The Boston Celtics waived rookie second round draft pick Anton Watson, who was on a two-way contract with the Maine Celtics, and signed Miles Norris to their open two-way slot on a two year deal.

Norris (6-foot-7, 220 lbs) was undrafted in 2023 after starting his college career at Oregon and then had stints at CC of San Francisco before finishing with UC Santa Barbara.

After going undrafted, Norris landed in the G League with the Atlanta Hawks affiliate team, the College Park Skyhawks. In 2024, he played in Turkey and then returned to the G League with the Memphis Hustle.

Norris averaged 17.1 points per game on 47.8 percent shooting from the field and 37.0 percent from behind the arc this season with the Hustle. He also averaged 6.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists per game, and had four double-doubles.

What the Celtics like the most about Norris is his 3-point shooting. When comparing him to Watson, who Norris is replacing, Watson only averaged 30.8 percent shooting from behind the arc with Maine.

With the way the team runs in Boston, 3-point shooting is the most important element to any player. During his time in Maine, Watson just didn’t prove that he’d be able to improve as a shooter as fast as the Celtics would’ve liked.

This pst week, Norris was in Boston on Monday at the Auerbach Center. He met head coach Joe Mazzulla, the staff, and the team on Tuesday when he joined them for a morning film session.

Norris told the media that he could tell from just being in a film session how well connected of a group the Celtics are.

“It seems like they are a really connected group. I’m really excited to be a part of that. Some locker rooms are a little different. It seems like they have a really strong connection chemistry wise and in the locker room.”

At Oregon in 2019, Norris was teammates with Celtics veteran guard, Payton Pritchard, who was the best point guard in the country at that time. The next year, he won the Bob Cousy Award and was the Pac-12 Player of the Year in 2020.

Norris was a freshman when Pritchard was a junior, he said it was good to catch up with his former teammate.

“Payton’s a great guy. It’s good to see him again, good to be back playing with him again after college. Small world. It’s like a full-circle moment for me and Payton.”

Head coach Joe Mazzulla talked about what he saw in Norris’ game, says that Pritchard vouched for him when they talked about him since they’ve known each other since college.

“His length, his athleticism, he’s shown a decent ability to shoot the basketball. He played with Payton [Pritchard] one year at Oregon, so he kind of knows him, so just those things that play into that and obviously the ceiling and how can we help him grow.”

To Mazzulla’s point about Norris’ length, he has a 7-foot-3 wingspan and takes pride on stretching the floor with his shooting and playing defense, he says during practice on Tuesday.

“Stretching the floor. I shoot the ball really well from three. So spacing the floor, having those guys be able to attack in iso. I know we got a lot of scorers on this team, so just being able to stretch the floor. I play defense, as well.”

Norris joins JD Davison and Drew Peterson as Boston’s three two-way contract players with the Maine Celtics. Signed to a two-year deal, Norris will be back with Maine next season as well.

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Photo Credit: Brian Babineau, NBAE Getty Images