{"id":519146,"date":"2026-03-12T13:19:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T13:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/519146\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T13:19:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T13:19:07","slug":"mock-draft-sees-celtics-land-611-duke-center-to-bolster-front-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/519146\/","title":{"rendered":"Mock Draft Sees Celtics Land 6’11’ Duke Center To Bolster Front Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mock Draft Sees Celtics Land 6’11’ Duke Center To Bolster Front Court<\/a> originally appeared on NESN<\/a>. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Heading into the 2025-26 NBA season, many viewed the center position as the Boston Celtics<\/a>\u2019 biggest weakness. They had parted ways with Al Horford, Kristaps Porzingis and Luke Kornet via trade and free agency. Neemias Queta was thrust into the starting lineup, with Luka Garza serving as the second-string big man.<\/p>\n

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Despite those concerns, Queta has proven himself to be a starting-caliber center in the NBA, while Garza has also found a rhythm off the bench. Brad Stevens also acquired veteran big man Nikola Vucevic at the Feb. 5 trade deadline.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, there are still some long-term questions surrounding Boston\u2019s big man rotation. After all, Vucevic is 35 and on an expiring contract.<\/p>\n

According to an ESPN Mock Draft by Jeremy Woo<\/a>, the Celtics could look to add long-term depth at the big man position via the 2026 NBA Draft, with Patrick Ngongba II out of Duke as a potential candidate at 26th overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cScouts are divided on Ngongba: He has intrinsic strengths that make him well-suited as a modern center, as a plus passer and interior defender,\u201d Woo wrote. \u201cBut he’s also a below-average run-jump athlete who needs to get more out of his frame (6-11). His defensive instincts and feel for the game could give him utility, but some scouts feel he’s not ready for NBA physicality and would benefit from more time in college.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Boston has a solid track record of developing overlooked big men. Kornet, Queta and Garza have all benefited from the work the coaching staff put in behind the scenes. As such, Ngongba could be the next center project for the team.<\/p>\n

Of course, the Celtics may decide to retain Vucevic on a short-term team-friendly deal. If that proves to be the case, Stevens may look to add depth elsewhere in the roster during the draft, especially as Boston is already developing Amari Williams in the G League. The English-born rookie has impressed when given the opportunity and may give Stevens confidence in the future of Boston\u2019s center rotation.<\/p>\n

Maybe the Celtics would be better off finding a young guard instead.<\/p>\n

More Celtics:\u00a0Derrick White Praises Tough Celtics Teammate For Playing Through Injury<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mock Draft Sees Celtics Land 6’11’ Duke Center To Bolster Front Court originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[2241,5788,2242,39050,234530,39048,234531,6345,80987,58831,355,33195,34909,99],"class_list":["post-519146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-al-horford","tag-amari-williams","tag-boston-celtics","tag-brad-stevens","tag-center-position","tag-derrick-white","tag-jeremy-woo","tag-kristaps-porzingis","tag-luka-garza","tag-luke-kornet","tag-nba","tag-neemias-queta","tag-nikola-vucevic","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519146","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=519146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}