Twitch stream, Brown mentioned that Queta and Luka Garza, among others, hit him up after the deal was reported. For Queta, it was a chance to show his appreciation and let Brown know that, no matter what, he’s there for him.
“I just wanted to show him a sense of gratitude for pushing me daily,” Queta said. “Showing that I’m his guy. I’m still gonna be around. Like anything he needs, he can reach out, and we can arrange things. And I think he just pushed me to be better every day just by his edge and intensity. His ability to corral us as a group was really, really special.”
As for his actual reaction to the trade, Queta understands the magnitude. He understands just how irreplaceable Brown is. But the NBA is a business. A brutal, brutal business.
“It’s not easy. I think you feel for him,” Queta said. “Obviously, it wasn’t easy for him as well. But at the end of the day, it’s part of the business. You know what’s happening. You know it can happen at any moment. But Jaylen’s a guy that you can’t replace in the city. Really, really hard to replace on the court as well. He did so much for Boston in general, and he will definitely be missed.”
Seeing a teammate get moved in the fashion Brown did wasn’t fun, but on a personal level, Queta’s had a great summer. Boston picked up Queta’s team option for the upcoming year and tacked on a four-year, $56 million extension to keep him in town.
Queta, who was the No. 39 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, has come a long way since then. He signed two straight two-way contracts with the Sacramento Kings when he entered the league, but before he got to Year 3, he was released.
The Celtics picked him up on a two-way contract on September 13, 2023, five days after Sacramento let him go, and the rest is history. He worked his way up from there, signed a multi-year extension in 2024, earned the starting role last year, and now, he’s a $56 million man.
“It’s been a long time [that] I’ve been wishing for something like that to happen, and to come down in this moment is really special, and I couldn’t be happier to be in Boston for much more time,” Queta said. “It’s my home, so I’m excited for the future.”
“I was super happy for him,” White said. “Obviously, going into last year, everybody had a lot of questions about what he could do, and I think he proved a lot of people wrong. So, I’m super happy. Obviously, well deserved. I texted him congrats, and it’s good to see him out there now with a couple of extra dollars in his pockets.”
When Queta first got to Boston, there were flashes of talent. Brief glimpses of a player that could be. And now, three years later, that player exists. It wasn’t always clear, but Queta always had an inkling he could reach this point.
“I think it’s more about having the trust in yourself, and belief, and work ethic that, eventually, everything will work itself out,” Queta said. “But I think once I figured out I’d be starting and being able to play meaningful minutes night in and night out, I think it was- Not pretty determined that it would come, but with the amount of work and the help that my teammates put in. So, I felt like it would eventually come up.”
Queta even got a visit from Joe Mazzulla while in Portugal this summer. The Celtics head coach has been traveling around the world this offseason, and Queta’s hometown gym was among the stops.
“Yeah, surreal,” Queta said. “A couple years ago, if you had said an NBA coach is coming to that specific gym just to see me and get to know me, I would have been like, ‘You gotta be kidding me.’ Joe makes sure- He wants to make that extra step, extra effort, just to make sure you feel comfortable. And I think that’s one of the reasons why he’s such a good coach. He worries about people, and that’s why I think I’m running through a wall for him.”
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Mitchell Robinson and Neemias Queta
Brown’s exit has stolen headlines for the last week. It’s completely masked the other moves Boston has made. The George addition was a byproduct of the Brown deal, but the Celtics also signed Mitchell Robinson and Mike Conley in free agency.
Robinson, in particular, is going to make a big-time impact. As the Celtics were blowing their 3-1 lead against the 76ers in Round 1, Boston’s bigs couldn’t stay on the floor. Nikola Vucevic didn’t fit, and Queta and Garza were constantly in foul trouble.
“I love good bigs to play with,” Queta said. “I love the competition that we may have, but at the end of the day, it’s just basketball. Whoever plays, whoever doesn’t play, we’re really just – I’m speaking for myself for sure, I haven’t, met him yet – but I know for sure we’re striving for greatness and getting the team the wins that we want. That’s what matters at the end of the day, and we don’t want to worry- Well, I don’t want to focus on anything else.”
Whenever the New York Knicks have played the Celtics in recent years, Boston has employed the Hack-a-Mitch strategy, fouling Robinson and forcing him to take free throws. Why? Because of how big of an impact he has when on the court. Now, Robinson gets to make that impact in Boston.
“Mitch has been a pain to go against for us for many years now, so it’s going to be great having him on our team,” White said. “He is someone who is one of the best rebounders in the league and obviously a great defender, as well. So it’s going to be great having him on our team.”
