Neemias Queta recently finished an impressive EuroBasket outing leading his Portugal squad to their first two wins ever in this international tournament. He averaged 15.5 points, 8 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game on shooting splits of 58/29/66, showcasing noticeable improvement across several areas particularly on the offensive end. While the level of competition varied throughout these games, he did face elite talent, including former Celtic Kristaps Porzingis (Latvia), All-Star Alperen Sengun (Turkey), and in my opinion, the best player in the league Nikola Jokic (Serbia).
Queta’s performance in these games has left many Celtics fans encouraged and excited about his upcoming campaign. So, when it comes to the question of whether he can be a starter, I think the answer is pretty simple: yes.
Of course, the competition at that spot will play a major role in Coach Joe Mazzulla’s decision, but Queta has clearly put in work this offseason and helped his case.
The real question is: can he be effective?
Let’s break down film from last season and EuroBasket to highlight Queta’s strengths and weaknesses, examining how he can impact the team and what areas still need improvement.
Queta’s most impactful skill last season was his screening.
According to Bball Index, he ranked 14th in the NBA in screen assists per 75 possessions (5.8), placing him in the 99th percentile. He also finished 7th in overall screening talent (99th percentile) and landed in the 95th percentile in roll-man impact.
Queta uses his body exceptionally well in screening situations. At his best, he leverages his full frame with a low, wide base to shield on-ball defenders. Despite his lack of elite strength, there are plenty of instances where he completely stonewalls defenders.
When he has enough time to set a proper screen without the defender already in motion, he opts to screen using his hands on the defender rather than positioning them near his midsection. This helps him establish a wider, more stable base. The Spain pick-and-roll, a staple in the Celtics playbook, is ideal for him, as the ball handler typically waits for Queta to set the screen, increasing the likelihood that the defender is stationary.
The next two clips highlight Queta’s stonewalling ability. You can notice a difference in the width of his base when he’s forced to set the screen quicker due to the pace of the play. Despite the narrower stance, he still generates impressive power. The first clip features the Celtics’ Angle Pick-and-Roll + High Ball Screen setup.
Queta positions himself in the mid-range, giving him the flexibility to either set a screen for Payton Pritchard or initiate an empty corner DHO with Jaylen Brown (which is what ultimately unfolds). He completely stonewalls Keyonte George, creating space and finishing the play with a lob.
Next, we see Queta set a sequence of three screens that lead to a Derrick White floater. The first allows Jayson Tatum to out cut to the wing. The second is a flare screen that opens a passing lane to White, and the third is an on-ball screen that takes LaMelo Ball out of the play entirely.
Queta demonstrates the same physical strength and awareness off the ball.
In the first clip, Queta uses his IQ to get a poster. He sets the off ball for Jrue to chin cut to the opposite dunker spot completely getting Kyle Anderson stuck forcing the switch. As he goes to set the pin down for Pritchard, he notices an opening in the Warriors switch pocket. He slips the screen then proceeds to dunk on Kevon Looney.
Clip 2 sees him showcasing his IQ again in semi-transition, setting a well timed screen that allows Sam Hauser to cut freely to the basket.
Queta has a real opportunity to thrive in this offense if he continues to set effective screens and create space for his teammates. What’s especially promising is that he still has room to grow, particularly in refining the angles of his screens. If he can make similar strides in that area like Luke Kornet did, he has the potential to become an even more impactful screener.
Queta is a well above average offensive rebounder. Last season, despite playing just under 14 minutes per game, he averaged 1.4 offensive rebounds. This translates to 3.7 offensive rebounds per 36 minutes and 4.0 per 75 possessions.
The previous year, his performance in this area was even more impressive, albeit over a smaller sample size (34 fewer games). In 12 minutes per game, he averaged 1.9 offensive rebounds — a rate that scaled to 5.95 per 75 possessions, placing him in the 98th percentile.
In EuroBasket, Queta averaged 2.3 offensive rebounds per game in 24 minutes of play. Based on that performance and his last two NBA seasons, projecting around 1.7 offensive rebounds per game for the upcoming season seems like a reasonable and realistic expectation.
When a shot goes up Queta consistently uses his good short area quickness for a 7-footer to swim move and get around opponents. Once he gets proper positioning, he utilizes his motor, length, and athleticism to retrieve the basketball or at least get his hands on it for tip outs.
