The Boston Celtics hold the No. 27 and No. 40 picks in the upcoming NBA Draft (June 23-24), and on Friday, we heard that the Celtics are working out three players in advance of the draft: Zuby Ejiofor from St. John's, Andrej Stojakovic of Illinois and Kashie Natt of Sam Houston State.

We've already chronicled Ejiofor, but we will chronicle the remaining two players and how they may - or may not - fit with the Celtics, who went 56-26 this season and earned the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

After being eliminated by the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round, the Celtics have some questions to answer, but they also have a championship window that is still open that needs to be taken advantage of.

So, let's dive in:

A 6'3 guard, Natt spent just one year at Sam Houston State, starting all 34 games. He averaged 10.8 ppg while leading Conference USA in steals at 2.0 per night. He was named the C-USA Defensive Player of the Year.

Prior to Sam Houston State, he played NAIA ball at LSU-Alexandria. There, he averaged 19.9 ppg and 10.1 rebounds in his final season. He was the RRAC Player of the Year and RRAC Defensive Player of the Year as his team went 31-3.

Well, at 6-3, he's certainly not undersized. So if you're looking for a player to simply be able to hold his own physically, he can. His size will allow him to stay with point guards defensively, and should allow him opportunities to help initiate offense. 

Furthermore, he clearly has a physicality to him that Joe Mazzulla values. You don't win Defensive Player of the Year at multiple stops and average 10 rebounds a game without being able to play physical and have a tenacity about you. That tenacity should translate to the next level. 

There are plenty of very good players who come from lower major programs, including Damian Lillard (Weber State), so it can be done, but the questions will persist about the level of competition that Natt faced at the NAIA and low-major levels.

While we expect his body and tenacity to translate, how long will it take him to get actually acclimated to playing against players of this caliber?

The Celtics selected Hugo Gonzalez in the first round last year and took Baylor Scheireman in the first round in 2024. 

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