Celtics Roster Battle: Queta's Chances

What does Queta bring to the primary back-up center role?

🫖 Taylor’s Tea Time

The Tea: Celtics get the Philadelphia 76ers on Christmas Day.

Taylor: I always look forward to the Christmas Day games. Over here in the UK, the Celtics typically start between 7 and 10:30 pm. By that time, I’ve digested dinner, had a nap, spent time with the family and am ready to watch some hoops. I really hope Paul George and Joel Embiid are healthy for this one. You want to watch the best players on each team going at it — especially in a marquee match-up on one of the biggest hooping days of the year.

The Tea: Payton Pritchard threw his support behind Jaylen Brown during a recent appearance on the “Point Forward” podcast with Evan Turner and Andre Iguodala. His comments were based on the difficult few months Brown has endured, during which he was labeled as “unmarketable,” left off of Team USA’s roster and accused of being a conspiracy theorist regarding his omission.

“I know certain people are like it’s undercutting his teammate, but I was kind of like hey man, let him speak his peiece,” Pritchard said regarding Brown’s Team USA drama. “I think, yeah, let him speak. I don’t think Derrick felt any type of way at all. I think we’re all brothers at the end of the day. When I saw it, not even having the consideration of putting him on was confusing to me. I think Jaylen is a top-level player. He fits everything they need. He can defend, play any role, and I think Jaylen would accept that.”

He continued.

“People sometimes have this version of him that he’s a difficult teammate or difficult dude, which is not the case at all. I love Jaylen to death and I got so much respect for him and the type of person he is.”

Taylor: Brown’s had a tough start to the summer. He should be celebrating his first NBA championship. He should be applauded for improving his overall skillset year-on-year and becoming a leading offensive weapon for the best team in the league. Instead, he’s dealt with multiple attacks on his character. He was left off Team USA’s roster. And when he spoke out, he was gaslighted by Grant Hill.

There’s no denying Derrick White fits Team USA’s needs. It’s also fair to argue Brown deserved a spot. It is what it is at this point. Still, hearing Pritchard go to bat for his teammate and provide a public show of support is both welcome and encouraging.

The Tea: Grant Hill leaves the door open for Brown to participate in the 2028 Olympics with Team USA. His comments came during a recent appearance on the “Open Run” podcast with Rachel Nichols.

“When you have a team with the profile of players on this team, you know there’s going to be controversy,” Hill said. “…It was disappointing, but I mean, you gotta do your job. I’ve tried to do this the right way. Before we put out the roster, before it was announced, I called certain guys. I called Paul George, I called Damian Lillard, I called Jaylen Brown…There’s a lot of noise. I’m confident he and I will sit down at some point and talk about it. Get to some level of understanding. Look, he’ll be a candidate, if he wants, in 2028. One thing I’ve learned is that you can’t take anything personally.”

Taylor: We don’t know the full details here. Brown has made it clear he believes his issue with Nike has played a part in his omission. Hill has remained steadfast that it was just a basketball decision. I’m not sure if we see Brown on the 2028 Team USA roster — but I’m also not sure that we don’t. It’s four years away. Team USA are two games away from a gold medal in Paris. Let’s focus on that for now, then turn our attention to Boston’s chances at a repeat.

Whatever happens between Brown, Team USA and Grant Hill will play out eventually — hopefully behind the scenes, because all this public discussion isn’t good for anyone involved.

The Tea: Team USA secured their spot in the final of the 2024 Paris Olympics with a hard-fought win over Serbia. LeBron James and Steph Curry were both great in this game, while Joel Embiid stepped it up down the stretch. The problem? For the 2nd time in the Olympics, Steve Kerr gave Tatum a DNP-CD.

