What's your win prediction now?

[RockinRyA]

55-58 wins. Biggest hole to me now is the 2. Who plays there? Brown? Tatum?

Kyrie
Brown
Hayward
Al
Bynes

Bench: Tatum, Larkin, Smart, Rozier, Morris, Semi, TBA FA, Abdul

I think the 4 spot is the bigger hole. Im fine with a rotation of Irving-Smart-Rozier-Brown. Now if either Baynes or Horford gets injured we're doomed.

[boscel33]

Funny that people are lowering their predictions after the trade when it actually should go up seeing that there was no guarantee that IT was going to be ready for the season to begin with.

Now you have a PG ready for the opener so I say 58 wins and the #1 seed again.

[Granath]

Funny that people are lowering their predictions after the trade when it actually should go up seeing that there was no guarantee that IT was going to be ready for the season to begin with.

Now you have a PG ready for the opener so I say 58 wins and the #1 seed again.

I'm not saying I agree with their logic but I can understand it. It really boils down to two different things:

1. A HUGE amount of turnover should cause some disruption. We're down to 4 players left from last season's team. Before the deal was done it could be hand-waived away because of the top 6 only Bradley was lost. That's 3 of the same guys (IT, Crowder, Horford) starting like they did last year. But now the guy who runs the team has changed. If Brown starts at SG - as I think he will - then there's only one starter that's the same (Horford). Irving, Brown, Hayward and Morris are all new starters. That's a tremendous amount of change.

2. Losing Crowder also may drop the wins in the short term. Long-term, you have to expect that  we'll be better in that area with Tatum, Morris and Hayward. That's before we consider some of the guys like Semi and Yabu. But short term we lose a capable guy and some defensive toughness. That could cost some games this year.

Again, I'm not saying I agree with the logic but I understand it.

Personally, I have no earthly idea what's going to happen this coming year. We're dealing with turnover that is unprecedented on a 50+ win team. Yet on paper we're significantly more talented than last year with Hayward and Irving. I have no idea if our record will be better or worse because there's no frame of reference to base an opinion on.

I will say this - this season is Brad's toughest challenge yet. If the team slumps he'll get all the blame because the talent has improved. But putting together so many new pieces has got to be overwhelming. I think he's up to the challenge but wow...what a challenge it is.

[Eja117]

My win prediction is swept by Cavs in the playoffs

[Moranis]

Obviously Boston has a lot of turnover, but we've seen turnover close to this before.  heck the Warriors were coming off a 73 win season and only returned 7 players and 1 of them was Varejao (who barely played).  Obviously the Warriors returned their 4 best players so a bit different, but they still had crazy turnover for a 73 win team.  The Bulls after the 1st 3 peat (when MJ went to baseball) only returned Pippen, Grant, Armstrong, Paxson, Perdue, and some deep bench players like Jo Jo English and Stacey King.  They won 55 games that season. 

[celticsclay]

I was at 57 pre-trade, but I'm going to drop my number to 51 now. In true talent the team might be better this year, but massive roster turnover (and regression after good luck in close games) should lead to a downtick in wins.
[/quote

This is the opposite take professional linesmakers have had on the trade for what it is worth.

[action781]

I was in the 53-55 range before the trade and am settling into 55 wins as my prediction.

Being behind on chemistry is a concern for a slow start, sure, but our schedule is very weak early in the season.  Up through Dec 31, we play:

Elite teams: Cleveland x1, GSW x1, Houston x1, Spurs x2, OKC x1 (6 total)

Next level of good playoff teams: Toronto x1, Washington x1, Minnesota x0 (2 total)

Next level of playoff to fringe playoff teams: Milwaukee x3, Charlotte x2, Philly x2, Miami x3, Detroit x2, Portland x0, Memphis 1x, New Orleans x0, LAC x0, Denver x1 (14 total)

Lotto teams: NYK x2, Magic x2, Hawks x2, Pacers x2, Nets x2, Bulls x2, Utah x1, Lakers x1, Mavs x2, Suns x1, Kings x1 (18 total)

I'll make up some arbitrary percents that we think we'll win of those games, say we'll beat lotto teams 85% of the time, next level of playoff-fringe playoff 70% of the time, good playoff teams 55% of the time, and elite teams 40% of the time.  That would give us a record of 29-11 through the end of December.  That's a 0.725 winning percentage which would be on pace for 59 wins.  But our second half schedule gets tougher which is why I'll settle into 55 wins.

