At this time last season, Neemias Queta was a borderline G Leaguer on a two-way contract with the Boston Celtics.
On Wednesday night, he was guarding Stephen Curry 1-on-1 in crunch time.
It’s been a whirlwind 365 days for the Portuguese big man, who earned a permanent roster spot in Boston last April, won his first NBA title in June, then inked a three-year, $7.2 million contract with the team in free agency. With Kristaps Porzingis still recovering from offseason surgery and the team managing Al Horford’s minutes, Queta has seen an expanded role early in the 2024-25 season and continues to make impressive progress.
Queta’s latest leap came Wednesday against the Golden State Warriors at TD Garden, where he logged a career-high 28 minutes in a starting role and racked up 14 points on 6 of 11 shooting with eight rebounds (five offensive) and two blocks in Boston’s 118-112 loss. Queta’s energy on the glass was particularly notable, as he’s now tallied at least four offensive rebounds in four of his eight games played this season.
“Neemi did a great job just getting us offensive rebounds, getting extra possessions,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said after the game.
Queta also shined as a rim runner Wednesday night, protecting the rim on defense and throwing down lobs on offense in an effort reminiscent of former Celtics big man Robert Williams.
Like Williams early in his Celtics career, Queta is still raw. He occasionally gets caught out of position or goes for pump fakes on defense. But the 25-year-old big man clearly has upside and possesses impressive defensive versatility, as evidenced by his ability to hold his own against Curry when the Warriors hunted him in switches.
“I thought Neem did a good job on him,” Celtics guard Derrick White said of Queta’s defense on Curry. “He makes tough shots. He doesn’t stop moving. So, I give a lot of credit to Neemi. He competed at a high level today.”
Queta posted a team-best plus-minutes of +13 while the rest of the starting five was in the negatives, a testament to the impact he made on both ends. Wednesday wasn’t an aberration, however; the 7-foot big man tallied 10 points and seven rebounds in his first career start Monday against the Atlanta Hawks and delivered a 12-point performance on 6 for 6 shooting against the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday.
Perhaps more importantly, he’s taking Mazzulla’s coaching to get better at the details on both ends of the floor.
“He’s doing a good job just understanding tendencies,” Mazzulla said. “He’s doing a good job executing the coverages that we have.
“He forced (Curry) inside a three a couple of times to his right hand. So, he’s just getting better and better at understanding what the scheme is and kind of what the tendencies are and then just the situational basketball of making reads on the defensive end. So he’s definitely growing.”
Luke Kornet exited Wednesday’s game due to a hamstring injury, so if he’s forced to miss time, that could give Queta an even bigger opportunity to make an impact while Porzingis is still sidelined. And if Queta can continue to provide meaningful minutes in the frontcourt, that would be a great development for a team that took a chance on the big man after the Sacramento Kings let him go last year.