Welcome to Boston, Luka Garza!

[Hal14]

As an Iowa grad and Timberwolves fan, I thought I’d come here and add a bit more insight. BlacJac beat me to it, but I wanted to add a little in case some BOS fans wanted to know more.

Born into a basketball family, they used a VCR to teach Luka every low post move of all the great NBA big men, starting at 8 years old. This allowed him to ridiculously dominate both in college and the G-League (36.7 PPG!), a place that could teach him nothing. In the NBA, he works ridiculously hard, and was always the first player off the bench to congratulate the starters after a good play. Great, unselfish teammate that is easily an NBA scorer.

Unfortunately for Garza, he lacks NBA athleticism - by a wide margin. He pushes himself, but he is not quick enough to defend anyone. Last off-season he was doing three-a-day workouts with his father and transformed his body to be lighter, but he was just born too slow for the NBA. It’s a tragedy for a good guy that works so hard, and I’ll miss him.

I would caution BOS fans who feel Garza was simply trapped behind MIN big men. Naz Reid is not a center. He is forced to play there, but after he transformed his body last year, he is more of a PF/SF than a PF/C. The Wolves only have one center on their entire roster, and back up center is a huge position of need - but they told Garza they weren’t going to bring him back.

Sweet thanks for that run down that's fascinating and tends to fit with what they do in Boston. He should be fine this year since there doesn't seem to be a real heavy impetus to compete.

On the other hand (and this is not me claiming Garza's suddenly going to be great, or even competent), but Boston's staff was able to do a ton with Luke Kornet who seemed just too oafish and squishy to be a legit center but he ended up being a really good back up here.

Come back and give more details in the future.

Yeah..not just Kornet but Grant Williams, Pritchard, Hauser. All guys who had physical limitations (size, athleticism for Pritchard, strength, speed, athleticism for Kornet, speed, athleticism for Grant..speed, strength, athleticism for Hauser) but we were able to develop all of them into solid defenders.

So there's hope for Garza as well..but of course, not a guarantee he will get improve enough on that end..

How good he can get as a shooter and how much he can improve on D are both things that will impact how much he can bring to this team. Interested to see how it goes..he should at least get the opportunity to play and develop this season on a team lacking in quality bigs during a bridge year.

[flintsky21]

Can't wait till he earns his first VC and we can call it Luka CiGarza.

[cloverleaf]

Here's a cute little film-analysis clip with Scheierman that touches on the ways that coaches are working with him to be able to score around the basket despite his limited athleticism. No doubt they haven't watched and signed Garza without similar plans for how they can scheme and skill him up to minimize and compensate for his defensive limitations.

Read on Twitter

[phincsfan]

Here's a cute little film-analysis clip with Scheierman that touches on the ways that coaches are working with him to be able to score around the basket despite his limited athleticism. No doubt they haven't watched and signed Garza without similar plans for how they can scheme and skill him up to minimize and compensate for his defensive limitations.

Read on Twitter

He has athleticism, he just lacks the speed. You don't play high level high school football at the QB position without being an athlete.

I actually think he's probably the best athlete on the Celtics. He played basketball, football, baseball and golf. I bet he's the only player on that roster that can say they did that in high school.

Watch on YouTube

[Hal14]

Here's a cute little film-analysis clip with Scheierman that touches on the ways that coaches are working with him to be able to score around the basket despite his limited athleticism. No doubt they haven't watched and signed Garza without similar plans for how they can scheme and skill him up to minimize and compensate for his defensive limitations.

Read on Twitter

He has athleticism, he just lacks the speed. You don't play high level high school football at the QB position without being an athlete.

I actually think he's probably the best athlete on the Celtics. He played basketball, football, baseball and golf. I bet he's the only player on that roster that can say they did that in high school.

Watch on YouTube

That's a different type of athleticism.

He means basketball athleticism. Like explosiveness, shiftiness, "wiggle", flexibility, ability to contort your body in various ways, at various angles, while keeping balance and being explosive - vertically, side to side and in a straight line.

By NBA standards, he's not that athletic. Just because he played QB, doesn't make him athletic. Tom Brady was not very athletic - at least not in the way we are using the term here. Tatum and Brown are the most athletic players on the Celtics.

Having good athleticism is different than being a good athlete. After that, probably either Simons, JD or Hugo..then maybe Queta, Walsh or D-White..

[return2glory]

Here's a cute little film-analysis clip with Scheierman that touches on the ways that coaches are working with him to be able to score around the basket despite his limited athleticism. No doubt they haven't watched and signed Garza without similar plans for how they can scheme and skill him up to minimize and compensate for his defensive limitations.

