For the Celtics, this offseason wasn’t about touchdown a giant free agent or swinging for the fences on a commerce. The champs are, for probably the most half, working 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 decide 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 completely different right here. That’s sort of the vibe you get right here. I feel they obtained the proper strategy on issues.”
He continued, “While 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 Staff final 12 months, averaging 14.5 factors on 57.8% capturing and seven.1 rebounds.
It’s nonetheless unclear whether or not Watson will be part of the workforce on a two-way contract or simply spend the 12 months in Maine with the G-League affiliate, however his presence in Boston nearly appears fated regardless of the lengthy highway to get right here.
“The Celtics have been really my first exercise out of the sixteen I did. It was rather a lot. Coming right here, you don’t know what to anticipate [with] the primary exercise. I believed I did job. I shot it nicely, performed nicely, 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 top. I didn’t actually know what was going to occur on Draft Night time. I knew the Celtics appreciated me. Brad Stevens gave me the decision and it was one of the best day of my life.”
Watson is considerably undersized as a giant man at 6’7, 241 kilos, however in faculty, he proved to be a strong defender, rebounder, and perhaps most significantly, a ground spacer. Sound acquainted?
“Taking pictures is clearly a giant piece. Type of like that Al Horford function. He’s an awesome shooter. I feel studying from him goes to be enormous for me and really all of the veterans on this workforce,” Watson stated of his sport and the way it would possibly translate to the NBA. “Taking pictures goes to be enormous and simply my protection, utilizing that to my strengths and popping out and guarding each single sport. That’s going to be huge for me. Yeah, capturing 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 workforce, 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 typically thinks he’s.”
Watson hit 22 of his 55 pictures from behind the arc final season and has been engaged on his shot for the reason that finish of the season. “I really feel like I obtained shot. I simply gotta be extra assured with it. Let it fly in follow and shoot it as a lot as I can.”