One area where Queta can improve is in his decision-making after securing an offensive rebound. While he ranked in the top-30 in putback attempts per 75 possessions (95th percentile), there’s a case to be made that reducing this number could be more beneficial to the team. Rather than immediately attempting a putback, identifying opportunities to reset the offense or find higher-quality shots could lead to more efficient overall possessions.
He for sure has moments where he’s able to gracefully lay the ball up after soaring for a rebound or throw down a thunderous putback like he does vs. the Raptors below.
But more often than not — at least last season — we saw Queta miss two or three easy ones at the rim, turn the ball over on attempts, and miss open teammates on his mission to go back up.
Despite ranking near the top of the league in putback attempts per 75 possessions, Queta’s efficiency in these situations was among the worst in the NBA. He ranked in just the 4th percentile in putback scoring impact per 75 possessions.
While those numbers are certainly concerning, there’s reason for optimism. If the coaching staff makes this a point of emphasis, there’s a realistic pathway for Queta to improve in this area. We’ve seen flashes of him making the right decisions after offensive boards. It’s now a matter of consistency, discipline, and development.
Speaking of passing, I’m actually quite excited to see what he does in this department. He definitely flashed the ability to pass in last year’s regular season, but some of the passes he made in EuroBasket were really eye opening.
The capacity to make swift and accurate decisions is essential for any team, but I believe the short roll is where he has the potential to truly thrive in Boston.
This would be even more pronounced if he were starting alongside Jayson Tatum, but with Brown, White, Payton Pritchard, and Anfernee Simons all being capable pick-and-roll ball handlers, teams may choose to blitz them forcing the ball into Queta’s hands instead.
These plays gave me a little bit more confidence that he can be solid given that situation.
While Queta is a decent defensive rebounder, it’s imperative that he elevates in this area given his projected role as the starting center.
He raked in 2.4 defensive rebounds a game last year which only ranked in the 50th percentile but he does get grace when scaled to 75 possessions then ranking in the 80th percentile with 6.5 boards. Queta can improve in all the things that make a good rebounder like strength and timing, but one thing he MUST stop doing is face guard box outs.
It’s fine to locate where the opponent is when the shot goes up then put a body on him, but Queta sometimes just never turns back around. This technique all but guarantees the opposing team an extra possession, as he loses sight of the ball and does little to actually displace his man from their spot.
Queta possesses the size, length, motor, and athleticism to be significantly more effective on the defensive glass. While I don’t expect him to be flawless or emerge as one of the league’s elite rebounders, I do anticipate meaningful improvement in this area.
For me, the most critical aspect of Queta’s evaluation is how he’ll perform defensively, especially with an increased workload on that end of the floor this season.
It cannot be overstated just how much defense the Celtics lost in one offseason. Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, Luke Kornet, and Al Horford are all above average defenders who will be on different teams this upcoming season. Now luckily, Jayson Tatum isn’t going to be on a new team when you tip off in October, but he is still another great defender the Celtics won’t have. I’m very intrigued to see how Joe Mazzulla adjusts the team’s defensive scheme in response to such significant losses, but I’ll dive deeper into that later.
Last year Queta graded out pretty solidly as a defender especially in the paint.
As you can see, Queta ranks in the 76th percentile for rim protection and the 85th percentile for rim disruption, both solid to strong indicators of his impact around the basket. Throughout last season and during EuroBasket, he demonstrated the ability to protect the rim effectively using verticality, which is important given his tendency to foul. He averaged 4.7 fouls per 75 possessions last year.
However, I did see improvements in that during EuroBasket. While there’s certainly a gap in overall talent compared to the NBA, I don’t think Queta’s ability to stay on the floor in those games has been given enough attention, considering the foul-out limit is five, not six. But in all three clips below, Queta does a phenomenal job maximizing his length at the rim and doing his best Roy Hibbert impression.
While he’s solid in other defensive areas, his impact is far more pronounced as a shot blocker than as a traditional rim protector.
At the heart of his shot-blocking prowess is a relentless motor and nonstop activity. This is illustrated by him averaging 9.3 rim contests per 75 possessions placing him in the 96th percentile. When watching games the most exciting way he shows this is through chase down blocks. He rarely gives up on a play and when he smells an opportunity to track an attacker down, he lines them up.