Taylor: Tatum sat the opening game of the tournament against Serbia as Kerr looked for extra minutes to send bigs at Nikola Jokic. At the time, Kerr admitted he felt like an idiot for benching a 3-Time All-NBA First Team selection…So, he decided to do it again. And once again, he ran a three-guard lineup throughout the night. It wasn’t until the final 4 minutes of the 4th quarter that the USA took control of the game. Why Tatum wasn’t deemed good enough…again…makes no sense to me. Maybe I’m showing some bias here, but a top-10 guy should be getting minutes night in and night out.

👁️👂🍬 Eye ‘N’ Ear Candy

A little update here. I posted this podcast yesterday with the same update, but in case you missed it…A while back, Tim Sheils and I hosted a podcast called Vitamin C’s. On Wednesday, we recovered all the old assets — artwork, logos, etc.- and got access to the old feed. As such, I have merged The Celtics Chronicle podcast onto the Vitamin C’s feed. There are not many changes for you; however, it does mean you will need to subscribe to/follow the show, as all that got reset in the merge.

The YouTube channel remains the same; it’s just been rebranded.

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🔍 Can Queta become first in line behind Al Horford?

On Tuesday, we looked at what Xavier Tillman brings to the Celtics rotation and reasons for and against him being the first big off the bench while Kristaps Porzingis is recovering from surgery.

Celtics Roster Battle: Tillman's Chances

Today, we’re doing the same thing, except with a focus on Neemias Queta.

Queta remains a raw talent. He’s like an undercooked steak — still good, but you know it could be soooo much better. Brad Stevens clearly sees something in him, as he handed out a three-year $7.1 million deal at the start of free agency.

Not all of that deal is fully guaranteed, though. According to Spotrac:

• Queta’s $2.1 million for the upcoming season is fully guaranteed.

• Only $1.1 million is guaranteed in 2025-26.

• His entire $2.6 million is non-guaranteed in 2026-27.

• Both 2025-26 and 2026-27 become fully guaranteed on the opening night of each respective season.

Therefore, the logic behind Queta’s new contract is easy to understand: keep showing signs of improvement, making an impact and battling for more minutes, and you can stick around. Stagnate or regress, and it’s easy to cut ties with minimal cap hit.

Fortunately for Queta, Porzingis’ inevitable absence to begin the season will provide plenty of opportunity to prove himself and fight for a consistent spot in the rotation later in the season.

I think we all know that when he’s on the court, Queta’s size, athleticism and strength ensure that he’s an impactful member of the rotation — especially on the offensive end. He has a high motor and projects to be a modern-style rim-runner, rebounding and filling the lanes in transition.

Queta has rapidly improved his screening ability, a core aspect of his role within Joe Mazzulla’s rotation.

Take the above play for example. Queta’s movements are key to creating a scoring opportunity in the paint. It starts with a slice screen (a rip/back screen for a wing player to cut toward the baseline.) Queta then veers (flows from one screen into another) to set a pin-down for Jaylen Brown. He then sets another screen for Brown before rolling into the paint.

From there, Queta receives the punch pass (post-entry pass) and battles to get his shot off around the rim. His physicality allows him to create the necessary space, and a soft touch sees the shot fall.

Here’s another example of Queta’s screening ability. The initial screen is set for Jaden Springer to receive the inbounds pass. Queta then flips the angle of his re-screen to give Springer space to probe on the dribble. As he rolls toward the rim, he times his movements to mirror Springer’s drive, thus offering an outlet pass once the defense rotates over. The outlet pass is eventually made, allowing Queta to get an easy dunk at the rim.

If you’re a non-shooter on the Celtics, screening and providing a release valve on the drive/roll is integral. We’ve seen Queta drastically improve that area of his game over the last 12 months. It will be a key piece in his development and important to his chances of securing consistent minutes next season.

On defense, Queta is best utilized as a drop defender, but he can, when asked, play at the level of the screen. He doesn't have the lateral quickness to guard on the perimeter and can be hunted in the PnR when switching onto small guards, which can make guarding at the level a risky decision.

Therefore, his best defensive role is that of a drop defender — which is the same for Kornet and, to a lesser extent, Porzingis.