Read on Twitter

He has athleticism, he just lacks the speed. You don't play high level high school football at the QB position without being an athlete.

I actually think he's probably the best athlete on the Celtics. He played basketball, football, baseball and golf. I bet he's the only player on that roster that can say they did that in high school.

Watch on YouTube

That's a different type of athleticism.

He means basketball athleticism. Like explosiveness, shiftiness, "wiggle", flexibility, ability to contort your body in various ways, at various angles, while keeping balance and being explosive - vertically, side to side and in a straight line.

By NBA standards, he's not that athletic. Just because he played QB, doesn't make him athletic. Tom Brady was not very athletic - at least not in the way we are using the term here. Tatum and Brown are the most athletic players on the Celtics.

Having good athleticism is different than being a good athlete. After that, probably either Simons, JD or Hugo..then maybe Queta, Walsh or D-White..

Josh Minott is the most athletic Celtic right now.

[bigfoot_cryptozoology]

By the end of the season, Luka will likely be sleeping with the Cod Fishes, but there's always hope with steady playing time a player can blossom...

[165bows]

Welcome to your starting center for the 2025 Boston Celtics, what’s his name, the Luka guy, Luka Garza.

[Parliament10]

I can't see Garza being our Starting Center?
We have a gaping hole. I hope that we bring in Charles Bassey, sooner rather than later.

[Hal14]

Read on Twitter

Clearly he's been told he's got a real opportunity to get some consistent playing time here this season.

I'm assuming that Queta starts, Garza is the primary backup big.

Boucher will get some run at the 4 and the 5, probably.

Good luck, Luka! Let's see what you can do.

[OBisHalJordan]

Luka Garza is going to wear number 52. Will he have better Celtics tenure that the last back up center that wore number 52, the great Vitaly Potapenko?

[cloverleaf]

Garza oddly looks and sounds a bit like Tony Robbins.

[31to6]

I am here to say that in the preseason Garza demonstrated an alarming lack of touch around the rim.

That's it, that's the post.

[winforlose]

Wolves fan here. I am wondering how Luka did in the preseason and whether his defense has improved at all? Just following up on a former player. Thank you in advance for your reply.

[Curmudgeon]

He lead the team in almost and-ones.

[Gant]

Wolves fan here. I am wondering how Luka did in the preseason and whether his defense has improved at all? Just following up on a former player. Thank you in advance for your reply.

Garza's got some strengths, but his weaknesses in athleticism may hinder him, possibly severely. We'll see. The Celtics probably need to play him some as the only bigger body they have is Queta. He's trying on defense, but it wasn't always pretty, even as the preseason opponents weren't playing their starters in 3 of the 4 games. I'm more optimistic on Minott.

[31to6]

Wolves fan here. I am wondering how Luka did in the preseason and whether his defense has improved at all? Just following up on a former player. Thank you in advance for your reply.

Garza's got some strengths, but his weaknesses in athleticism may hinder him, possibly severely. We'll see. The Celtics probably need to play him some as the only bigger body they have is Queta. He's trying on defense, but it wasn't always pretty even as the preseason opponents weren't playing their starters in 3 of the 4 games. I'm more optimistic on Minott.

In the preseason Garza got the most praise for setting good screens. I haven't seen stats but he seemed to rebound pretty decently, and got a lot of at-the-rim FGA, many of which he drew fouls on (and missed).

Other than lateral quickness, jumping ability, explosion, and reach, I think he's a promising athlete;)

[threrf23]

In the first two preseason games, he averaged about 25 & 19 per 36, got to the line a bunch, two assists to one turnover.

Level of competition wasn't so high, but in his limited NBA minutes, he has shot above 60% inside the arc while getting to the line at a high rate. Has averaged more than 20 points yet less than two turnovers per 36, which is impressive for a guy who is active under the basket and isn't simply standing behind the three point line and taking catch & shoot 3s.

He hasn't rebounded as well in his NBA minutes, and we'll see if he can avoid being a dangerous liability on D. But with a better outside shot, he could be in the KAT/Love convo on the offensive end.

[bisme37]

Kelly Olynyk never really "looked" like a good defender for us, but advanced stats thought his defense was good and he was a starter on some top-3 defensive rated teams in Boston. He lacked athleticism but knew how to play and be in the right places as far as the team's defensive schemes. I think Garza can figure that stuff out and play defense for us with similar success.

[jfs1000d]

When they say parks athleticism, in the nba they means.

1. You are white
2. Aren't super fast
3. Lack jumping ability

Garza is fine. He is a skill player with average athleticism. He is a good athlete.

He doesn't have fast twitch explosiveness.

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