Celtics Summer League Recap: Who Impressed, Who Flopped, and Boston's Hidden Gem

Steve: Welcome to another week of Celtic Chalk Talk. my name's Steve Purciello. I've been a Celtic fan for a long time, back to the Bill Russell days, and we'll get into that in a few minutes. I'll talk a little bit about that. but for now, I just wanna remind everybody, this, Peach Basket Network is independent, people who are just basketball fans. There are a whole bunch of s- of, podcasts on the network, and I think if you really like mine, I would go into thePeachBasket.net and maybe find another one or two, because there's a lot of good ones that are independently done and people, just fans and of different teams and of the game. So check it out when you can. you'll be pleasantly surprised. Now, before I begin the actual end of Summer League talk, I just wanna mention next- starting next week, I will begin a countdown on the all-time Celtics that I've seen in my life, from 10 to one, going down. Next week I'll talk about number 10, and we'll go down to number one and, and you know, it, it, it'll be fun. It was fun looking at it and trying to figure out who the top 10 might be. So I think, you know, you'll enjoy hearing it. But for today, we're gonna c- recap and finish up on the Summer League, and basically we talk about the Summer League. I'm not concerned about the team. We're gonna talk about the players. I guess the first one I'll talk about is Amari Williams. What do I think? I think Amari Williams does a lot of things nice. He's a decent passer for a big, good screener, can block shots. Things he can't do, offensively he's challenged. Of course, he can dunk the ball and, and he's good around the rim, but when he starts pulling away, he doesn't shoot real well. and by pulling away, I mean eight to 10 feet. he also is not good on mismatches with smaller people. He struggles to defend them and he gets beat. He looks like he gives a step thinki- thinking he can make the block, and often he gets beat for the layup on that. So I think Amari is, is-- I think he will be an NBA player. I don't know when. I don't know when he will be serviceable and probably, as I've said before, will be serviceable with another team. I do like him. I like his size, I like his wide body, and I think there's a benefit to it. I also think he, he needs a little bit of time in that weight room. He, he's not, doesn't look solid, although he's big and massive. so I, I think it's time. Don't forget he didn't take up the game till he was a little older and he's still trying to figure it out. There's times when he has the ball and he can throw a pass, thread a needle and throw a great pass and Boston will take advantage of it. And then there's other times he'll try to throw the pass and it, it's a, a tight fit and it doesn't work and it's a bad turnover. The other thing I don't love He loves to get the rebound. If he can't outlet it right away, he'll dribble the ball up. Oftentimes what it does is it leads to a turnover on the other end as he gets into the forecourt because he'll look to pass it and sometimes he'll toss that away. Those are negatives and I think big men, every big man wants to handle the ball and I think, Amari needs, needs to understand what his role might be if he's going to be an NBA player. Dylan Mitchell, I was fascinated with. This guy is a game changer on defense and will get better. Really good. Now, the book on Dylan coming in to the off-season was he couldn't shoot the ball. He didn't do bad shooting threes. I think he shot around 33%, but he didn't look like, you know, he, he would be way off. He could shoot the ball fairly well. the other thing he did is he went to the basket well. he did those things, but the real thing that stood out to me was just his defense. He's a high-energy player. He makes a lot of steals. He understands angles on the court defensively, and he can pick the ball off and he can go the other way as well as anybody. I'm really-- I, I really think, I don't know if he can help this year. Maybe he can. If his shot is what it looked like in the summer, he will be able to get time. But I think he's a, a year-away project, and he could be a real NBA player, sort of like a Jordan Walsh, but a little bit better at this stage in their game. meaning a little bit better when Jordan Walsh was, was young as a rookie. Jordan Walsh was really clueless in the beginning. Couldn't shoot, couldn't, you know, was really indecisive. This kid is very decisive defensively. Offensively, like I said, he can make things happen. The key is to be able to shoot. Again, if you can't shoot, the defender stays back, takes away the dribble drive, takes away your ability to pass off of it, takes away a lot of things and gets help inside, so you're negated. If you can shoot, it's gonna pull people out and get people open on around him, as well as give him paths to the basket. So Dylan needs to become a better shooter, and if he does, I think he could be a nice player. Two other guys I'll mention, that I found interesting. Miles, Miles, Uzom was an interesting player. he played the point. He can handle the ball. He can shoot the ball. He can do a lot of things. I think he, you know, he, he just needs to play against good comp and, and improve. he's a possible two-way player, as where like Mitchell could be the 15th guy on a roster, but probably will be a two-way player. So that would only, leave one opening for a forward, and it could be Miles. how can I say? I, I liked him. He didn't do anything that really I thought was horribly negative, but I just don't know if he's good enough to make the next step to the NBA. And, and that's something Boston probably knows better than me, will have to determine before they make a decision on him. But I think He is an Exhibit 10, which means he'll be trying out, and if nothing else comes along, he'll be playing in Maine. I don't know if they'll give him a two-way. They have one two-way left if they give the other one to Dylan already, Amari has one. So that's something to think about. But what also ties into that decision