Celtics Resign Sam Hauser

Celtics to re-sign forward Sam Hauser to three-year deal as sharpshooter could see bigger role next season


By Adam Himmelsbach Globe Staff,Updated July 3, 2022, 1:31 p.m.



Second-year forward Sam Hauser has agreed to a three-year contract with the Celtics worth approximately $6 million, a league source told the Globe on Sunday. The first two years of the deal are fully guaranteed, the source said.

The Celtics signed the sharpshooter from Virginia to a two-way contract last summer, and in February the deal was converted to an NBA contract after a collection of trades opened up several roster spots. Last week, Boston declined Hauser’s $1.6 million option for next season and made him a restricted free agent, making this multi-year deal possible.

Hauser appeared in 26 games for the Celtics last season, averaging 2.5 points and 1.1 rebounds while shooting 43.2 percent from the 3-point line. He also played in 10 games with Boston’s G League affiliate, the Maine Celtics, and averaged 16.9 points while connecting on 43.3 percent of his 3-pointers.

Internally, there’s real optimism that Hauser can become a regular rotation player next season. The 6-foot-8 forward is expected to join Boston’s Las Vegas summer league roster this week.


“First and foremost, the shooting stands out,” coach Ime Udoka said in April. “Elite shooter . . . But he’s a very cerebral player across the board. He’s fit in well in games that he’s played early in the season when guys were injured. He plugged right in and he didn’t really miss a beat as far as, defensively, and some of the things we were looking for. So, always in the right spot, great team defender and knows how to use himself, his angles and a cerebral guy, not just offensively but defensively as well.”

On Friday, the Celtics agreed to acquire guard Malcolm Brogdon from the Pacers in exchange for Daniel Theis, Aaron Nesmith, Malik Fitts, Nik Stauskas, Juwan Morgan, and the team’s 2023 first-round pick. Also, Spurs forward Danilo Gallinari indicated that he will sign a two-year, $13 million deal with Boston after clearing waivers, and center Luke Kornet agreed to re-sign on a two-year deal.


After re-signing Hauser, Boston will still have three empty roster spots, with rookie second-round draft pick JD Davison a strong candidate to fill one.


Bob
MY NOTE:  This is clever contract work by Brad Stevens and Mike Zarren.  By signing Hauser to a 2-year contract with a 3rd year as a club angle they set themselves up for having, at the minimum, Early Bird Rights to him.  If the club, this one or the one he is traded to someday, picks up the 3rd year then it's full Bird Rights.  The difference is that with Bird Rights the team can go over the cap to resign them and can offer them a 5 year max contract.  Early Bird Rights allow the team to offer a 175% increase of the contract without using cap space.  Since I don't see Sam Hauser ever justifying a full-blown 5 year max contract not locking him into 3 years doesn't matter.  This format is a very team-friendly one and, from Sam's perspective, gives him his start and break for at least 2 years.

It's hard to say if his shooting % will hold up when he's taking a lot more of them but so far so good.  He shot 43.2% from 3 last season, but on only 44 3pt fgas.  He also shot 43.3% from 3 in G-League on 90 3pt fgas.  There's a difference in the size, speed and skills of NBA defenders vs G-League defenders but his % has translated almost perfectly and seamlessly so far.  

Regardless, welcome Sam.  You showed by example that working hard will get you to where you want to get, and that the Boston Celtics is the organization that will recognize that.

I'm not so sure about Davison being a "strong candidate" to make the team.  He's sooo raw.  I think he'll be a two-way player, so he can get some reps with the Boston team, but he'll be getting the overwhelming percentage of them in Maine.  It's possible that he won't even be a two-way.  He could be just a regular G-leaguer, with Brad giving the two-way spots to older, proven G-League players who have already shown they are close to being NBA players.  He's only 19 years old and was the #53 pick.  It's not like he's some prodigy that cannot be denied.  Davison needs a lot of coaching and film time, and he needs a lot of court time to burn that coaching in.  He's not going to get those minutes in Boston, especially not with Smart, White, Pritchard and now Brogdon ahead of him on the depth chart.  I'm wondering where Pritchard is going to get minutes now that we have Brogdon.  If Payton is going to have to hunt-and-peck for minutes then where is Davison going to get them? There is no way a player who shot 30% from 3 and had a 1.48:1 assist-to-turnover ratio in just one year of college is leapfrogging a player on the depth chart who shot 41.2% from 3 and has a 2.71:1 assist-to-turnover in 2 years of NBA play.



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Better for Davison and the C's for him to spend a good year in G league getting useful court time and instruction. He will miss a year if griwth on the Celtics bench.

Two things:

Sam Hauser was on our roster last season, so that counts towards the 3-season full Bird Rights. The first two years on his contract are all he needs to get to that 3-year level. Still a good reason to give him 2 plus 1 on his new contract.

JD Davison was our only draft pick this season. They can stash him overseas (doubtful IMO) or go 2-way for him. If he is assigned to the G-League outright, he can be poached by any other NBA team. He should either make the big team or go 2-way.

Make him unpoachable, please!

We have CAP holds on both of our 2-way guys Ryan and Thomas

With the recent signings of Kornet and Hauser I think our roster is up to 11 (not including the 2 way contracts.  So we still have 4 open roster spots if my math is correct and I am not missing a guy.

With respect to our only draft pick, Davison, I think the odds of him making the 15 man roster are pretty good.  He can still head up to Maine.

The Celtics have moved on from Waters, Edwards, Langford and Nesmith so my guess is that adding a couple of young prospects to the team seems reasonable.  

While SL can give us false hopes and dreams it could also be a factor in who makes the team.  

The 4 guys I will be watching closely are JD, Juhann Begarin,
Trevion Williams and Mfiondu Kabengele.

Let's see how things play out.

It is official!!!





Bob


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