Neemias Queta lately completed a formidable EuroBasket outing main his Portugal squad to their first two wins ever on this worldwide match. He averaged 15.5 factors, 8 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per sport on capturing splits of 58/29/66, showcasing noticeable enchancment throughout a number of areas significantly on the offensive finish. Whereas the extent of competitors different all through these video games, he did face elite expertise, together with former Celtic Kristaps Porzingis (Latvia), All-Star Alperen Sengun (Turkey), and for my part, one of the best participant within the league Nikola Jokic (Serbia).
Queta’s efficiency in these video games has left many Celtics followers inspired and enthusiastic about his upcoming marketing campaign. So, in relation to the query of whether or not he is usually a starter, I feel the reply is fairly easy: sure.
After all, the competitors at that spot will play a serious position in Coach Joe Mazzulla’s determination, however Queta has clearly put in work this offseason and helped his case.
The actual query is: can he be efficient?
Let’s break down movie from final season and EuroBasket to spotlight Queta’s strengths and weaknesses, inspecting how he can affect the staff and what areas nonetheless want enchancment.
Queta’s most impactful ability final season was his screening.
In accordance with Bball Index, he ranked 14th within the NBA in display screen assists per 75 possessions (5.8), inserting him within the 99th percentile. He additionally completed seventh in general screening expertise (99th percentile) and landed within the ninety fifth percentile in roll-man affect.
Queta makes use of his physique exceptionally properly in screening conditions. At his greatest, he leverages his full body with a low, large base to protect on-ball defenders. Regardless of his lack of elite energy, there are many situations the place he utterly stonewalls defenders.
When he has sufficient time to set a correct display screen with out the defender already in movement, he opts to display screen utilizing his arms on the defender somewhat than positioning them close to his midsection. This helps him set up a wider, extra secure base. The Spain pick-and-roll, a staple within the Celtics playbook, is good for him, because the ball handler sometimes waits for Queta to set the display screen, rising the probability that the defender is stationary.
The following two clips spotlight Queta’s stonewalling means. You possibly can discover a distinction within the width of his base when he’s compelled to set the display screen faster as a result of tempo of the play. Regardless of the narrower stance, he nonetheless generates spectacular energy. The primary clip options the Celtics’ Angle Decide-and-Roll + Excessive Ball Display setup.
Queta positions himself within the mid-range, giving him the flexibleness to both set a display screen for Payton Pritchard or provoke an empty nook DHO with Jaylen Brown (which is what in the end unfolds). He utterly stonewalls Keyonte George, creating house and ending the play with a lob.
Subsequent, we see Queta set a sequence of three screens that result in a Derrick White floater. The primary permits Jayson Tatum to out minimize to the wing. The second is a flare display screen that opens a passing lane to White, and the third is an on-ball display screen that takes LaMelo Ball out of the play completely.
Queta demonstrates the identical bodily energy and consciousness off the ball.
Within the first clip, Queta makes use of his IQ to get a poster. He units the off ball for Jrue to chin minimize to the other dunker spot utterly getting Kyle Anderson caught forcing the change. As he goes to set the pin down for Pritchard, he notices a gap within the Warriors change pocket. He slips the display screen then proceeds to dunk on Kevon Looney.
Clip 2 sees him showcasing his IQ once more in semi-transition, setting a properly timed display screen that permits Sam Hauser to chop freely to the basket.
Queta has an actual alternative to thrive on this offense if he continues to set efficient screens and create house for his teammates. What’s particularly promising is that he nonetheless has room to develop, significantly in refining the angles of his screens. If he could make related strides in that space like Luke Kornet did, he has the potential to develop into an much more impactful screener.
Queta is a properly above common offensive rebounder. Final season, regardless of taking part in just below 14 minutes per sport, he averaged 1.4 offensive rebounds. This interprets to three.7 offensive rebounds per 36 minutes and 4.0 per 75 possessions.
The earlier 12 months, his efficiency on this space was much more spectacular, albeit over a smaller pattern measurement (34 fewer video games). In 12 minutes per sport, he averaged 1.9 offensive rebounds — a fee that scaled to five.95 per 75 possessions, inserting him within the 98th percentile.
In EuroBasket, Queta averaged 2.3 offensive rebounds per sport in 24 minutes of play. Based mostly on that efficiency and his final two NBA seasons, projecting round 1.7 offensive rebounds per sport for the upcoming season looks as if an affordable and practical expectation.
When a shot goes up Queta constantly makes use of his good brief space quickness for a 7-footer to swim transfer and get round opponents. As soon as he will get correct positioning, he makes use of his motor, size, and athleticism to retrieve the basketball or a minimum of get his arms on it for tip outs.
