{"id":684931,"date":"2026-03-28T22:43:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T22:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/684931\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T22:43:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T22:43:14","slug":"proposed-celtics-sleeper-draft-pick-sees-boston-acquire-611-10-2-ppg-shot-blocking-big-man-could-be-neemias-queta-2-0-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/684931\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed Celtics sleeper draft pick sees Boston acquire 6’11” 10.2 PPG shot-blocking big man, could be Neemias Queta 2.0"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Boston Celtics<\/a> have pretty much found their center of the future in Neemias Queta if they want him. He was a project, but by developing him, he\u2019s become a double-double and shot-blocking machine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, with Nikola Vuvecic getting up there in age and his contract running out after this season, they\u2019ll need a new guy to back Queta up. FanSided\u2019s Eamon Cassels<\/a> proposes that the Celtics keep an eye on Duke Blue Devils sophomore center Patrick Ngongba II, who has the profile of being a good, modern center.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Proposed three-team blockbuster Pistons trade sees Detroit land $179 million 24.2 PPG NBA champion, would lift scoring burden off Cade Cunningham’s shoulders<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI’m not sure what I’m missing with Patrick Ngongba. Defensively, he is highly versatile, while being able to protect the rim at a high rate. Impressively, per CBB Analytics, he ranks in the 99th percentile for Defensive RAPM. Offensively, he is an efficient lob threat with solid polish as both a scorer and passer. Simply put, he’s everything you’d want from a modern big man. Nevertheless, in most mock drafts, he’s projected to be a mid-to-late first-round pick\u2026In any event, the Celtics’ biggest need is arguably big man depth. Neemias Queta has emerged as a starting-level center, but it’s unclear if Nikola Vu\u010devi\u0107 has a future in Beantown. And frankly, I can’t think of a better prospect to fill this void than Ngongba,\u201d Cassels wrote.<\/p>\n

This season for Duke, Ngongba averaged 10.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, two assists, and 1.1 blocks in 21.9 minutes per game. This was a huge step up<\/a> from his freshman year, as he basically over-doubled his stats after seeing an increase of 10 minutes in playing time.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Wizards predicted to draft 6’9″ 22.4 PPG ACC POTY, NCAA POTY candidate to create big man trio with Alex Sarr<\/a><\/p>\n

Ngongba is pretty much another Queta. A long, athletic, shot-blocking lob threat that can do a little playmaking on the side. If he has the time to develop behind Queta, he\u2019d be an immense threat on the court for the Celtics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hopefully, Ngongba falls to Boston, they make sure to snatch him up, and work their magic into making him another star in the NBA.<\/p>\n

MORE\u00a0NBA<\/a>\u00a0CONTENT<\/p>\n

Pacers predicted to draft 6’9″ 25.5 PPG March Madness hero, NCAA POTY candidate to pair with Tyrese Haliburton as franchise cornerstones<\/a><\/p>\n

Mavericks predicted to part ways with Kyrie Irving, trade him for $209 million star duo to fully build around Cooper Flagg<\/a><\/p>\n

Proposed blockbuster Cavaliers trade sees Cleveland deal massive Evan Mobley-based package for $175 million two-time MVP, NBA champion<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Boston Celtics have pretty much found their center of the future in Neemias Queta if they want…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,46,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-684931","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-bostonceltics","12":"tag-celtics","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116309223676372723","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}