What the Boston Celtics Can Expect From Centers Neemias Queta, Mitchell Robinson, Luka Garza, Amari Williams

This is the next installment in a series of pieces examining what the Boston Celtics can expect from each of their players this season. Today, it's Boston’s full center rotation of Mitchell Robinson, Neemias Queta, Luka Garza, and Amari Williams. Tomorrow, Sam Hauser

Others in the series: The Rookies, Mike Conley, Paul George, Jordan Walsh, Baylor Scheierman, Hugo Gonzalez, Ron Harper Jr., Payton Pritchard

I’ve spent nearly two weeks in this series treating guys as individuals take an early look at what the Celtics can expect from their roster this year, so why am I suddenly lumping four guys together to look at one position?

Mostly because of this:

Combined heat map of Mitchell Robinson, Neemias Queta, and Amari Williams | NBA

That's a heat map of where Mitchell Robinson, Neemias Queta, and Amari Williams all score from, superimposed on top of one another. It’s not to suggest they will all be the same player or have the same impact, but it does suggest that they are set up to run their offense more specifically through a type of player who will influence the game in similar ways.

If this is a jazz band, they are all upright bass players. They have varying skill and styles, but the upright bass player fills a specific role with less room to explore the studio space than others.

Of course, there is Luka Garza, who has strolled into the session with an electric bass.

I don’t want to be dismissive of Garza because he has worked really hard to earn minutes on this team. But he is who he is, and what we saw from him last year is what we’ll see from him this year.

That will be valuable on this team, because right now he’s the only stretch-big on the team, which means the Celtics either have to play him or go small when they need five shooters on the floor.

Also, we know Robinson will miss a fair amount of games, so Garza will get plenty of opportunity in those moments, but “what to expect from Luka Garza” is little more than a broad waving gesture at a monitor playing his 2025-26 season highlights.

He may refine things like his screening or defensive rebounding, maybe he’ll work on his reads and make a few extra passes, but Garza is going to do the two things he does best: crash the offensive glass and shoot three-pointers.

My only question is whether he regresses from the incredible 43.3% shooting this past season. He didn’t shoot nearly that well elsewhere but he never had the kind of opportunity he had in Boston. If he can keep hitting close to that clip, then he’ll be a nice change of pace when the Celtics need to spread the floor.

And the Celtics might need that sometimes, because Robinson and Queta will be occupying similar space on the floor. They're not the exact same player, though. Robinson is the more athletic finisher at the rim and stronger rebounder while Queta has developed into a nice passer who can play a more of an intermediate game.

Almost all of Robinson’s offense, 92% of it, comes within three feet of the rim. Queta is still rim-heavy at 55%, but 39% of his shots come between 3-10 feet.

“He has a good floater from, like, the 10-foot range,” Payton Pritchard said in January. “Especially if I drive lower, telling him to relocate to the top, kind of where the charge circle is, and being able to hit that.”

I like the Queta/Pritchard pairing. They developed a nice chemistry last season, and the added variety to Queta’s game will be important for the Celtics.

This is where we get into the tricky discussion of who starts games and how the rotation should go. It’s easy to say “Pritchard and Queta earned starting spots” and just pencil them in to start games. I, however, think they are better deployed in tandem off the bench.

I want to be clear about this, though. The argument I’m making here isn’t about who is better and who deserves the start more. I’m saying there are reasons to deploy these players at different times in the game that help the Celtics the most. If everyone is on board with doing what it takes to win, then this shouldn’t be an issue.

I think Mitchell Robinson should start at center for a couple of reasons. First, it eliminates the intentional fouling strategy since there won’t be enough team fouls to disrupt Boston’s offense by putting Robinson at the line. Maybe that won’t be a consistent regular season issue, but it can be if Boston is cooking on offense and a team wants to slow them down.

Secondly, I think the Robinson/Jayson Tatum pairing makes a little more sense because of how dangerous Robinson is at the rim. He can get to higher passes than Queta, which gives someone like Tatum an extra tick to decide if he wants to finish a drive or lob it. Tatum also takes tougher shots, so I like the second chances with Robinson on the floor.

Queta is a little more dynamic offensively. I think he can develop a little mid-range jumper that gives him an added element in short roll situations. Queta is decent in that free throw line area, so I like how he and Pritchard can work together there to maximize each other.

Last season the Celtics needed Queta to be the starter, and he did very well there. Again, none of this is a commentary on his ability. The Celtics can start him and be fine. I just think this combination is better. And because Queta has his new contract extension, asking him to come off the bench half the time isn’t a big deal. His future is secure, and he knows Robinson will miss time anyway, so there will be plenty of starts in Queta’s future regardless of the plan.

I am curious to see what Queta adds to his game this season. He’s a late bloomer, so while getting what we saw last year would be fine, it’s possible he’ll walk into camp with some new wrinkles to his game. And if he does, and those fit better with the starters, then I’ll be happy to say he should start. Boston will be solid at center no matter which way they go.

I do think we can rule Williams out of this mix because he’s still on a two-way contract and we still need to see proof that he can consistently play the aggressive style he needs in order to be a contributor. He’ll have flashes, and maybe he’ll step into a game where he has to play 30 minutes and he’ll play great. But until he rids himself of the tendency to slow down when he’s confused on the floor, he won’t get consistent minutes.

Williams' future will be interesting. He turns 25 in January, so I’m not sure how much longer he’ll get to figure things out. But as long as this center rotation is intact, he can continue to develop in the G League. He flashes some tantalizing passing and he’s athletic enough to be a lob-catcher and rim-protector. That probably won’t happen in Boston this season, though.

For now, it’ll be mostly Robinson and Queta, but with Garza filling in plenty as the C’s manage Robinson’s minutes to keep him as healthy as possible. This mix will give Boston strong center play this season, but it will be interesting to see how it’s deployed.

Add us as a preferred source on Google