One space the place Queta can enhance is in his decision-making after securing an offensive rebound. Whereas he ranked within the top-30 in putback makes an attempt per 75 possessions (ninety fifth percentile), there’s a case to be made that decreasing this quantity could possibly be extra helpful to the staff. Quite than instantly trying a putback, figuring out alternatives to reset the offense or discover higher-quality pictures may result in extra environment friendly general possessions.
He for positive has moments the place he’s in a position to gracefully lay the ball up after hovering for a rebound or throw down a thunderous putback like he does vs. the Raptors beneath.
However as a rule — a minimum of final season — we noticed Queta miss two or three straightforward ones on the rim, flip the ball over on makes an attempt, and miss open teammates on his mission to return up.
Regardless of rating close to the highest of the league in putback makes an attempt per 75 possessions, Queta’s effectivity in these conditions was among the many worst within the NBA. He ranked in simply the 4th percentile in putback scoring affect per 75 possessions.
Whereas these numbers are actually regarding, there’s motive for optimism. If the teaching employees makes this some extent of emphasis, there’s a practical pathway for Queta to enhance on this space. We’ve seen flashes of him making the correct selections after offensive boards. It’s now a matter of consistency, self-discipline, and growth.
Talking of passing, I’m truly fairly excited to see what he does on this division. He positively flashed the flexibility to cross in final 12 months’s common season, however a few of the passes he made in EuroBasket had been actually eye opening.
The capability to make swift and correct selections is crucial for any staff, however I consider the brief roll is the place he has the potential to really thrive in Boston.
This may be much more pronounced if he had been beginning alongside Jayson Tatum, however with Brown, White, Payton Pritchard, and Anfernee Simons all being succesful pick-and-roll ball handlers, groups could select to blitz them forcing the ball into Queta’s arms as an alternative.
These performs gave me somewhat bit extra confidence that he might be stable provided that scenario.
Whereas Queta is a good defensive rebounder, it’s crucial that he elevates on this space given his projected position because the beginning middle.
He raked in 2.4 defensive rebounds a sport final 12 months which solely ranked within the fiftieth percentile however he does get grace when scaled to 75 possessions then rating within the eightieth percentile with 6.5 boards. Queta can enhance in all of the issues that make a superb rebounder like energy and timing, however one factor he MUST cease doing is face guard field outs.
It’s tremendous to find the place the opponent is when the shot goes up then put a physique on him, however Queta generally simply by no means turns again round. This method all however ensures the opposing staff an additional possession, as he loses sight of the ball and does little to really displace his man from their spot.
Queta possesses the dimensions, size, motor, and athleticism to be considerably more practical on the defensive glass. Whereas I don’t count on him to be flawless or emerge as one of many league’s elite rebounders, I do anticipate significant enchancment on this space.
For me, essentially the most crucial facet of Queta’s analysis is how he’ll carry out defensively, particularly with an elevated workload on that finish of the ground this season.
It can’t be overstated simply how a lot protection the Celtics misplaced in a single offseason. Jrue Vacation, Kristaps Porzingis, Luke Kornet, and Al Horford are all above common defenders who will probably be on completely different groups this upcoming season. Now fortunately, Jayson Tatum isn’t going to be on a brand new staff once you tip off in October, however he’s nonetheless one other nice defender the Celtics received’t have. I’m very intrigued to see how Joe Mazzulla adjusts the staff’s defensive scheme in response to such important losses, however I’ll dive deeper into that later.
Final 12 months Queta graded out fairly solidly as a defender particularly within the paint.
As you may see, Queta ranks within the 76th percentile for rim safety and the eighty fifth percentile for rim disruption, each stable to sturdy indicators of his affect across the basket. All through final season and through EuroBasket, he demonstrated the flexibility to guard the rim successfully utilizing verticality, which is vital given his tendency to foul. He averaged 4.7 fouls per 75 possessions final 12 months.
Nonetheless, I did see enhancements in that in EuroBasket. Whereas there’s actually a spot in general expertise in comparison with the NBA, I don’t suppose Queta’s means to remain on the ground in these video games has been given sufficient consideration, contemplating the foul-out restrict is 5, not six. However in all three clips beneath, Queta does an outstanding job maximizing his size on the rim and doing his greatest Roy Hibbert impression.
Whereas he’s stable in different defensive areas, his affect is way extra pronounced as a shot blocker than as a conventional rim protector.
On the coronary heart of his shot-blocking prowess is a relentless motor and nonstop exercise. That is illustrated by him averaging 9.3 rim contests per 75 possessions inserting him within the 96th percentile. When watching video games essentially the most thrilling approach he exhibits that is by means of chase down blocks. He hardly ever provides up on a play and when he smells a chance to trace an attacker down, he strains them up.
