{"id":41113,"date":"2025-07-27T22:23:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T22:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/41113\/"},"modified":"2025-07-27T22:23:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T22:23:07","slug":"celtics-writer-names-frontrunner-for-starting-center-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/41113\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtics Writer Names &#8216;Frontrunner&#8217; For Starting Center Job"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Who will be the starting center for the 2025-26 Boston Celtics?<\/p>\n<p>Center is the position with the most question marks for Boston. The Celtics <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/news\/hawks-acquire-kristaps-porzingis-3-team-trade\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">traded Kristaps Porzingis<\/a> to the Atlanta Hawks on July 7, Luke Kornet signed with the San Antonio Spurs, and Al Horford is <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/2025\/07\/brad-stevens-calls-al-horford-all-time-celtics-player-talks-likelihood-of-return\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">expected to sign elsewhere<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Boston\u2019s president of basketball operations Brad Stevens acquired two new centers, but MassLive\u2019s Brian Robb believes experience will win out when it comes to who wins the starting role.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNeemias Queta feels like the frontrunner at center given the continuity and the fact someone needs to rebound on this team,\u201d <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.masslive.com\/celtics\/2025\/07\/celtics-mailbag-whats-next-for-boston-after-releasing-point-guard.html\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Robb wrote on Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Queta, a 7-foot, 250-pound native of Portugal, has improved steadily since being drafted at No. 39 overall by the Sacramento Kings in 2021, and he\u2019s still only 26.<\/p>\n<p class=\"nesn-in-content-ad__copy\">Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The first Portuguese player to appear in an NBA game, Queta joined the Celtics on a two-way contract in 2023 and signed a standard multi-year deal in 2024. In 2024-25, Queta appeared in a career-high 62 games, including six starts. He averaged 12.9 points and 9.8 rebounds per 36 minutes, shooting an efficient 65 percent from the field.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Notable performances included a 19-point, nine-rebound, six-block game against the Washington Wizards, as well as double-doubles against the Golden State Warriors and the LA Clippers.<\/p>\n<p>Queta\u2019s main competition for the starting spot will be Luka Garza, Xavier Tillman, and rookie Amari Williams. Garza, a 6-foot-10 former Iowa standout, averaged 5.6 minutes in 39 games last season for the Minnesota Timberwolves with strong per-possession scoring and rebounding metrics. Tillman, primarily a power forward at 6-foot-7, offers defensive versatility but struggles with rebounding and rim protection, diminishing his case for the starting center role. Williams, the No. 46 pick in the 2025 NBA draft, is a raw prospect who may spend the earliest phase of his career refining his game in the G League (much like Queta did).<\/p>\n<p>Robb believes that Queta\u2019s continuity with the Celtics and his rebounding ability make him the frontrunner, and it\u2019s difficult to disagree with that assessment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"nesn-in-content-ad__copy\">Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Who will be the starting center for the 2025-26 Boston Celtics? Center is the position with the most&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,33195,99],"class_list":["post-41113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-neemias-queta","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}