Four wild stats highlighting Hugo Gonzalez's early success with Celtics

Four wild stats highlighting Hugo Gonzalez's early success with Celtics originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Rookie Hugo Gonzalez produced the loudest night of his first NBA season Monday while stacking up 18 points, 16 rebounds, three steals, two blocks and an assist over 35 minutes, 20 seconds of floor time for the shorthanded Celtics in their 108-81 triumph over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Gonzalez has only scratched the surface on his offensive potential, generating most of his offense off cuts and putbacks. But the numbers don’t lie: He’s impacting winning in his age-19 season and hardly looks like a first-year player on the defensive side of the ball. 

Let’s crunch some of our favorite Hugo numbers from this season: 

Net rating MVP

The Celtics are outscoring opponents by 17.1 points per 100 possessions with Gonzalez on the floor this season. That isn’t just the best mark on the team, it’s the best of any player in the entire NBA with at least 45 games played.

Check Boston’s on/off splits, and Gonzalez’s impact is even crazier.

The Celtics post a team-best offensive rating of 120.3 with Gonzalez on the floor, and it drops to 118 without him. Boston has a defensive rating of 103.1 with Gonzalez — also best among its regulars — and that mark spikes 10.2 points to 113.3 without him.

The Celtics are 12.3 points per 100 possessions better with Gonzalez on the floor, second-best on the team behind only Derrick White (+12.9).

Rookie leader

Gonzalez owns the best raw plus/minus among all rookies, with the Celtics outscoring opponents by 283 total points in his 864.2 minutes of floor time. That’s 80 points better than the next-closest rookie (San Antonio’s Dylan Harper, +203). Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel (+188) is the only other rookie in the neighborhood. Fourth place is Miami’s Myron Gardner at +55. 

After finishing +27 against the Bucks, Gonzalez is lingering near the top of the all-time rookie leaderboard of best plus/minus per game in a season.

Here’s the top of that chart, from our stats guru Dick Lipe: 

A fun exercise: If there was a 2025 re-draft today, how much higher than 28 would Gonzalez be selected?

He may not come off the board before Cooper Flagg, Harper, Knueppel, and Philadelphia’s VJ Edgecombe. But we could make a strong case that he might get snagged anywhere from spots 5-10.

And if Gonzalez wasn’t playing for a contender overflowing with young wing depth, he’d be steamrolling toward an All-Rookie slot with an inflated stat line in bigger minutes.

The Hugo Effect

Seven of Boston’s top eight two-man lineups with at least 200 minutes of floor time feature Gonzalez.

It doesn’t seem to matter who he’s paired with — the Celtics dominate those minutes.

Relentless defensive energy

Gonzalez’s biggest impact, maybe even beyond his tenacious defense, might be his rebounding ability on both ends of the floor.

For the season, Gonzalez is grabbing 15.3 percent of available defensive rebounds when he’s on the court, which ranks in the 94th percentile among all NBA wings. He collects 6.8 percent of his own team’s missed shots, which ranks in the 92nd percentile among wings.

Opponents are shooting 5.3 percent below expected output when Gonzalez is the primary defender. That ranks in the 97th percentile for his position. Gonzalez is elite at drawing offensive fouls, as Giannis Antetokounmpo learned on Monday night, and Gonzalez’s 0.9 offensive fouls drawn per 100 plays ranks in the 92nd percentile. 

Somehow Gonzalez gets even better closer to the basket. Opponents are shooting 10.7 percent below expected against him at the rim (98th percentile among wings).

Even as he gets a rookie whistle, Gonzalez is putting up absurd defensive numbers for his 19-year-old season.