Within the half court docket, nevertheless, Queta’s defensive exercise was most impactful in a help-side position. He averaged 0.7 blocks per sport which scales to 1.9 per 75 possessions with over a 3rd of these displaying him coming from seemingly out of nowhere, displaying his spectacular timing and instincts. Whereas his timing as a shot blocker has steadily improved, what really stands out on movie is how rapidly he reacts as soon as he identifies a driver. His means to blow up towards the ball and alter pictures in rotation provides actual worth to the staff’s inside protection.
The primary clip of the video beneath illustrates that completely as he comes over to dam one of many quickest gamers within the league, Dennis Schroder.
One other facet of Queta’s sport that continues to face out is his means to defend each the ball handler and the screener in pick-and-roll conditions. As detailed within the clip beneath, his mixture of size, fast ft, and energetic arms permits him to disrupt possessions when he’s engaged and positioned accurately. Final season, he ranked within the seventieth percentile in Decide-and-Roll Protection Versatility, a promising indicator of his potential in trendy defensive schemes.
I’d like to see extra progress in his defensive consciousness and positioning in fact, however the massive factor for this upcoming season is having to doubtlessly guard star facilities/bigs way more.
As I acknowledged earlier, the Celtics misplaced so many nice defenders this offseason. Not solely had been they nice defenders, however they had been versatile items that allowed Queta to protect wing gamers as an alternative of huge bruising 5s. In accordance with Crafted NBA, Queta guarded facilities 33.2% of his possessions final season which was the sixth lowest of all facilities within the league that performed over 500 minutes. And if I used to be to filter that share to simply All-Star or above stage bigs, it could be a lot much less. Bball-index additionally has his defensive place estimate as 3.5 which is a SF-PF tweener.
The screenshot beneath is an ideal instance of what the Celtics opted to do once they confronted star bigs with Queta taking part in. Vacation is the first defender on Alperen Sengun whereas Queta lurks on the perimeter ready to come back down and supply assist.
Conversely, we noticed a special story throughout EuroBasket, the place Portugal lacked higher choices and leaned closely on Queta to deal with opposing bigs. As seen within the two clips beneath, Sengun is ready to use his energy to mainly put Queta underneath the basket.
The a lot wanted enchancment right here is energy and put up protection. He ranked within the 51st percentile in put up protection; the silver lining is that the league doesn’t function a excessive quantity of bodily dominant scoring bigs, however it’s value noting that the Celtics largely stored Queta away from these matchups when attainable.
In opposition to elite bigs final season, Queta was hardly ever tasked with main defensive obligations. In a matchup in opposition to Nikola Jokic in Boston, he wasn’t the first defender on a single shot try throughout his 11 minutes on the ground. Throughout all the season, he contested simply two complete pictures in opposition to Karl-Anthony Cities and Anthony Davis and just one in opposition to Alperen Sengun. The star massive he matched up with most continuously was Giannis Antetokounmpo, all of which got here in a single sport the place Queta logged 20 minutes and defended 5 of Giannis’s shot makes an attempt.
Jaylen Brown has the energy and physicality to soak up a few of these more durable entrance court docket matchups in spots however asking him to try this constantly particularly whereas navigating his first full season because the staff’s main offensive choice can be a major burden. Counting on him in that position night time after night time most likely received’t be sustainable, which solely will increase the significance of Queta’s development as a reliable inside defender.
Final however not least is an space the place Queta has only in the near past garnered extra some consideration.
Queta has in fact constantly offered vertical spacing all through his NBA profession. It is a precious trait that may assist generate straightforward offense, particularly in lineups with out Jayson Tatum. Whether or not it’s working out of Spain pick-and-roll actions, rolling onerous to the rim, or just occupying the dunker spot, Queta provides ball handlers a dependable lob goal. His means to complete above the rim provides a layer of strain on opposing defenses and creates scoring alternatives.
However in EuroBasket Queta confirmed part of his sport that we haven’t seen a lot of.
I don’t count on Queta to start out draining threes within the common season, however I do consider the brief mid-range/ floater space shot is one thing he has the contact for.
His jumper doesn’t look dangerous, and he appears comfy capturing it like he’s been engaged on all of it summer season. Serving as the highest offensive choice for Portugal gave him a uncommon likelihood to showcase the total vary of his offensive ability set and whereas he received’t get performs ran for him to put up up with the Celtics, it was actually enjoyable to see him carry his nation with improved ability.
All in all, Queta is way from a completed product, and his upcoming marketing campaign will include its share of highs and lows, however there isn’t any denying the quantity of labor it appears like he put in to be prepared for this chance. Having the prospect to play by means of errors way more than earlier seasons ought to profit him.
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