Joe Mazzulla on Neemias Queta: ‘he doesn’t know how good he can be’

Neemias Queta is nicely on his means of changing into one other one of many Celtics developmental success tales. On Monday night time, the 25-year-old received his first begin of the season in opposition to the Hawks and after a rocky begin, he course-corrected within the second half and confirmed why Boston invested in him this summer time.

In a 30-point blowout, Queta completed with 10 factors, seven rebounds, and a block and was a +31 on the night time. It was a continuation of what’s been a constructive stretch on this four-game highway journey. He’d had three consecutive video games with 10+ minutes in taking part in time earlier than the beginning in opposition to the Hawks, together with logging a +18 in a livid comeback in Indiana because the closing large.

“I believe he’s somewhat extra snug. He is aware of the place he’s purported to be at,” Derrick White stated pre-game. “He appears to be in the fitting place on the proper time — clearly, offensive rebounds and him as an athlete. He’s somewhat completely different from the opposite bigs we’ve. It’s a pleasant change of tempo.”

As a starter, he was a pure match subsequent to Al Horford in a two-big alignment with Horford spacing the ground and defending the paint and Queta flying round as a rim runner and assist defender.

Lots of his factors both got here off the offensive glass, operating the ground in transition, or instinctively being in the fitting place on the proper time.

The place there’s loads to be desired is on the defensive finish. Perhaps as a result of it’s the beginning of first full 12 months within the NBA, possibly it’s as a result of he depends too closely on his athleticism, Queta is commonly a step late and a shift of the hips off. After two blown ISO’s in opposition to Jalen Johnson within the first quarter, Queta was benched. After that first stint with combined outcomes, Jrue Vacation and Jayson Tatum dapped him up and Joe Mazzulla pulled him apart.

“He’s simply grown loads as a participant, and fairly truthfully, he doesn’t understand how good he could be,” head coach Joe Mazzulla stated after the sport. “He’s received an ideal ceiling, so the usual could be very excessive. I believed he did some nice issues for us tonight. While you’re nearly as good as he could be, all of us gotta maintain him to that normal each single night time.”

White was somewhat extra direct.

“I believe Neemy is our most athletic large. I don’t assume that’s controversial — sorry, Luke. He’s just a bit bit extra athletic and he’s shifting nicely on the market.”

After Johnson cooked him for eight factors within the first quarter, he shot simply 1-for-6 within the third with Queta as his major defender. Right here’s Queta sticking to Trae Younger step-for-step:

We speak on a regular basis in our CelticsBlog Slack about Queta’s similarities to Robert Williams III. The wingspan and the hops are undeniably Timelord, however so are the early defensive struggles. Too usually in Williams’ early years was he prone to pump fakes and fast first steps. Fortunately, he’s received a depth of information to dig in to within the locker room. Al Horford, Luke Kornet, and Xavier Tillman are all plus-positional defenders.

Extra so, the group is behind him. After signing a three-year deal this summer time, thus begins Queta’s studying curve. Mazzulla stated that he’s selecting issues up pretty shortly and that he likes utilizing Queta’s versatility as a result of he supplies one other component as a switchable defender.

“He works actually laborious. He cares. He needs to be coached, and I’m grateful he permits me to educate him,” Mazzulla stated. “He’s beginning to notice how good he actually could be.”