Neemias Queta is properly on his manner of turning into one other one of many Celtics developmental success tales. On Monday night time, the 25-year-old bought his first begin of the season towards the Hawks and after a rocky begin, he course-corrected within the second half and confirmed why Boston invested in him this summer time.
In a 30-point blowout, Queta completed with 10 factors, seven rebounds, and a block and was a +31 on the night time. It was a continuation of what’s been a optimistic stretch on this four-game highway journey. He’d had three consecutive video games with 10+ minutes in enjoying time earlier than the beginning towards the Hawks, together with logging a +18 in a livid comeback in Indiana because the closing large.
“I feel he’s a bit extra comfy. He is aware of the place he’s purported to be at,” Derrick White mentioned pre-game. “He appears to be in the best place on the proper time — clearly, offensive rebounds and him as an athlete. He’s a bit completely different from the opposite bigs we have now. It’s a pleasant change of tempo.”
As a starter, he was a pure match subsequent to Al Horford in a two-big alignment with Horford spacing the ground and defending the paint and Queta flying round as a rim runner and assist defender.
Lots of his factors both got here off the offensive glass, operating the ground in transition, or instinctively being in the best place on the proper time.
The place there’s lots to be desired is on the defensive finish. Possibly as a result of it’s the beginning of first full yr within the NBA, perhaps it’s as a result of he depends too closely on his athleticism, Queta is commonly a step late and a shift of the hips off. After two blown ISO’s towards Jalen Johnson within the first quarter, Queta was benched. After that first stint with blended outcomes, Jrue Vacation and Jayson Tatum dapped him up and Joe Mazzulla pulled him apart.
“He’s simply grown lots as a participant, and fairly truthfully, he doesn’t know the way good he will be,” head coach Joe Mazzulla mentioned after the sport. “He’s bought an awesome ceiling, so the usual could be very excessive. I believed he did some nice issues for us tonight. If you’re nearly as good as he will be, all of us gotta maintain him to that normal each single night time.”
White was a bit extra direct.
“I feel Neemy is our most athletic large. I don’t assume that’s controversial — sorry, Luke. He’s just a bit bit extra athletic and he’s shifting properly on the market.”
After Johnson cooked him for eight factors within the first quarter, he shot simply 1-for-6 within the third with Queta as his major defender. Right here’s Queta sticking to Trae Younger step-for-step:
We discuss on a regular basis in our CelticsBlog Slack about Queta’s similarities to Robert Williams III. The wingspan and the hops are undeniably Timelord, however so are the early defensive struggles. Too usually in Williams’ early years was he inclined to pump fakes and fast first steps. Fortunately, he’s bought a depth of information to dig in to within the locker room. Al Horford, Luke Kornet, and Xavier Tillman are all plus-positional defenders.
Extra so, the group is behind him. After signing a three-year deal this summer time, thus begins Queta’s studying curve. Mazzulla mentioned that he’s selecting issues up pretty shortly and that he likes utilizing Queta’s versatility as a result of he supplies one other component as a switchable defender.
“He works actually arduous. He cares. He desires to be coached, and I’m grateful he permits me to teach him,” Mazzulla mentioned. “He’s beginning to understand how good he actually will be.”
