BOSTON — Neemias Queta walked into the Celtics’ facility to greet a room full of local kids from Project 351, an annual program that partners with the team for a forum on addressing topics like race, gender, religion, disability and orientation. Queta, who admitted he’s still not totally comfortable addressing a full room, told the story of how he started playing basketball, when he began believing in it as a career at age 17 and how he handles hate.
“It’s about being able to block out the noise,” Queta told them. “You know how many people watch the game, how many people enjoy watching the NBA or the Celtics, whatever it is? So you know you’re not gonna please everybody, you’re not perfect, so at the end of the day, you just gotta be able to embrace yourself and live with what you’re doing … people are always gonna try and say anything about you, so find happiness … for example, your family, the hobbies that you like to do. So I lean into what makes me happy more than anything.”
The Celtics’ two biggest stories early this season became Payton Pritchard’s emergence as the leading Sixth Man of the Year candidate and Queta starting five of the team’s first 16 games with Kristaps Porziņģis out. It had been roughly a year after Queta signed an unheralded two-way deal late in the 2023 summer. His offensive rebounding, help side defense and its positive impact on Boston’s struggling rim protection made him a valuable contributor.
Joe Mazzulla stressed consistency and competitiveness. He pulled Queta from his first career start in Atlanta quickly when he didn’t meet expectations.
Four months later, it’s easy to forget those contributions. Queta averaged 7.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game while shooting 63.9% over a 15-game stretch during the opening month. However, since Porziņģis returned, his playing time fell to 12.0 minutes per night with 12 DNP-CDs and another 16 where he played fewer than 10 minutes, mostly in garbage time.
When he returned to the lineup for last week’s back-to-back, he had only logged rotation minutes in four of the previous 15 games stretching back to January. Queta produced mixed results, including a scoreless showing at Detroit after he missed the win over the Knicks on Sunday with an illness. Mazzulla didn’t play him at Cleveland on Friday, and on the following day assigned him, Xavier Tillman Sr. and Jordan Walsh to Maine Celtics practice at the Auerbach Center in Boston for additional reps.
“(I approached it) the same as always,” Queta said on Monday. “It’s a blessing to play basketball at the end of the day. I really just come in and do my job, whether I have to play or really don’t have to play, I just find happiness into it and try to make up for not playing in a harder workout, watching more film or being around family. Finding different ways to navigate that … longer workouts or even just going down to Maine like we did and playing with the guys. I felt like that definitely helped me get back into my rhythm, especially after I was sick.”
Queta focused on cardio and positioning in the practice, finding the right places at the right time, and at other times during his layoff joined coaches in extra five-on-five scrimmages. He told CLNS Media/CelticsBlog earlier this season that his defensive adjustment to Boston’s system proved difficult. In the past, he played drop coverage and now shifts between various defensive looks as the defense’s anchor. That placed scrutiny on him from the coaching staff, along with the upside that he flashed in his best games early on.
Queta ranked high among the NBA players switching onto guards for the greatest percentage of their minutes. In a captivating moment, he held up against Steph Curry in a start against the Warriors. Mazzulla said earlier this season that Queta doesn’t know how good he can become, and that’s why he personally held him to a high standard. He repeated those comments about Queta’s high ceiling on Sunday after he made the most of 16 minutes against Denver, scoring eight points with 10 rebounds and an assist on 4-of-5 shooting.
Mazzulla also mentioned his belief that Queta would play backup center minutes on any other team. The Celtics won Queta’s minutes by 11 in a seven-point victory.
“He’s just very professional,” Al Horford said. “Neemy is sticking to his preparation, his routine. Even if he’s not playing, you see him here, same energy, working and just staying ready for the opportunities. Tonight, he was put in positions that could’ve gone the other way, but he was taking Michael Porter Jr.’s threes away at the three-point line at times. With Jamal (Murray), he did it as well. So him being able to defend the perimeter, protect the paint, get rebounds, just staying ready … he was very big for us tonight.”
An impactful stretch early in the fourth saw him score four straight points for the Celtics inside. His offensive rebound two plays later set up Payton Pritchard for a second chance score to cap an 11-5 run and force a Denver timeout. One play prior on the defensive end, he and Jaylen Brown met De’Andre Jordan at the rim and rejected him.
Queta remains highly intriguing as an athletic, offensive rebounding and physical finishing force that no other player on the roster replicates. The Celtics signed him to a three-year contract last offseason, allowing for patience with his development ahead of another free agency for Luke Kornet, who’s mostly played ahead of Queta through his own stellar season. They’ve played together successfully in several games, despite neither spacing the floor, and though three centers stand in front of him in the rotation, he’s probably the best player outside of the team’s night-to-night rotation.
That’s why Mazzulla can’t stand when Queta lapses, like on consecutive pick-and-rolls against Jalen Duren at Detroit. Queta developed thick skin to the hard coaching, playing for tough mentors in the past, but the wrath he hears from the Celtics head coach is so much that he couldn’t repeat it.
“I don’t think you want to hear it,” Queta said with a smile on his face. “I just embrace it.”
