Brad Stevens didn’t sugarcoat it.
Requested final week how the Celtics’ frontcourt will handle with out its prime three huge males, Boston’s president of basketball operations bluntly replied: “We’re going to seek out out, proper?”
In an offseason of change for the Celtics, who dismantled a good portion their championship-winning roster to keep away from the wrath of the NBA’s second apron, no place group has been hit more durable than middle.
Kristaps Porzingis was traded to Atlanta in a wage dump. Luke Kornet parlayed his profession yr on a veteran minimal contract right into a four-year, $41 million payday from San Antonio. Al Horford has but to formally be a part of a brand new workforce, however Stevens — who mentioned on draft night time that the Celtics hoped to re-sign each Kornet and Horford — admitted the 39-year-old locker room chief was “unlikely” to stick around.
Porzingis, Horford and Kornet occupied the highest three spots on Boston’s depth chart and have been the one Celtics bigs who noticed significant postseason minutes. With all three now (seemingly) gone, the C’s are left with a group of bigs that is perhaps the least spectacular within the NBA: Neemias Queta, newcomer Luka Garza, Xavier Tillman and second-round draft decide Amari Williams.
The 26-year-old Queta has began six video games in his NBA profession. Garza, additionally 26, has began 5. Tillman occupied one of many final spots on the Celtics’ bench final season and, at 6-foot-7, is ill-suited for a full-time middle function. Williams is, once more, a second-round decide who’s extra more likely to contribute for Maine than Boston as a rookie.
Stevens mentioned the Celtics plan to strategy the middle place “by committee” this season.
“That group won’t be the group that individuals will single out primarily based on paper, on what they’ve executed with their careers to this point, as our strongest place,” he advised reporters. “However it’s as much as them to show it in any other case.”
Queta and Garza challenge as the highest two beginning candidate, and Stevens believes there’s untapped potential in each gamers. Queta noticed motion in a career-high 62 video games in 2024-25 — his first season that didn’t characteristic any G League stints — and was forward of Kornet on the depth chart for a stretch early within the season earlier than falling out of head coach Joe Mazzulla’s rotation.
Consistency was a problem for the 7-footer, and he isn’t a taking pictures risk. However at his finest, he offered a robust mixture of shot-blocking, offensive rebounding and at-the-rim ending
“I believe we had an unimaginable luxurious with Luke and Neemi as our third and fourth facilities, as a result of I believe they have been each significantly better than that,” Stevens advised reporters. “I believe Luke may have an incredible impression in San Antonio, and I believe Neemi has an important likelihood to be impactful right here.”
Garza additionally has spent his profession caught behind gifted bigs. Throughout his three years in Minnesota, he backed up the likes of Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Cities, Julius Randle and Naz Reid.
A former Wood Award-winning standout at Iowa, the 6-foot-10 Garza appeared in simply 39 video games final season – a profession excessive for him – and averaged 5.6 minutes per look and, like Queta, was not a part of his workforce’s playoff rotation. He posted some impressive offensive metrics in his restricted motion, nevertheless. Per Cleansing the Glass, his minutes noticed the most important will increase in factors per possession and offensive rebounding proportion of any Timberwolves participant, and each of these marks ranked within the 88th percentile or higher amongst huge males.
Garza additionally presents extra floor-stretching capability than the paint-bound Queta. He’s tried 5.8 3-pointers per 36 minutes in his profession, these he’s made simply 31.4% of these.
“We’ve all the time preferred Luka Garza from afar,” Stevens advised reporters, “and we expect that he has the true physicality that’s essential on each ends of the ground, particularly on the glass along with his capability to attain.”
Garza mentioned Boston’s lack of star energy at his place influenced his resolution to signal with the Celtics. He got here aboard on a two-year, $5.5 million contract earlier this month.
“Clearly, there’s plenty of alternative, particularly within the frontcourt with the fellows that now we have,” he told reporters in Las Vegas on Sunday. “The entrance workplace and the coaches consider in me and what I can do, so I simply noticed that as actually good for me at this stage of my profession. … I really feel like I’ve discovered a lot from my time in Minnesota, from being round these guys, however I believe it was time to seek out that chance to get on the ground. I felt like within the restricted alternatives I used to be capable of get, I used to be capable of present nicely and maximize, these, however for me, it was a precedence for me to get to someplace the place I might get extra of these alternatives.”
Williams, whom Boston drafted forty sixth total out of Kentucky final month, stands 7 ft with a 7-foot-6 wingspan and is thought to be an advanced passer for his measurement. He’s proven off a few of that capability with the Celtics’ Summer season League workforce however has had a quiet event statistically, averaging 5.5 factors, 3.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists over his two appearances.
The extra impactful Summer season League huge man has been Charles Bassey, who joined the workforce days earlier than its first sport and proceeded to ship back-to-back spectacular performances. Bassey, a 24-year-old who spent the final three seasons with San Antonio, notched double-doubles in every of his first two appearances with the Summer season C’s, tallying 14 factors, 11 rebounds and two blocks in opposition to Memphis and 22-13-3 in opposition to New York. The Celtics outscored opponents by 35 factors with him on the ground over the 2 video games.
Bassey regressed in his third outing (10 factors, 9 rebounds, minus-15 in a loss to Miami on Monday), and it’s unclear how he’ll fare in opposition to extra professional competitors if he earns an invitation to coaching camp. However including one other contender on this wide-open roster battle couldn’t harm.
