Is this team good enough?

[slamtheking]

Clayton doesn't move the needle much, but the trade is reasonable value.

really?  how so?  rephrase the deal -- say we were offering Simons and a Pick for essentially Queta but paid about 25 mill more a year.  I can't see you saying that was a reasonable value.  Before you go saying that Claxton is better than Q, I'll give you that he is, but not that much better and certainly not 25 million a year better.

Claxton is better than Queta by a fairly significant margin at this point in their careers.  Queta is improving and could one day be as good as Claxton but he isn't there yet.

from what Claxton produced on the court last year and so far this year, he's not significantly better.  At this point, they're both high quality back up centers but not good starting quality.  I don't see Claxton having the room to develop into one whereas Q still could -- particularly at the rate he's improving.  No matter how you rate them, there's no way Claxton is worth that salary in light of what Q is making.

[slamtheking]

Clayton doesn't move the needle much, but the trade is reasonable value.

really?  how so?  rephrase the deal -- say we were offering Simons and a Pick for essentially Queta but paid about 25 mill more a year.  I can't see you saying that was a reasonable value.  Before you go saying that Claxton is better than Q, I'll give you that he is, but not that much better and certainly not 25 million a year better.

Claxton is better than Queta by a fairly significant margin at this point in their careers.  Queta is improving and could one day be as good as Claxton but he isn't there yet.

from what Claxton produced on the court last year and so far this year, he's not significantly better.  At this point, they're both high quality back up centers but not good starting quality.  I don't see Claxton having the room to develop into one whereas Q still could -- particularly at the rate he's improving.  No matter how you rate them, there's no way Claxton is worth that salary in light of what Q is making.

[Who]

Who cares how much money Queta makes?

He signed a contract when he was a borderline NBA player. He has grown into a borderline starting caliber player. He would get a full MLE contract if he entered FA right now. If he maintains this production until the end of the season and entered the FA market in the summer of 2026, he would get $20 million or more.

Nic Claxton is fairly paid at $25 million. He is better than Queta because of his defensive quickness. He can defend the perimeter better than Queta and make quicker rotations. Offensively, they are similar. Rebounding wise Queta is better. Having the two of them together would give the Celtics 48 minutes of quality center play. That is enough to put them back in the title hunt.

[Celtics4ever]

I am fine with Queta being our center.   I think we need to access the need after Tatum returns and my reason, is this did Tatum lose lateral speed and ability to cover wings.   If so going forward he is a Power forward/stretch four.   Brown is our SG.   If we make a move I would like to see it for a SF/PF combo guy to cover the bases with Tatum's return.   Or you could go SG and move Brown to SF.

Claxton is better than Queta by a fairly significant margin at this point in their careers.  Queta is improving and could one day be as good as Claxton but he isn't there yet. 

Queta is a better value than Claxton in terms of cost for value.  I do not think it is as significant as you present.

Some game stats

https://www.landofbasketball.com/box_scores/2025/1121BKNBOS.htm

https://www.landofbasketball.com/box_scores/2025/1118BOSBKN.htm

Tied  for blocks 25 each

https://www.landofbasketball.com/year_by_year_stats/2025_2026_leaders_blocks_tot_rs.htm

Queta is 23rd is rebounds per game at  8.5 to 7.5 for Claxton
Claxton scores 13.5 Points per game to Neemi  9.8 PPG

https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/4278067/nic-claxton

https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/4397424/neemias-queta

Defensive Rating

Neemias Queta has a defensive rating of 111.4 this season.   https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/neemias-queta-defensive-rating-this-year
Nic Claxton has a defensive rating of 120.1 this season.  https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/nic-claxton-defensive-rating

NET rating ( These rankings are updated daily and represent the Net Points metric, which gives offensive and defensive credit to players corresponding to points added to the team point differential.)

Neemi is a 29th in the league   and Claxton is 423th, now I realize this is an analytic made up stat.

https://espnanalytics.com/nba-net-pts

Claxton has better defensive range and mobility and can switch better than Neemi.  Neemi is bigger and can body people better.  Both are 26 years old. 

Claxton is a better passer and ball mover  4 APG vs. 1.6 APG

FG 54.9 for Claxton and 64.5 for Neemias

But I am fine with Neemias.

[Phantom255x]

I would absolutely be fine dangling Simons + a future first round pick + 1-2 second rounders for any of Claxton, Zubac or Vucevic.

Yeah, neither of them are superstar bigs but that's fine. Realistically, I don't think you're going to get much better than these guys over the next year in trades or FA, and that's okay. We don't need a superstar, just a very solid to above average starting center who can be productive and gives the team more size. Queta would be an awesome 6th or 7th man as he continues to improve.

Then you can definitely contend with PP, White, Jaylen, Tatum, the center you acquire, and a very solid bench of Queta, Hauser, Walsh, Hugo, and maybe 1-2 of Minott/Baylor/Amari in the mix. 

I fully understand the arguments that we may not technically need another center, but if you literally have an injury to someone like Queta then you're frontcourt is already kind of cooked. We had Horford for a handful of years as a very nice backup to Porzingis and even Timelord (or Horford starting, Timelord backup) while Kornet was a solid 3rd big. Garza is okay as a 4th big, not much more than that. They absolutely still need a starting center (or very good backup) even after Tatum comes back for beyond 2026.

[Celtics4ever]

We had Horford for a handful of years as a very nice backup to Porzingis

  I think Zinger played a lot more 4, but would agree if you substitute Kornett for Horford.   My argument is we have a starting caliber center who can play D in Neemias Queta.   I did not think that at the beginning of the year but I am taking note of it, now. 

We will still have a draft pick, too, albeit getting worse with every win.

I think I made a decent argument that Neemias is close to  Claxton, better is some ways worst in others.  Claxton costs $23,147,727 and Neemias costs $2,349,578.  This makes me think Neemias is underpaid and Claxton is over paid.

[SparzWizard]

I think when Tatum comes back he's gonna be starting at PF while Queta or the new big starts at C.

Still need a serviceable Jrue Holiday replacement.

[mobilija]

Just adding a healthy Tatum and a decent back up center we would be a top seed in the East. A shot at going to the Finals.

Queta is proving to be a starting center in this league. It took 2yrs of development. The focus should be on acquiring another low cost to maybe MLE level center.

Plus, Simons continues to get better at his role. If his trade value is as low as some suggest then maybe it?s best to let him test free agency with the hopes of bringing him back at 66% of his current salary.

Next year keep our defensive stopper Walsh in the starting line up (I expect his offensive game to improve throughout the year) and we have a balanced 10 man rotation.

White/Pritchard
Brown/Simmons
Walsh/Hauser
Tatum/Minot
Queta/TBD center

That?s got good star power, great shooting and defense.