For the Celtics, this offseason wasn’t about touchdown an enormous free agent or swinging for the fences on a commerce. The champs are, for essentially the most half, operating it again. The identical squad that hoisted the Larry O’Brien three weeks in the past and can elevate Banner 18 on Opening Night time.
Nonetheless, for second spherical choose and newcomer Anton Watson, getting drafted and coming to the Celtics means becoming a member of that storied tradition.
“Winners. The legacy. Simply the mentality in direction of every little thing,” Watson stated at his first media availability on Monday. “First time we met in [The Auerbach Center], they stated it’s totally different right here. That’s type of the vibe you get right here. I feel they obtained the best method on issues.”
He continued, “Once you stroll round, you see all of the trophies. The trophy was on middle courtroom. It simply exhibits what it takes to be right here.”
Watson was chosen at #54 out of Gonzaga College after spending 5 seasons in Spokane. He was voted All-Convention First Group final yr, averaging 14.5 factors on 57.8% taking pictures and seven.1 rebounds.
It’s nonetheless unclear whether or not Watson will be part of the staff on a two-way contract or simply spend the yr in Maine with the G-League affiliate, however his presence in Boston nearly appears fated regardless of the lengthy street to get right here.
“The Celtics have been truly my first exercise out of the sixteen I did. It was lots. Coming right here, you don’t know what to anticipate [with] the primary exercise. I believed I did a very good job. I shot it effectively, performed effectively, however obtained injured on the G League mix,” Watson stated. “I needed to come again and do much more exercises. These exercises began to choose up in direction of the tip. I didn’t actually know what was going to occur on Draft Night time. I knew the Celtics preferred me. Brad Stevens gave me the decision and it was the perfect day of my life.”
Watson is considerably undersized as an enormous man at 6’7, 241 kilos, however in school, he proved to be a stable defender, rebounder, and possibly most significantly, a flooring spacer. Sound acquainted?
“Taking pictures is clearly an enormous piece. Form of like that Al Horford position. He’s an important shooter. I feel studying from him goes to be big for me and truly all of the veterans on this staff,” Watson stated of his recreation and the way it would possibly translate to the NBA. “Taking pictures goes to be big and simply my protection, utilizing that to my strengths and popping out and guarding each single recreation. That’s going to be massive for me. Yeah, taking pictures goes to open up my offensive means, however protection is the place I’m robust at.”
Celtics rookies Anton Watson and Baylor Scheierman, together with Leon Powe, are right here at The Shamrock Basis’s basketball clinic in Roxbury. pic.twitter.com/rLlKi04Kcf
— Jack Simone (@JackSimoneNBA) July 8, 2024
After the draft, Horford, together with Derrick White and Jayson Tatum, despatched him a textual content welcoming him to the staff, however he’s been on the entrance workplace’s radar for awhile. Stevens stated that he envisions Watson as a “hybrid ahead that may change and guard lots of people…with a mindset that he’s going to let it fly like he’s by no means let it fly earlier than as a result of I feel he’s a greater shooter than he generally thinks he’s.”
Watson hit 22 of his 55 photographs from behind the arc final season and has been engaged on his shot because the finish of the season. “I really feel like I obtained a very good shot. I simply gotta be extra assured with it. Let it fly in apply and shoot it as a lot as I can.”