During the regular season, Queta defended 73 shots within 6 feet of the basket, holding his opponents to 39-of-73 shooting, which is a 53.4% success rate. For reference, Kornet held opponents to 129-of-229 shooting within 6 feet of the cup, which is a 52.4% success rate.

There’s no telling whether Queta’s impact as a drop defender would remain at a high level over a larger sample size. However, those initial numbers are encouraging. His height, length and frame make him a valuable shot deterrent as well as a rim protector. The problem arises when he’s put into isolation or tasked with guarding in space — both of which consistently lead to fouls.

Nevertheless, Queta is a blocking machine. So much so that we might need to rename him to Jenny. Get it? Jenny from the block? No? Just me? #DadJokes. I digress. According to Cleaning The Glass, Queta blocked 2.7% of the shots he defended last season, ranking him in the 81st percentile of bigs in the NBA.

For reference, Porzingis and Kornet both blocked 3.2% of the shots they defended, but they also had a far greater sample size.

This defensive play from Queta has been one I’ve gone back to again and again. His presence around the nail was very common last season. He would usually drop back to the nail when guarding PnRs or off-ball screening actions. However, it’s his ability to flip his hips, change direction and then time his block to perfection.

If you watch the play closely, you’ll see that Queta loads up on both feet before jumping to block the shot. He could easily have jumped off one foot and got enough lift to get to the ball. However, the load-up gave the shooter the extra split second to get the ball out of their hands, thus minimizing the risk of Queta making contact and giving up a foul.

Timing is an underrated aspect of rim protection. Jump too soon, and the offensive player can make some alterations to their shot or even fake you out. Jump too late, and you can foul. Queta’s timing improved throughout the season. If that continues to improve, he could become the best shot blocker on the Celtics roster before the end of his new contract, although that’s a best-case scenario.

Why is this important?

Mazzulla’s team is built on elite defense. Queta’s biggest test will be proving he can hang defensively while eating more minutes and potentially playing a bigger role. If he can thrive as a rim protector and show some growth when playing at (or just below) the level of the screen, he could put some serious pressure on Luke Kornet.

So, we know that Queta can work as a screener on the perimeter. Therefore, he can be a reliable floor spacer in the weakside slot — which is something Mazzulla utilized with non-shooting bigs during the postseason. We also know that his drop defense and rim protection/shot deterrence can continue to improve.

However, if he wants to start pressuring Kornet, he must improve his defensive positioning and off-ball movement (when not screening) and continue to develop as a DHO hub.

The action in the above clip is known as a “keep DHO.” Pritchard makes the entry pass to Queta before cutting off him and threatening to receive the hand-off. Queta opts to keep the ball, and by doing so, creates some space on the perimeter which triggers a corner curl from Svi Mykhailiuk. Queta takes a step toward the baseline, hands the rock off, and screens to provide Svi with some slight separation. He then rolls into the weakside dunker spot and gets the put-back.

Sequences like the one above are what will see Queta’s playing time continue to increase. When playing in Mazzulla’s five-out offense as a non-shooter, you must be able to find ways to thrive on the perimeter at a high enough level to force the defense to respect you and not sag or help off. Kornet figured that out last season and became a highly impactful member of the bench rotation.

Now, Queta must start developing some areas of his game and working toward being a multi-faceted offensive threat in the half-court while also working on his positioning and learning how to control angles with his hips on defense. If he can do those things, he could have a big season. Otherwise, he will likely split his time between the NBA and the G-League.

Still, for the first few months, he will at least get a chance to prove himself while battling with Tillman and Kornet for a larger slice of the minute’s pie once Porzingis returns.

No Rival Rundown or Shamrock Shorts today, folks! Catch you on Monday with another newsletter and probably later today for a new podcast episode. And remember, sharing is caring! We will be going to a 50/50 paid and free split next week with it slowly ramping back up to in-season levels. So, make the most of the free posts by sharing them with everyone and anyone.