With Queta, Garza, Robinson, Chris Cenac, and Amari Williams, the Celtics now have a big-man rotation they can trust. It doesn’t matter who starts. “That’s hypotheticals, man,” Queta said when asked if he’d be okay coming off the bench for Robinson. “Like Joe, Joe’s the boss. He figures that out. I put the ball in the basket, and I try to not [let] the [other team score].” Queta is just looking forward to the box-out battles vs. Robinson in practice.
“A lot of boxing out at practice,” Queta said of how they’re going to push each other. We’re going to both crash a lot. We’re going to teach each other a little bit of what we do best, and I’ll just be positive. I’ve heard he’s a really positive guy and a really fun guy to be around, and I can’t wait to do that.”
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Hugo Gonzalez
Finally, the game. The actual basketball. Boston took on the Raptors on Friday night, and it was a doozy. A game-tying shot from Cenac at the end of regulation sent the game into overtime, and the Celtics squeaked out a 3-point win.
The Celtics’ offense started off ugly. At one point, the Celtics had made just six shots, but the Raptors had 11 blocks. Almost twice as many shots blocked as shots made. It was as ugly as ugly can be. But Boston fought.
“Our offense wasn’t always there, but our defense never wavered,” head coach Amile Jefferson said post-game. “Hugo, Amari, Chris-I think they all had double-doubles. That’s awesome. I think Hugo almost had a triple-double. I think he finished with eight assists, which is a big step for him and just being a leader for us, and John was awesome, especially in the second half. He carried us for stretches, and we needed everybody.
“And so my message to the team was instant response. That’s what we always talk about: instant response, good or bad. Move on to the next action. I thought we did a great job of every time they threw punches at us. I think we were down mostly the whole game. We fought back. We never wavered, and that’s what being in Celtic is about. So really proud of those guys.”
As regulation was winding down, things got frantic. Milos Uzan missed a floater, but Williams corralled the offensive rebound. Then, Gonzalez missed a three but grabbed his own rebound. The ball swung around, and Uzan eventually found Cenac, who nailed a corner three to tie the game.
“Had to get the rebound,” Williams said of Boston’s final play of the fourth. “And we all have confidence in Chris’s shooting to see him make that shot, which is good to see.”
Though he struggled with efficiency, Gonzalez was the star of the show for Boston. He played a game-high 36:57. Nobody else in the game played 30 minutes. Unfortunately, Gonzalez shot just 3-of-16 from the field and 1-of-9 from deep range.
His impact stretched far beyond the shooting splits, though. Gonzalez ended the night with 17 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, and only three turnovers.
“I just felt comfortable with the ball. I’ve just gotta make shots. I was horrific today,” Gonzalez said. “I need to improve my shot selection, maybe from three, probably. And then, try to be stronger finishing. I think today’s one of the worst days that I’ve shot it in my life, and still we got the win. That is the important thing.”
Gonzalez’s first practice with the Celtics’ Summer League team was on Thursday in Las Vegas. He had been playing with the Spanish national team in the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers. Now, he’s on dual duty: Internal improvement and leading the surge for Boston’s summer squad.
“I think ball handling and shooting,” Jefferson said of the most important areas of development for Gonzalez this summer. “He works with Tyler Lashbrook, and he’s done an amazing job at just showing him different reads, being able to make different reads on the ball and off the ball. We always talk about and work on screening with all our guards.
“Him making decisions in the paint, and then, I think you guys saw it today, him just taking over at times. It’s not always going to be perfect. It’s not always going to be a [play]call. Sometimes you’re just gonna have the ball in your hands, and you just have to make something happen, and that doesn’t just happen in a vacuum. We work on it every day.”
Gonzalez was hard on himself on Friday night. You could see it throughout the game. He slapped the ground, crouched down and talked to himself, and was visibly upset when the shots weren’t falling. At one point, he even cursed himself out in Spanish.
But that’s the type of player he is. He holds himself to a certain standard, and when that standard isn’t met, it’s not good enough. The Celtics are holding him to that same standard. They want to make him uncomfortable.
“It’s in his player development plan,” Jefferson said. “It’s in his workout every day. It’s throwing bodies at him. It’s throwing coaches at him. It’s putting him in uncomfortable situations. It’s during his workouts, making everything live. So win or lose, you can go through a workout in a Celtics practice and lose every drill. And we’re not- it’s not like we’re doing it over. It’s something new.
“To just feel what it feels like that everything is not going to be perfect. We’re not just shooting spot shots. We’re making game live reads, and every decision has repercussions. And then getting them, like I said, to instantly move to the next thing, next action, next play, and I think that’s how you grow.”
It wasn’t a perfect start for Gonzalez, but he showed promise against the Raptors. He showed that he can lead an offense at times. The pick-and-roll work was fun to watch, and the eight assists tell that tale.
