Celtics breakout starter snubbed as finalist for NBA award
· Yahoo Sports
Neemias Queta openly wanted to be in consideration for the NBA’s Most Improved Player award. It was one of his goals entering the season as he was set to be the Celtics’ starting center.
But after a breakout season, Queta was not named a top-3 finalist for the award. The NBA revealed its top-3 vote getters Sunday: the Blazers’ Deni Avdija, the Pistons’ Jalen Duren and the Hawks’ Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
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“I feel like I made a good case for it,” Queta said earlier this month. “But like we said, that’s stuff that we can’t control. At the end of the day, I’m just just helping the team win, and that’s my main goal. Obviously, that’s secondary, the most improved. But I’m just glad I’m helping my teammates getting to the spot we’re at right now. And whether I win it or don’t win it, it’s not gonna change my perspective and the approach I take every night.”
Queta averaged career-highs across the board, averaging 10.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 76 games (75 starts) for the Celtics this season. It wasn’t just that he was breaking out for the Celtics, it was how consistent he was on a nightly basis. Queta was a huge reason why the C’s went 56-26 to grab the No. 2 seed in the East.
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But Queta didn’t garner that much buzz nationally when it came to the award. His impact defensively is a huge piece of the puzzle, and that doesn’t generate much award discussions compared to other guys. It’s still clear how impressive Queta’s leap was this season, though, as he’s the Celtics’ starting center going forward.
The other finalists also have strong cases for the award, as well. Avdija was an All-Star this season and upped his scoring to 24.2 points per game. Duren is a similar story, being named to his first All-Star team to help lead the No. 1-seeded Pistons. Alexander-Walker also more than doubled his scoring output compared to last season in his first season with the Hawks.
Still, Queta had a great case himself. While he wasn’t named an All-Star like a couple of the other guys, his leap from fourth big man in Boston’s rotation to legit starter was an important storyline. The Celtics lost their top-3 centers from last year only to have Queta develop his way into a nightly contributor.
“Neemi’s been great,” Jaylen Brown said of Queta. “He’s been just consistently getting better, protecting the rim, finishing, making those little shots, rebounding. He’s been great. In my opinion, he’s probably one of the Most Improved Players this year, and I don’t know if he’s up for the award, but he should be.”
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