The Boston Celtics ended the summer tournament in Las Vegas on Saturday with a surprising performance from an underrated, second-year guard in Caleb Grill.

In the finale, Grill led the Celtics with 18-points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and a game-high 4-of-9 shooting from behind the arc. He came off the bench for a team-high 22 minutes.

In three games this summer, Grill averaged 8.3 points per game on 57.1% shooting from the field and 50% on 3-pointers. He also totaled three rebounds, one assist, and one block in 29.9 minutes.

Although the summer isn’t much of a sample size, Grill was in the G League for 27-games last season between the Windy City Bulls and the Greensboro Swarm and he was technically on the championship team for the Swarm after he was acquired in March.

Last season, after going undrafted out of Missouri, Grill averaged 10.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.1 assist, and 1.3 steals in 24.9 minutes per game. He impressively finished with 44/39/71 shooting splits, which has to be eye-catching for a team like Boston who thrives on finding and developing talent within their organizational pipeline in Maine.

After Boston’s summer finale on Saturday, Grill talked postgame on what he learned from the Celtics staff this summer and what’s next for him ahead of the season.

“The pace, the more or less like the pace and coming off screens or slipouts and stuff like that. Just being able to learn how to find a way to find more windows, especially, I’m quote unquote a shooter, and so being able to find more opportunity to get more attempts up. So just being around this group of staff, and even the players around here too, watching them and seeing how they get their shots up too. I just was able to learn a lot the last two or three weeks.”

Grill also shared what he thinks he displayed in the last game of the summer, in hopes of landing with an NBA organization for next season.

“I just thought I’ve brought a lot of energy. That’s what I pride myself on. Usually, if you come in with a lot of energy, everything else takes care of itself. So my main focus is just coming in and having intensity on both ends of the floor and letting the rest take care of itself.”

Over the years, the Maine Celtics has truly become an asset for Boston, being able to develop talent in the way they need. It’s been successful, arguably one of the best developmental programs in the NBA, that Boston relies on.

Grill could be the next up-and-coming player for the Maine Celtics.

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Photo Credit: Mike Kirschbaum, Getty Images