Who?s your young guy breakout player for next season?

[keevsnick]

Baylor will be 26 to start next season, so I'm not even sure you can really count him as young. 26 is like the start of an NBA player's prime years.

The obvious answer is Hugo. Not sure you'll see some huge stats explosion but the impact metrics liked him a fair bit last year at just 19 years old. It will be interesting to see if stuff like on/off net rating holds up in year two. Could very easily see him morphing into an elite glue guy type player.

Cenac probably won't get enough minutes. Granted we said the same thing about Hugo last year but the consensus on Cenac seems to be he's raw and will need some time.

Walsh is another interesting case. Assuming no extension next year will be in a contract year. He's still young at just 22 and showed some definite promise last year.

[lbgreen33]

I hope it is Cenac.

I hope you are right! That would be awesome!

[RodyTur10]

I say Ron Harper Jr. He's not super young with his 26 years, but with less than 400 NBA minutes under his belt there's enough reason to assume he has unleashed potential.

If Pritchard and White would start in the backcourt, which I would not given our enormous wing depth, then the back-up (point) guard could be Harper.

I expect in first instance Conley will be given the nod, but he's completely washed and that would give Harper an opportunity for big minutes and development.

That said, I'm really curious how our wings (besides Tatum and George) will perform this year. It's a dogfight for minutes between Hauser, Scheierman, Walsh and Gonzalez.

It would make sense perhaps to trade Hauser in that regard for a back-up PG, but we know Mazzula and the Celtics demand defense reliability. There aren't a lot of point guards with good playmaking and decent defense in that price range (in the means of both salary and asset value).

[Who]

I say Ron Harper Jr.

That is a good call. A breakout year for him would be going from a borderline NBA player to showing he can play regular minutes in the NBA. Prove he belongs in the league.

I don't expect them to start Pritchard. I think if that was the plan, they would have signed a guard better than Mike Conley. Conley is not a rotation caliber player anymore. So I see Pritchard as the backup PG.

So I am looking for Ron Harper Jr to break into the team at the SG spot. To either beat out Baylor or to beat Hugo / J Walsh at that position. With Baylor, it would be Ron Harper's non-scoring game is better than Baylor's non-scoring contributions. For Hugo & J Walsh, it would likely be R Harper's shooting is better than their shooting.

He has got a legit shot at that.

[jambr380]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKqOhOpv7Io&t=7s

This is an interesting video discussing Hugo's potential. It does a great job breaking down his elite off-ball defense, his strong and versatile on-ball defense, as well as some positives and areas of improvement on his offense.

I watched pretty much every game last season and liked what I saw from Hugo, but taking a deeper dive into his play has me pretty excited about what kind of player he can be one day.

[LilRip]

I hope Hugo can break out next season. Hopefully he cracks the starting lineup and plays productive meaningful minutes

[No Nickname]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKqOhOpv7Io&t=7s

This is an interesting video discussing Hugo's potential. It does a great job breaking down his elite off-ball defense, his strong and versatile on-ball defense, as well as some positives and areas of improvement on his offense.

I watched pretty much every game last season and liked what I saw from Hugo, but taking a deeper dive into his play has me pretty excited about what kind of player he can be one day.

Thanks for sharing.  The good news is that he has the things you can?t always teach (athleticism, defensive instincts, high motor).

So if he works all summer on his handles and shooting he can definitely expect improvement. If the YouTube guys see these weaknesses then the Celtics? training staff does too.

And with Brad?s emphasis on needing to get to the rim more, Hugo is assuredly working on his close out drives. Those are easy to improve on as he only needs two dribbles to get to the rim.

[JumpingJudkins]

I agree it should be Hugo. If he's improved his 3-point shot enough that he can take a starting job, that would be huge.

[Vermont Green]

I think you have to draw the line at a certain age as what constitutes a young player.  Players who are not young can have break out seasons too though.  Amari Williams for example, he is 24 but has hardly played, clearly is not fully developed.  Harper is 26, is he still "young"?  Most players who are 25 or more are pretty much what they are.  I had mentioned Walsh earlier, he is only 22.  His issue is consistency.  He played at a pretty high level at times last season.

Amari Williams is another one to watch in my view.  He is back on a 2-way deal so the odds are against him for sure, but if he figures it out, he could really make a leap.  He is starting out well behind the others as he really has not done anything yet.  He has the most room to grow so in that respect, it favors him making a leap even though after a "leap" he still may not be close to a starter level player.

And Hugo, yes.  I am very high on Hugo but as I said above, his big leap may not be this coming season.  As to Mitchell and Cenac, I don't know enough about them at this point.  I look forward to seeing them in summer league, although summer league does not always give you a good read.  Walsh was horrible last summer and then stepped in and played some valuable minutes as a starter last season.  My sense is Mitchell and Cenac may be more on the Walsh timeline.

[boscel33]

I agree it should be Hugo. If he's improved his 3-point shot enough that he can take a starting job, that would be huge.

I agree with Hugo, but if Amari get pt, then he could take a Queta leap for sure.