With the 28th pick in the 2025 NBA draft, the Boston Celtics selected Spanish Marcus Smart. I’d be lying if I said I had any clue how well Hugo Gonzalez’s game will translate to the NBA, but I dig the comparison. With words like “hustle” and “high-motor” serving as stand-ins for phrases such as: “27 percent 3-point shooter” and "minimal playing time” for Real Madrid, all we have are memories of Marcus and now a dream for Hugo.
That’s alright. The draft is for dreaming big and pretending the teenager you just selected will have any clue how to handle NBA-style defense for at least a year, maybe two. Sure, sure. They’ll earn their coach’s trust and start playing rotation minutes right away. The sky’s the limit for all these kids, so long as they learn to rotate and knock down open 3’s.
Behind the paywall, we continue the dream with a deeper look at how the East fared in the draft.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Hoopology to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.