Celtics fans were rightfully delighted by the breakout season Neemias Queta had, but a lot of people were turned off by the playoffs. After blowing a 3-1 lead, seeing Queta struggle to stay on the court and have his minutes yanked around, a lot of the discourse turned back to bemoaning the team’s lack of a true center.
This criticism completely misses the mark. Neemy had an outstanding regular season, and while his playoffs weren’t as impressive, it’s hard to overlook the stats. For one, when we look at the advanced stat Net Points Added for these playoffs alone, the top seven names on the list include five New York Knicks, Victor Wembanyama, and one Neemias Queta.
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The numbers prove that when Neem was on the court, he was extremely impactful, and the Celtics were a much better team, playing similarly to a Knicks team that has won 13 games in a row and needs just two more victories to win the NBA Finals, and Wemby, who is quickly ascending to best player in the world status.
I’m not saying Queta is on par with Wemby, or even Karl-Anthony Towns, but I think people are being dismissive of his overall impact and ruling him out too quickly as the starting center of the future. This was his first season as a rotation player, and he was one of the best defensive centers in the league with a solid pick-and-roll game to go along with outstanding offensive rebounding.
Queta should only keep getting better in Boston
This was also Neemy’s first playoffs, logging any real minutes, and sure, it took him some time to adjust. He got in foul trouble way too early, and then Joe Mazzulla went away from him for long stretches in favor of a stretch big to draw out Joel Embiid. But when he was on the floor, he played well, and so did the team, including a great Game 7 performance.
He needs to get the fouling under control, but you know who else had that issue? The former number one pick and potential Finals MVP, Karl-Anthony Towns. Players can keep evolving and improving. Queta went from a career G-Leaguer to the starting center for the Celtics. There’s no reason to think he won’t continue his improvement.
The Cs have a team option for Neemy on the minimum, but they should absolutely look to lock him up on a long-term deal. There simply aren’t many great big men in the league right now, and even fewer who are on reasonable contracts. We can’t get caught up in finding a guy who can do it all like Wemby, because those guys just don’t exist.
Queta is a great starting center to have and an anchor of the defense who won’t demand massive money. He was a huge boon this season and should only get better next season. He’s going to figure out some playoff issues, and I have full confidence he’ll be ready to exorcise some demons next year.
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