BOSTON — When the time came for Sam Hauser to speak with the media on Wednesday night after scoring a career-high 24 points, Hauser initially headed to his usual spot in the locker room. Instead, a member of the Celtics PR staff motioned it was time to move to the main press conference room, reserved for the top team performers of the night. The distinction summed up nicely how far Hauser has come during Boston’s first 11 games of the season.
The second-year forward signed a three-year contract with Boston this summer for close to league minimum money after spending much of his rookie season with the Maine Celtics in the G League. Things changed quickly for Hauser after Danilo Gallinari tore his ACL, putting him front and center for an opportunity to earn a spot in Joe Mazzulla’s rotation.
However, what Hauser – undrafted out of Virginia – has managed to do in his first 11 games has surpassed almost anyone’s expectations. The 6-foot-8 forward capped a terrific start to the year with 24 points off the bench in a career-high 30 minutes in Wednesday’s win over the Pistons.
“Fits in with the other guys, moves the ball, creates separation for himself and for others,” Mazzulla said of the sharpshooter. “Does a great job of continuing to get better on the defensive end. He’s right up there with everyone else on the team, doing a great job.”
Hauser is shooting a team-best 53.5 percent from 3-point range on over four attempts per game, which puts him in the top 10 in the league for 3-point accuracy. That type of efficiency has helped him go from a secondary piece in Mazzulla’s bench rotation to someone he’s calling plays for alongside the starting five on Wednesday night.
“He’s a guy that can create separation,” Mazzulla said. “And so usually guys who can shoot the ball are also really good screeners. So I think putting him in the action is another guy that they have to worry about, along with Jayson and Jaylen and whether it’s Smart or Al, so when you have him involved, it just adds another layer to how they’re going to guard.”
With Hauser under contract on the cheap for the next three seasons, his signing and development in Boston’s system has quickly become a key boon for the front office and coaching staff. Finding diamonds in the rough is a necessity now for a contender that doesn’t have significant salary cap space for the foreseeable future. Hauser is providing perhaps the best bang for the buck out of any minimum salary player in the league at this point, with the possibility of him evolving further.
“I think it goes to a comfort level of getting used to playing with guys like Jayson or Jaylen,” Hauser said of his strong start. “I didn’t really have much opportunity to do that last year in a game setting, so these first 10 games have been huge, and even preseason as well, to get a feel for what they like or where they like me to be, how they like me to help them, help me, I think it all ties into that.”
LUKE KORNET got the call about two minutes into last Saturday’s game against the Knicks. His wife was in labor with a baby girl, so he needed to bolt from New York to Boston as soon as possible.
Kornet notified assistant coach Damon Stoudamire before hopping in a car midway through the first quarter. Kornet said he was “glad I was able to make it back” with about 40 minutes to spare.
Kornet said he was planning to break off from the team after New York and skip the Memphis trip anyway, so the notification came only a little earlier than expected.
“There are things far more important than basketball, and that is definitely one of them,” Kornet said. “So I was happy to leave.”
The Celtics went on to beat the Knicks after hitting a franchise-record 27 3-pointers. Kornet did say he was able to watch the game in the car since it was an hours-long journey and he didn’t really have anything else to do. His wife was in labor so Kornet joked she wasn’t exactly in the talking mood either.
THE CELTICS have endured some off-court pieces of news this month when it came to their suspended coach in Ime Udoka. The Nets were reportedly set to hire Udoka, but they backed off when they instead hired Jacque Vaughn as their new coach.
When Udoka was reportedly set to join the Nets, Celtics players like Marcus Smart expressed some frustration and confusion in the situation. Jaylen Brown said he was happy to see a “Black head coach end up back on his feet.” Grant Williams said he would congratulate Udoka if and when they saw him next, but said they had a great leader still in Boston with Mazzulla.
Of course, Udoka’s no longer going to the Nets after all. Brown addressed the news after the Celtics beat the Pistons 128-112 for their fourth straight win.
“I was happy Ime could potentially get back on his feet,” Brown said. “Obviously, the situation here in Boston was unfortunate. But I think what the Brooklyn Nets have, they got a lot more going on right now with the Kyrie Irving situation, which everyone is monitoring. I think that’s probably what hindered him from probably getting that spot.”
Brown did give Vaughn a shout out and said “he’ll be able to have some success there” with the Nets. Vaughn gets his shot as the Nets’ top guy after serving as interim coach after Steve Nash’s departure. The Nets still have plenty of talent with Irving and Kevin Durant there as they look to steady the organization going forward.
Of course, the Celtics still have plenty to look forward to as part of their season. Boston’s 8-3 and looking like title contenders, though the defense has been lacking early on this season. But the Celtics are focused on their own goals as they look to get back to the Finals.
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