In the half court, however, Queta’s defensive activity was most impactful in a help-side role. He averaged 0.7 blocks per game which scales to 1.9 per 75 possessions with over a third of those showing him coming from seemingly out of nowhere, displaying his impressive timing and instincts. While his timing as a shot blocker has steadily improved, what truly stands out on film is how quickly he reacts once he identifies a driver. His ability to explode toward the ball and alter shots in rotation adds real value to the team’s interior defense.
The first clip of the video below illustrates that perfectly as he comes over to block one of the quickest players in the league, Dennis Schroder.
Another aspect of Queta’s game that continues to stand out is his ability to defend both the ball handler and the screener in pick-and-roll situations. As detailed in the clip below, his combination of length, quick feet, and active hands allows him to disrupt possessions when he’s engaged and positioned correctly. Last season, he ranked in the 70th percentile in Pick-and-Roll Coverage Versatility, a promising indicator of his potential in modern defensive schemes.
I would love to see more progress in his defensive awareness and positioning of course, but the big thing for this upcoming season is having to potentially guard star centers/bigs much more.
As I stated earlier, the Celtics lost so many great defenders this offseason. Not only were they great defenders, but they were versatile pieces that allowed Queta to guard wing players instead of big bruising 5s. According to Crafted NBA, Queta guarded centers 33.2% of his possessions last season which was the 6th lowest of all centers in the league that played over 500 minutes. And if I was to filter that percentage to just All-Star or above level bigs, it would be much less. Bball-index also has his defensive position estimate as 3.5 which is a SF-PF tweener.
The screenshot below is a perfect example of what the Celtics opted to do when they faced star bigs with Queta playing. Holiday is the primary defender on Alperen Sengun while Queta lurks on the perimeter waiting to come down and provide help.
Conversely, we saw a different story during EuroBasket, where Portugal lacked better options and leaned heavily on Queta to handle opposing bigs. As seen in the two clips below, Sengun is able to use his strength to basically put Queta under the basket.
The much needed improvement here is strength and post defense. He ranked in the 51st percentile in post defense; the silver lining is that the league doesn’t feature a high volume of physically dominant scoring bigs, but it’s worth noting that the Celtics largely kept Queta away from those matchups when possible.
Against elite bigs last season, Queta was rarely tasked with primary defensive responsibilities. In a matchup against Nikola Jokic in Boston, he wasn’t the primary defender on a single shot attempt during his 11 minutes on the floor. Across the entire season, he contested just two total shots against Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Davis and only one against Alperen Sengun. The star big he matched up with most frequently was Giannis Antetokounmpo, all of which came in a single game where Queta logged 20 minutes and defended five of Giannis’s shot attempts.
Jaylen Brown has the strength and physicality to absorb some of these tougher front court matchups in spots but asking him to do that consistently especially while navigating his first full season as the team’s primary offensive option would be a significant burden. Relying on him in that role night after night probably won’t be sustainable, which only increases the importance of Queta’s growth as a dependable interior defender.
Last but not least is an area where Queta has just recently garnered more some attention.
Queta has of course consistently provided vertical spacing throughout his NBA career. This is a valuable trait that can help generate easy offense, especially in lineups without Jayson Tatum. Whether it’s operating out of Spain pick-and-roll actions, rolling hard to the rim, or simply occupying the dunker spot, Queta gives ball handlers a reliable lob target. His ability to finish above the rim adds a layer of pressure on opposing defenses and creates scoring opportunities.
But in EuroBasket Queta showed a part of his game that we haven’t seen much of.
I do not expect Queta to start draining threes in the regular season, but I do believe the short mid-range/ floater area shot is something he has the touch for.
His jumper doesn’t look bad, and he seems comfortable shooting it like he’s been working on it all summer. Serving as the top offensive option for Portugal gave him a rare chance to showcase the full range of his offensive skill set and while he won’t get plays ran for him to post up with the Celtics, it was really fun to see him carry his country with improved skill.
All in all, Queta is far from a finished product, and his upcoming campaign will come with its share of highs and lows, but there is no denying the amount of work it looks like he put in to be ready for this opportunity. Having the chance to play through mistakes much more than previous seasons should benefit him.
