{"id":675418,"date":"2026-03-23T23:52:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T23:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/675418\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T23:52:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T23:52:22","slug":"hugo-gonzalezs-rookie-chore-has-quickly-become-the-celtics-new-obsession","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/675418\/","title":{"rendered":"Hugo Gonzalez\u2019s rookie chore has quickly become the Celtics\u2019 new obsession"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOSTON \u2014 Hugo Gonzalez<\/a> carries a game of Catan onto every team flight, as has frequently been chronicled on the Celtics\u2019 social media accounts.<\/p>\n

But, don\u2019t be fooled \u2014 the Celtics rookie is not a part of the team\u2019s regular competitive Catan games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am the Catan hater,\u201d Gonzalez said emphatically, sitting at his locker on Sunday night. \u201cI am the Catan hater.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the team\u2019s lone full-time (and youngest) rookie, Gonzalez is responsible for carrying the board on road trips. But he never, ever actually plays.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just the board carrier,\u201d Payton Pritchard, whose locker is adjacent to Gonzalez\u2019s, explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cHold that board!\u201d Ron Harper Jr. bellowed.<\/p>\n

The typical Catan participants are Pritchard, Derrick White, Jordan Walsh, Ron Harper Jr., and Neemias Queta.<\/p>\n

For those unfamiliar: Catan is a multiplayer board game where 3 to 4 players compete to settle an island by building roads, settlements, and cities. Players collect resources \u2013 wood, grain, wool, brick, and ore \u2013 based on dice rolls. Players can trade resources strategically, block opponents, and work to gain control of settlements and cities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the best,\u201d Pritchard said matter-of-factly, claiming he wins about 60% of contests. \u201c[It\u2019s] more of a strategy game, more mental to it. You\u2019ve got to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gonzalez claims his teammates have routinely misplaced important components of the board game, and each time they do, it\u2019s his job to replenish the pieces.<\/p>\n

\u201cSadly for me, they usually lose the pieces. I\u2019m a big investor in the Catan company,\u201d said the 20-year-old. \u201cI bought, like, 10 Catans this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gonzalez nods vigorously.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gave you some cash!\u201d Pritchard chimed in from his locker.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen?\u201d Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight Neemi??\u201d Pritchard yelled over to Queta, who sat at his locker a few feet away. \u201cI gave him cash in November!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNeemi, when was that???\u201d Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n

The rookie task was one that Gonzalez jokingly shook his head at.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be worse!\u201d said Harper Jr., crashing the interview with a grin.<\/p>\n

Harper Jr., who is a two-way player on the Celtics, is a newer addition to the Catan group; he spent the first half of the season with the Maine Celtics. And, Pritchard \u2014 the group\u2019s unofficial Catan leader \u2014 has approved of his play as of late.<\/p>\n

\u201cRon\u2019s getting better,\u201d Pritchard said. \u201cBut second is tied between Neemi and D-White.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a newcomer,\u201d Harper Jr. added.<\/p>\n

\u201cJordan sucks,\u201d Pritchard said.<\/p>\n

Not everyone on the team plays Catan. Sam Hauser said he has yet to dabble with the crowd-favorite. Hauser, who said he\u2019s not even sure how the game works, asked Queta who typically wins.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely not me,\u201d quipped the Portuguese big man.<\/p>\n

Hugo\u2019s rookie responsibility hasn\u2019t come without its difficulties. In December, Gonzalez had to get the Catan game delivered onto the runway before a road trip, because the team was without it (Gonzalez claims his teammates forgot to bring it, Pritchard maintained it was Gonzalez who misplaced it).<\/p>\n

\u201cThey lost it!\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cI never lost it. I got it in my car.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Celtics\u2019 Catan obsession is going nowhere, though the team is currently amid a homestand.<\/p>\n

When they hit the road on Sunday for a four-game road trip that includes stops in Charlotte, Atlanta, Miami, and Milwaukee, Gonzalez will once again be tasked with bringing the board game aboard.<\/p>\n

Pritchard encourages new participants.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnybody can play if they want to,\u201d he said. \u201cBut, they got to put money on it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON \u2014 Hugo Gonzalez carries a game of Catan onto every team flight, as has frequently been chronicled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":675419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,46,37728,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-675418","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-bostonceltics","12":"tag-celtics","13":"tag-celtics-features","14":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/675419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}