Maybe win the division? - Not bad for a bridge year!

[celticpride1]

We will not be winning the division. This team is in a youth movement and will not see the playoffs till 2015-2016. I am ok with this because it gives us time to get the young lions time to gel with each other.

[Havlicek]

If we win the division with this team I'd be ecstatic and Coach Stevens would win coach of the year hands down.

Toronto should win it by a wide margin.

[Randy]

Is this what we have to look forward to? Winning the Atlantic division haha

[Fred Roberts]

I can see the Celts in the 30's for wins next year. Can't see them in the 20's. We tanked and had 25 wins last year.

[JBcat]

I think Toronto takes the division this year.   Their SF and C positions Ross and Valancious have a chance to have break out years.  They have close to all star guys in the backcourt in Lowry and Derozan, and solid at PF. 

Both the Nets and Knicks have a chance to implode, but they also have playoff potential. 

It won't be easy for us.

[vinnie]

I always find this blog so entertaining.....

[fandrew]

If Toronto completely fails next season, I could see a possibility of the Celtics winning the Division. But the odds must be pretty high. New York, New Jersey, and Philly all could end up anywhere from winning 20 games to winning 35. And I feel the Celtics are right there with them in that range. Toronto is the only team in the Atlantic Division that I see with an over .500 winning record for next year.

My guess of the Celtics best case scenario for next season (in terms of having a "good season") is that they may be number 2 in the division and maybe, but probably not, make the playoffs.

[pearljammer10]

How this thought even crosses ones mind absolutely boggles me.

I see the division falling like this:

Toronto 45+ win team
Nets 40+ win team
Knicks 40+ win team

Celtics 28-32 wins
Philly 20-25 wins

Not a chance we win the division this season.

[bdm860]

This seems like a good spot to insert a little random trivia:

In 1975, the Bucks finished dead last in the Midwest division, winning only 38 games.

The next year, 1976, the Bucks were able to turn things around and win their division, by winning 38 games, the same amount of wins that got them last place just the year before.


For some perspective, since the NBA went to 6 divisions and 30 teams in 2005, the lowest win total to win a division was 44 wins, which was done by Denver in 2006 and Miami in 2007.  The lowest win total for a 2nd place division finish was 38 by Philly in 2006.

[kg is king]

Did people just all of a sudden forget how bad we were last season?

In comes a rookie and a few bench players and all of a sudden we're talking about taking the division?

[LooseCannon]

Did people just all of a sudden forget how bad we were last season?

I saw the Celtics as a team capable of having 25-35 wins and ending up on the low end of the range.  So, I start off with the belief that the team underperformed its talent level and expect an improvement of a few wins just based on regression to the mean.  A healthy Rondo, a group of young players capable of improvement, and some interesting rookies makes the team look like it can do even better on top of that.  And we'll see if a year of experience makes Brad Stevens a better coach.

[Fred Roberts]

Did people just all of a sudden forget how bad we were last season?

In comes a rookie and a few bench players and all of a sudden we're talking about taking the division?

Nobody forgot, but there are several of us (optimists) who believe that the same core of players and coaches can do a lot better this year.

Look at the 2013 Red Sox vs the 2014 Red Sox. Everything went right last year and they played way above what was expected. This season, they came back to Earth with mostly the same group of guys, in part because of injuries but also because of regression to the mean.

Last year's Celtics team was going to be bad regardless, and with injuries, no cohesiveness, tank trades etc (I think) they played even worse than they were expected to. Worse than they should have, definitely.

Taking the optimistic view, I could easily see a scenario where that same group plays to their potential or above, and adds more wins by getting over the hump in a lot of the close games. Healthy Rondo, healthy maturing Bradley, healthy Fav, new additions, more cohesiveness and general young player growth lead to overall team improvement.

Sure, talking about winning even a bad division is highly green lens optimistic, but I don't think a significant 10+ win turnaround is ridiculous to contemplate. 

[The One]

http://espn.go.com/nba/powerrankings/_/week/0

Take a look at the 2013 preseason power rankings. The Suns are projected 29th, behind superpowers as the Bucks, Utah and Orlando. The Knicks are 11th, Atlanta - 21st.

Are we the favorites? No. Do we have a chance? Hell, yes! Is it going to be fun? It depends on the perspective.

I will be rooting for the team to play hard, play smart and win as many games as possible. Half of our roster is 25 or younger. I will not ruin the enjoyment of watching the youngsters grow with pessimism. TP to the OP

Yes, I want them to play Marcus Smart too!

[ddb]

well let's break it down.

Celtics in: Smart, Young, Thornton, Zeller, Turner

Boston out: Hump, Bayless,

That's essentially the core changes to the team.  Then you factor in that Rondo should be 100% healthy and the young players (KO, Sully, Faverani) are a year more experienced....Plus, Brad Stevens is no longer a rookie coach. 

Naturally, this team should be better.  The ONLY thing that scares me right now is playing time.  With the roster as is, there are too many players and not enough minutes to go around.  I believe there will be another change or 2 before the season starts.  But if you look at this team right now I'm worried about who's playing where and for the players not receiving minutes, how will that effect team chemistry?

Rondo-Bradley-Green-Bass-Zeller
Smart-Thornton-Turner-Sully-Olynyk
Pressey-Young-Wallace-Faverani

who really knows what the rotation would be...who emerges and who falters.  But a concern of mine would be the following. 

-I want to see Smart, Sully, KO and Turner playing significant minutes.  But who are they taking minutes away from? 

-What if James Young is more NBA ready then we are giving him credit for?  People have him spending time in the D-League?  Yet, he was arguably the best player on a National Championship runner up.  Randle was the best player but Young was right there with Randle in terms of impact. 

-Marcus Smart needs to play.  Where is he getting minutes?  IMO, Smart is going to be awesome.  I actually think he's better then Avery Bradley sooner rather then later. 

My lineup would look like this:  Rondo-Smart-Green-Sully-Zeller with Bradley-Turner=Young-Bass-KO getting key backup minutes.  Thornton can score and Wallace is a vet but neither one of those guys has a future here so for me they are riding the pine at the end of the bench. 

[Endless Paradise]

Not a chance.