The Celtics are betting that their pick-and-roll attack can get a lot cleaner this season, and that belief helps explain why Jaylen Brown is no longer in the picture.
Boston is coming into the year with a different look, and the appeal is obvious: 48 minutes of elite pick-and-roll center play from Neemias Queta and Mitchell Robinson. Queta’s breakout last season was already fun to watch, but the numbers behind his two-man work with Brown tell a harsher story.
Among the top 50 duos in total actions run in the 2025-26 regular season, Brown and Queta ranked sixth-worst in the NBA, producing just 0.96 points per direct action across 486 chances. Only five pairs were worse: Josh Giddey and Nikola Vucevic for the Bulls, Devin Booker and Mark Williams for the Suns, Reed Sheperd and Alperen Sengun for the Rockets, Cade Cunningham and Isaiah Stewart for the Pistons, and Jrue Holiday and Donovan Clingan for the Trail Blazers.
That is a lot of possessions going nowhere in an offense that needed better results.
The frustrating part for Boston is that Queta did his job. By most measures, he was a strong screener and one of the league’s most efficient finishers at the rim. That leaves plenty of the blame on Brown, who has always earned praise for his tough shot-making but has also leaned on it heavily.
Brown’s scoring touch is real, especially when the shots are difficult. The problem is that difficult shots are a shaky foundation for an offense that wants to be elite. His struggles to beat switches and mismatches, along with his limitations as a table-setter and decision-maker, made those possessions harder than they needed to be.
He made plenty of contested midrange and rim attempts anyway, and at a high rate. But that kind of offense is hard to sustain, and it didn’t carry over when the playoffs arrived.
The trade itself may not have been driven by this one statistic alone, but the fit makes sense. Boston moved Brown for a more efficient and effective pick-and-roll ballhandler who shoots better and turns it over less. The Celtics also gave Queta a new contract extension and added another hard-screening, rim-running big in Mitchell Robinson.
So the message from Boston is pretty clear: the bigs weren’t the problem. The Celtics want to keep playing this style. They just want better initiators for it, with George, Jayson Tatum, Payton Pritchard, and Derrick White expected to fill that role.
In Other News...
Celtics Are Back In The East Race For One Big Reason
The Celtics are back in the East conversation largely because they found a way to address the kind of frontcourt issue that can quietly cap a teams ceiling in the postseason. Adding Mitchell Robinson gives Boston another layer of interior presence, and for a team trying to stay in the mix with the conferences deeper contenders, that kind of move can matter just as much as a splashier name. In a season where several clubs are being floated as dark horse threats, the Celtics fit the profile of a team with enough talent to be taken seriously again.
Boston is hardly alone in that category. The broader league picture includes Minnesotas new-look ceiling with LaMelo Ball, Detroits rise with Cade Cunningham playing at an MVP level, and Indiana getting Tyrese Haliburton back from injury, all of which help explain why the East and West could both feel more open than expected. The Spurs surprise run to the 2026 NBA Finals is the reminder hanging over all of it: once the season starts, the teams nobody circles in advance can become the ones everyone else has to chase. [Read more 🡒]
Celtics Fans Have Every Reason To Debate This NBA Cup Draw
The NBA has already started laying out pieces of the 2026-27 calendar, and for Celtics fans, the early read is a familiar one: a season that will ask plenty of Boston before the games even start to matter in the standings. The leagues partial schedule includes an opening-night matchup with the Pistons and a Christmas Day slate featuring the Heat and Giannis Antetokounmpo, but the first real debate for Celtics watchers may come in the Emirates NBA Cup, where Boston landed in Group C with the Wizards, Hawks, Hornets and Bulls.
Group play begins on Oct. 30, and on paper it gives Boston a mix of rebuilding clubs and teams that have spent the summer trying to sharpen their edges. Washington, Charlotte and Chicago all come with their own roster questions, while Atlanta remains the most recognizable obstacle in the group. It is the sort of draw that invites instant arguments about who has the clearest path and who might spoil it, and for Celtics fans, the intrigue is less about the bracket itself than whether this set of opponents will turn out to be manageable or more annoying than it looks right now. [Read more 🡒]
Giannis Just Added Real Heat To Celtics Christmas Showdown
Giannis Antetokounmpo has a way of turning already-big games into something sharper, and now his new setting in Miami only adds another layer to an old Celtics-Heat rivalry that never really needs much help. Bostons Christmas Day matchup with the Heat was already going to draw attention, but the presence of a player with Antetokounmpos profile and track record gives the meeting a different kind of edge, the sort that usually comes with playoff-level grudges and a little extra noise.
The comments also fit the broader history between these teams, which has become one of the leagues most familiar sources of tension. For the Celtics, it is one more reminder that even a holiday showcase can carry real stakes when the opponent knows the rivalry, embraces it, and now has a star in the middle of it willing to publicly lean into the moment. [Read more 🡒]