When the ball arrives, Neemias Queta is poised. He grew up playing soccer, a background that has lent itself to the seven-foot center maintaining body control upon receiving the rock while rolling to the rim.
Those traits allow him to calmly scan the defense before deciphering how to leverage the advantage that put him in this position. Consistently, he makes the right read.
When Neemias Queta gets the ball rolling to the rim, he has good body control and is poised with the ball in his hands.
— Bobby Krivitsky (@BobbyKrivitsky) December 18, 2025
I asked Mazzulla about his growth passing out of pick-and-rolls and how much of this is him showcasing an ability he always had.
"Everything is about… pic.twitter.com/W6IeDYj2eA
How much of that is an ability he always possessed, and is now easier to appreciate that he's the starting center for the Boston Celtics? In what ways has he grown in this essential but often overlooked area? And what are the keys for him to continue to sharpen this part of his game?
Joe Mazzulla sheds light on Neemias Queta's growth as a passer
Queta is a fantastic screen setter. Still, with fewer than 2,000 career minutes under his belt, he's learning the craft.
Among an abundance of matters he's trying to master, the fifth-year center is figuring out what screen to set against what coverage, when to slip, and how long to hold his pick. He's doing so while finding synergy with his pick-and-roll partners. Even if they've been teammates for years, his spot on the depth chart may have resulted in a limited number of live reps together.
After Wednesday's practice at the Auerbach Center, a physical and intense session, Mazzulla shared insight into Queta's abilities passing out of the pick-and-roll and the keys to him sharpening that part of his craft.
"Everything is about showcasing knowledge versus the right coverage," said Mazzulla. "And so he had a couple seam reads versus the two-on-one when the big was up that -- it really helped us. So, everything is about just the knowledge on how to execute versus the right coverage.
"Those plays that you see him make become -- he sets a really good screen vs. the two-on-one. He gets behind the defense, we deliver it to him, and then he makes the right play versus the next two-on-one. So, just got to continue to grow in all those different ways, based on the coverages that he's seeing and the changes throughout the game. So, he's getting better at those."
Imagine if the Celtics could only trust Queta with the ball in his hands if he had a clear path to a dunk? If his pick helped pave the way to a numbers advantage. However, they couldn't directly attack the next layer of the defense, because instead of giving it to him, they had to find another outlet.
Fortunately, their offense can grow without needing to worry about this. And as the 26-year-old from Lisbon, Portugal, gets more reps, he's evolving. Queta is now showcasing the ability to manipulate the defender who is zoning two players with his eyes. That can freeze that individual or even get him to dart in a specific direction, allowing the young center to get the ball to his prefered target.
Understandably, Queta's passing out of the pick-and-roll is an under-the-radar topic when discussing what he brings to the table and his growth while working as Boston's starting center. However, if it were a problem, fans would be vocal about that. It would handcuff the Celtics' offense. Instead, the team generating the fourth-highest offensive rating in the league is consistently creating a mathematical edge and then capitalizing on it. Queta plays a crucial part in that.