New Spurs forward Juancho Hernangomez was one of the last to find out on Tuesday night that he was being included in a three-team trade sending him from Boston to San Antonio. As Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News writes, Hernangomez’s phone was stolen last week, so he didn’t learn until he got home from a late dinner that he’d be changing teams.
“My brother (Pelicans center Willy Hernangomez) had tried to reach me,” Hernangomez said. “He was like, ‘Oh, good luck on your new team. It’s going to be awesome.’ I told him like, ‘What? Where am I going?’ He said San Antonio, and I was really happy. It’s a great opportunity for me.”
Hernangomez says he was looking forward to playing for the Celtics this season, but there “wasn’t space” for him in the lineup. He appeared in 18 of a possible 45 games with Boston for a total of 96 minutes — just 5.3 minutes per contest, after averaging 17.3 last season with Minnesota.
“It was a tough time,” Hernangomez said. “I feel like I could have helped the team. I was ready for the opportunity, I was really excited to play for Boston, but it didn’t work out like everybody thought. But no regrets. It is what it is. I tried to help with the young guys.
“They have a lot of talent, I tried to be a good teammate there and do everything I could. It was a great experience. Great group of guys, great talent, but it wasn’t the right time for me. There wasn’t space for me.”
As we previously relayed, Celtics coach Ime Udoka said that Hernangomez handled the situation professionally and “it was…nothing that he didn’t do.”
As Orsborn observes, Hernangomez has multiple ties to the Spurs organization. He had a pre-draft workout in San Antonio prior to the 2016 draft, when he was selected 15th overall by Denver. The 26-year-old has known Jakob Poeltl for approximately 10 years, having met him during Poeltl’s tryout with his former Spanish club, Estudiantes Madrid. Hernangomez also knows the Spurs’ director of player performance and wellness, Xavi Schelling, whom he met during their time with the Spanish National Team.
Hernangomez is eager to play for his new team and believes it’s a good fit for his hard-working style.
“I love the way San Antonio competes every time,” he said. “They beat us (the Celtics) two times this year. I know they are trying to rebuild and they have young guys and they are working really, really hard and they compete every time. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be fun learning from (his new teammates) and hopefully they can learn from me.”
Juancho is pretty good! Hope he and Will stick in the league for a while
Just another example of how Boston can’t develop talent. Ainge hoarded draft picks like they were Gold, but even when they used the picks, they never gave the kids a chance to develop. Boston has problems that will continue to haunt them. Stevens is no GM/COO and Udoka is a joke for a coach. I’m a lifelong Celtics fan, but it’s going to get much worse before it ever gets close to better. Ainge left them in a bind and Stevens isn’t the answer, he’s a cause of the problem.
Let’s not confuse the Hernangomezes. This one has a PER of 4 (medium=15) and will be on his 4th team in 3 years. Popovich gets something put of him, fine, but he has to do more than make pull-up 2s.
So it is Anige’s fault that Kyrie Lied to him. His picks have been fine. Every team in the League could have drafted last years MVP. Philly missed on way many than Boston. Boston has made the ECF last year Brown was hurt. iME needs more time to learn. Bol Bol is a letter prospect than Juan and Dozier was the 6 man in Denver last year Brad did great!
Juancho is good enough to have plenty of minutes in BOS, that of course is a clear case of… BOS’ loss & SAS gain!
Are you joking ? All he does is stand there with his tattoos
I think Hernagomez is going to be a really good fit with the Spurs. Can see him getting good minutes at the 4 spot.
Let’s get one thing straight about Boston! First thing they need to do is fire the coach! The offense is basically whoever has the ball past half court, shoots! There is very little cutting and moving! The defense is slow and plays with very little energy! Brown and Tatum picked this coach because they thought they needed a minority coach, problem is the guy has no control over this team! We need a coach who knows how to coach period! This group of players do not fit each other, we need to get rid of basically not named Brown, Tatum or Williams! Management let the players make the decisions and this is what we now have!
Udoka is the worst coach of that team since Rick Pitino and M.L. Carr.
There was wasn’t space for him?