Once the shots start falling — which they will, even if it’s not in Vegas — Gonzalez seems primed for a leap. All the tools are there, and the Celtics are investing in them.
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Adam Silver and Chris Cenac
Outside of his game-tying shot at the end of regulation, Cenac was a monster on the glass on Friday night. He finished with 10 rebounds — five on the offensive glass, and five on the defensive glass. His hands might as well have been magnets.
That was far and away the most impressive part of his performance on Friday. Cenac’s rebounding is NBA-ready. The rest of the skills need work, but they’re there.
“He’s awesome,” Jefferson said. “He’s just a live body, you know? And as he gets used to the pace, and I think [takes] his shape, and you know, just getting out there more, he’s going to be a really good player. He can just do so many things on the court. You saw him put the ball on the floor. You saw him shoot the three. You saw him screen. His rebounding is incredible, and so for us, I think he can have an immediate impact. And you know, tonight he did.”
Cenac showed off some handling. In the second half, he hit a crossover move, driving baseline for a bucket. He wasn’t afraid to pull up from three either, as evidenced by his clutch bucket at the end of the fourth. It may have been his first game in a Celtics uniform, but he was more than ready for the moment.
“He’s as confident as he should be,” Jefferson said. “He’s a good player, and he’s playing around good players. And you know, we put him in situations to succeed, and we want him to be aggressive. As long as he’s competing and playing hard and protecting the rim, we can fix everything else. I’m really proud of not only how he played today, but how he’s attacked training camp for us. He’s willing to do any and everything, and you know, [treats] every rep like it’s the last one.
Cenac ended the night with 14 points, 10 rebounds, one steal, and four blocks. He shot 5-of-13 from the floor and 2-of-4 from behind the 3-point line.
Williams looked impressive, too. However, he endured a rough start to the game. He was out of position on defense, dropped some passes, missed some rebounds, and even got himself subbed out of the game (twice). But the talent shone through.
“I felt great,” Williams said. “At the start of the game, I felt like a lot of us were nervous. So to get them nerves out of the way and compete how we have been in training camp, which was great to see.”
As the game went on, Williams got his feet wet. The passing started to flow. The defense got more solid. The rebounding was more consistent. It felt like everything clicked into place.
Consistency is key in the NBA, and that’s still an area in which Williams struggled. Friday didn’t do much to change that. But he did finish the night with 23 points, 13 rebounds, two assists, and two blocks on 7-of-9 shooting. It was a more-than-solid night for the soon-to-be second-year center.
Uzan’s defense was very impressive. He’s an absolute dog on that end of the court. There’s a reason he was a team-high +17 on the night. Williams had the second-best mark at +8. Uzan also dished out five assists without turning the ball over once, including a flashy dime to Cenac on his game-tier.
Boston has some flexibility with its two-way spots heading into next season. Uzan is already on an Exhibit 10 contract with the Celtics, and they nabbed him right after the draft ended. If he keeps defending at this high a level, he could quickly put himself in a great spot to land one of those.
Speaking of two-way candidates, John Tonje also looked good on Friday. Boston desperately needed buckets, and he gave them just that, shooting 6-of-14 from the floor and 5-of-9 from deep. He nailed a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to one with 42 seconds left. Up to that point, it was the most clutch shot of the night. Add in a clutch steal and some solid defense, and Tonje was great on Friday night.
Dillon Mitchell was a show-stopper, though he wasn’t amazing. The highlights were there: Wild dunks, strip steals, and unbelievable blocks. But he was shaky with the ball and didn’t show much on the offensive end. The defense is there. The offense needs some work.
As for the rest of the cast, it was pretty quiet. Curtis Jones started but barely played more than 10 minutes. Kyle Mangas, Alondes Williams, and Hank Morgan all received minimal playing time. And that was the extent of the rotation.
But if one thing is clear from Summer League so far, it’s that the Celtics are committed to helping every single player improve. From Gonzalez to the guys who didn’t even play on Friday night, Jefferson and the rest of the staff are rolling forward full steam ahead.
“I think the care factor from our coaching staff,” Jefferson said when asked about the Celtics’ player development. “I think we have an incredible coaching staff that have amazing minds, but also really care about player development. And I think for us, we started really early. We hit the ground running, quick, fast, teaching them our language, our concepts, and then tailoring and customizing their workouts and their development plan to who they are, to their archetype, to their character, to what type of player we envision them [to be] in six months and a year, and making sure that they tackle every day.
“They’re hearing from somebody every single day. They’re seeing a clip, film. They’re being shown something every day. And in that kind of environment, where we’re also making them uncomfortable, it’s really hard for you not to grow. So we put them in a lot of uncomfortable situations, and I think that’s awesome for their development, but our staff is incredible, and the care factor I think is the biggest thing.”
