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Neemias Queta stood alongside his longtime friend Rafael Lisboa last month in Portugal. Lisboa was visiting Queta’s youth camp to support his friend, share knowledge with the campers and continue conversations leading up to this month’s EuroBasket tournament. Despite Queta undergoing clean-up knee surgery in May and Lisboa returning from a meniscus tear, they prepared to lead Portugal into only its third-ever EuroBasket and first since 2011.
“It’s a really big competition for us. It’s the first time that this generation and the first time in life in … years,” Lisboa told CLNS Media/CelticsBlog. “I don’t know that Portugal plays in the main competition of the EuroBasket. It was a dream before, right now, it was something that we worked for … we know that we go there as underdogs, but our belief as a group is to try to pass the first phase and advance to the second round, so I think we have a team for that and we go there to try to fight for our country.”
On Wednesday, Lisboa and Queta led Portugal to its first victory in the tournament in 18 years, 62-50, over the Czech Republic. Lisboa scored 15 points while Queta’s dominant 23 points, 18 rebounds, two steals and four blocks prompted dreams about the possibilities his improvement could bring to the Celtics’ front court after multiple offseason losses at center. Queta will likely take over as a starter for Boston this season, but first, he wants to showcase Portugal’s basketball growth on the international stage — inspired in part by his own development.
Roughly 80 young players with promise attended Queta’s camp each day over one week — scrimmaging, developing skills and meeting with the star, Portuguese and international coaches, Maine Celtics assistant Taaj Ridley and former NBA guard Toney Douglas, whose son participated in the camp. Douglas moved to Portugal after playing for several clubs in the country. Queta spent most of his days observing, coaching and celebrating big plays with the kids. He took a break at lunchtime for rehab, then after the gym cleared later, took the floor with Ridley to workout.
“It’s making sure I get in great shape, go out there and make elite decisions with the ball in my hands and making sure I get great finishes this year,” Queta explained in a sit-down with CLNS. “I also want to raise up my free throws, my free throw attempts, this year. Just wanna be aggressive and make sure I get my percentage up on the free throw line, too. I think I always work on the threes no matter what, you never know when you’ll need one of them and even if I’m not a great shooter off the three-point line, if I’m open and I gotta shoot it, I’ll shoot it confidently. You never know. I want to make them.”
Queta and Ridley tailored the workouts toward the role he’d play with the Portuguese national team, more facilitating and scoring with a focus on beating his matchup one-on-one. The Celtics will ask him to focus on the little things, screening, rolling and positioning himself defensively. Joe Mazzulla, noticeably tough on the center last season, told Queta to play freely this upcoming year.
He’ll drop more with Portugal and roam on the Celtics, most likely. His importance to the national team speaks for itself and could preview his now veteran role in Boston with rookie Amari Williams saying he wanted to learn from veterans like Queta in his first press conference. Queta appreciated that, since he didn’t even know whether he’d stay in the league for long several years ago.“It’s not really what we were really expecting,” Queta said. “But I feel like we’re in a position that I’m growing, I’m developing at a steady pace, with big responsibility becomes the man of … I need to show out every day with more consistency. I’ve been working at it, and I feel like I’m getting ready for it, so hopefully it’s gonna be a big year for me in general and I think I’m gonna step up for the occasion and all the other guys as well. We’re not really the group that everybody points out as the best, but we’re gonna prove them otherwise.”
Many wanted to see Queta get a chance late last season after a strong start earlier in the year. He understood the experience and talent in front of him — Kristaps Porziņģis, Al Horford and Luke Kornet all served as mentors and models for him, especially Kornet, his favorite teammate and biggest supporter even as they competed for reserve minutes early. Some of their skills overlapped like thie uncanny vision and enormous impact on the offensive boards.
The skills that led Kornet to signing a $40.7 million contract with the Spurs this summer — expert screening, excellent defensive positioning and even elite finishing at the rim — took years to develop. Queta has spent three honing his own, and they showed with Team Portugal. He hit a three in the opening minutes of Wednesday’s win, faked a dribble handoff before halftime to step into a pull-up elbow jumper and drained a turnaround jumper in an exhibition.
“A lot of the process of the workouts that we do, honestly, are things that we worked on in Boston with De’Sean Butler, who’s now his player development coach and Craig Luschenat, who’s the head of player development for the Celtics,” Ridley told CLNS/CelticsBlog. “A lot of the things (we) work on are workouts that we did in Boston together, but I just liked to put my own spin on it, but mainly just working on his touch around the rim, him just getting comfortable in screening without fouling, him getting a better understanding of screening without fouling, then also working on his jump shot, perfecting his follow-through. He wants to expand his game to be able to stretch the floor and make threes, and I feel like in the offseason is where you work on stuff like that. So we’re working on little tedious things that just enhance what he has already.”
While the Czech Republic only boasted one NBA player themselves, Hawks wing Vít Krejčí, the nation ranked 19th in FIBA as of March compared to Portugal in 56th-place. That win alone marked progress for Queta’s country, while the games that now follow this weekend provide a measuring-stick for himself. On Friday, he’ll face NBA MVP Nikola Jokić and the Serbian national team that almost beat Team USA last summer, then Alperen Şengün and Turkey loom on Sunday. A matchup against his former teammate Porziņģis and Latvia awaits on Monday.
The top-four teams emerge from group play into the second round, so Latvia’s loss to Turkey and Portugal’s win on Wednesday created an unlikely opportunity. Queta and Portugal’s run could continue, and aid the momentum already behind the sport in Portugal. They defeated Spain for the first time ever earlier this month, Queta’s friend and business partner Andre Costa noticed more people playing in the streets, and his company Hoopers has hosted summer recreational leagues that aren’t typical for the country.
Many professionals leave the country, some have day jobs and basketball isn’t generally viewed as a business yet. Queta emerged from his youth club Barreirense near his hometown, made the leap to Benfica in Lisbon and earned a last-minute scholarship at Utah State that vaulted him to the NBA. Now, he embraces the weight he carries for Portugal, even if his low-key demeanor doesn’t befit the celebrity his championship with Boston drew his way.
“This is the fourth time in the history of FIBA that Portugal goes to that stage,” long-time Portuguese coach Carlos Barroca said as he ran Queta’s camp. “Of course, there’s a lot of excitement because Neemias is playing. We all know that the rules of the NBA are some restrictions on that, also some restrictions for the other teams, so of course we have a lucky card of having him being there representing Portugal, but we know that we also play with other teams that they have not one Neemias, they have a bunch of Neemias, so it’s gonna be tough for Portugal, but I think the pride of the country is really behind him, it’s very supportive and I think he’s gonna have a lot of fun, he’s gonna represent, which is the most important thing and we have at least hope that Portugal gets some wins.”
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