is the next guy I'm gonna talk about, and that's John Tanji. John Tanji is another guy who can shoot. He can really shoot the ball. Now, the rest of his game. Now, Boston has had success. Thank Sam Houser in taking shooters and in-integrating them into a team, and they've become good offensive players. Tanji, could be that guy. He, he struggled a bit. He played decent defense, but he struggled a bit at times. and, and, you know, it's something he needs to work on. He's not athletic like Dylan Mitchell is athletic. Tanji would be the opposite. But Di- Tanji spotting up on the floor, getting open is gonna get you to threes, and that's, that's, that's really big. And I think that would be something, that attracts the Celtics if they feel that he can become as productive as Sam Houser. Now, I just wanna mention Tucker DeVries. He struck me, but he was hot and cold. He didn't shoot as well as I thought he would, but he, he looks like potentially a real good shooter. Now, he's an Exhibit 10, I believe, and I think he'll be in camp and he'll play for Maine. He won't get much, like, in, in two, two-way or any other contract, but I think it's something to look at. He can shoot, and, and again, shooters are always wanted in the NBA today with the three-point shot So he, he's an interesting, interesting, like, project, I guess, for lack of a better word. Now, the last guy I didn't mention was Ugo. Now, coming into the Summer League, I think Boston wanted to see offensive development. I think they love his defense. They know he can guard anybody just about. They've put him in last year against all kinds of scorers, and he did well. He got under people's skin. He really created havoc when he played. And, and offensively he, he was good. he's getting better with every game. Now, in the Summer League, he was really the take charge guy and the leader of the gang. And he didn't do bad. His-- He, he does need to figure out good shot, bad shot, and refrain from taking that bad shot. He took a lot of shots that weren't, weren't good, forced, and, and that brought his percentage down and, and didn't make him as good. He did, after not shooting the foul shot well in the, in, in this regular season last year, he shot that well, which told me he's getting better as a shooter. he hit a co- A-as the Summer League went on, last game or two he played, he began to hit threes, but they were open threes. So y- what, what I guess what I'm saying here is he is a good player to fit in with Boston. He's still gotta get better going to the basket. There are a lot of times he drove and had nothing and maybe turned it over or kicked it out or forced up a bad shot. But, but those are things that will get better with time. I really think the Celtics have nice intentions for Ugo. I really think they would love to see him probably coming off the bench, defending big-time players, but also getting some legit minutes. I, I think he and Baylor Scheierman are the two guys that can look on getting, 20 minutes a night, which is a good start. I think Boston looks at Ugo as a better long-term project, meaning he could be a starter in the NBA at a s- and not a s- well, if he can shoot, he becomes a star, but a star in the NBA. I think they look at Baylor Scheierman more as a solid seventh man, eighth man on a team. And, and he's not gonna hurt you 'cause he can shoot out of the corners and do things. But I think there's a big difference. I think Boston looks at Ugo's potential as, as something that might be really helpful to making them good. and I think of the people I've just talked about, Ugo would be the guy, not Baylor Scheierman, I didn't really talk about him, the guys in the Summer League. Ugo would be the guy Boston feels can and p- will play. The last guy I wanna talk about is John Senek or Senek or whatever way you wanna say it I think he's ahead of Amari Williams. I think he, he's a nice player. I think he can be real good. I think it's gonna take time. I don't think he'll be ready this year, but he'll be next year. I think he can help Boston. he can play the four or the five. He demonstrated a great ability to block shots. His three shooting, besides the first game when he tied it with the big three down the end or took the lead, he wasn't a great three-point shooter. But you know what? He, he's tough. He's not afraid to make mistakes, and he's going to, and he's younger. But I think he could be a player in the NBA. Not a great player, but a player. I think this year, and I, I refra- go back to when Kendricks Perkins came to the Celtics his first year out of high school, he spent a lot of time in the weight room and didn't really get on the floor. But after his first year, they began to integrate him into the team and he, he became a solid contributor. I think Sene- Senek is a better offensive player. Well, could be a better offensive player than Perkins. He's not as big-bodied as Perkins. He's more of a frail, thinner body. But I think he could be a guy that after a year of the weight room and all the other stuff, could contribute to a, a, a good basketball team. And down the road he could probably, you know, do a lot more. I think he, he, he's an underrated guy that people don't expect next year to be, but he's good and he's a lot better than a 27th pick in the first round. I think a lot of teams are gonna regret, just as they are with Ugo, regret not taking him, 'cause he will help a team down the road. Hopefully it's us, the Celtics. Now, just want to remind you, beginning next week, we'll start with number 10 all-time in my mind rated Celtic. I might give you a little recollection, maybe talk about some numbers the person put up, titles and things like that, and, and what I-- like what I saw. I, I'm looking forward to doing that. It's a way for the summer to enjoy, and to really get away from talking Celtics. Unless the Celtics pull a trade or do something, that's what I'll be working on in the next couple weeks. for now, that's all I have for the Summer League and for the Celtics. Thanks for listening, and hopefully we'll be seeing you again next week. Thank you.