[action781]

My win prediction is swept by Cavs in the playoffs

Go make yourself some money!

https://www.sportsbook.ag/sbk/sportsbook4/nba-betting/season-futures-eastern-conference.sbk

[action781]

55-58 wins. Biggest hole to me now is the 2. Who plays there? Brown? Tatum?

Kyrie
Brown
Hayward
Al
Bynes

Bench: Tatum, Larkin, Smart, Rozier, Morris, Semi, TBA FA, Abdul

I think the 4 spot is the bigger hole. Im fine with a rotation of Irving-Smart-Rozier-Brown. Now if either Baynes or Horford gets injured we're doomed.

I think Morris is a slight upgrade over Amir, so I'm ok with the current status of the 4 spot.  Yeah if Horford get injured, sure we're doomed, but that was always the case pre-trade and it was the case last season as well (7-7 record in games he sat).

[celticsclay]

My win prediction is swept by Cavs in the playoffs

Go make yourself some money!

https://www.sportsbook.ag/sbk/sportsbook4/nba-betting/season-futures-eastern-conference.sbk

Yeah I would love for all the people saying the Cavs are some huge favorite juggernauts to go put their money where their mouth is.

[D Dub]

High 40s.


This team is very young and will take time to get it together.  I think they'll be on a similar level to the Wizards and Raptors all season.

Kyrie will score almost as much as IT did last year, perhaps with better defense.  Hayward will score 18-20 a game with solid playmaking and defense thrown in.  Horford will be a 14-6-5 guy who helps everybody play better and keeps the team functioning on both ends.

Everybody else will have to figure out how they fit into this new team.

The hope will have to be that Kyrie, Hayward, and Horford figure out how to jam together by playoff time, and Jaylen and Jayen develop enough to have some big games when it matters.

High 40s?   Ouch.

I can't see Brad letting that happen.  Personally, I think the C's are about to storm the east. 

Kyrie won't need too much time to gel, not with players like Hayward and Horford alongside him.  Basketball is going to be easy for them.   Brad had been waiting for something like this for some time, I expect this new group to come out a well-oiled machine. 

Gordon and Kyrie is comparable to Curry and Thompson. 

And we still have Smart, whom no one -- especially Curry or IT -- wants to face.   

Not to mention, we may also be sitting on the ROY.   

I like our makeup.  And I think this trade made the Cavs much worse.  Corrosive to their chemistry, trading their 2nd best player to a top rival.  And Kyrie is going to know -- time is now to back up that trade demand.

We're going to be good.  2008 good, but that still may not be enough to beat GSW. 

65 wins. 

[Tr1boy]

Celtics will make the finals

61 regular season wins

[jpotter33]

My win prediction is swept by Cavs in the playoffs

Lol we're going to the Finals, brah.

It's going to be hilarious when Brad *literally* exploits IT defensively every trip up the floor. There's simply going to be nowhere for him to hide, and Brad is savvy enough to realize this, especially after seeing it work so well when Washington employed this tactic.

[jpotter33]

High 40s.


This team is very young and will take time to get it together.  I think they'll be on a similar level to the Wizards and Raptors all season.

Kyrie will score almost as much as IT did last year, perhaps with better defense.  Hayward will score 18-20 a game with solid playmaking and defense thrown in.  Horford will be a 14-6-5 guy who helps everybody play better and keeps the team functioning on both ends.

Everybody else will have to figure out how they fit into this new team.

The hope will have to be that Kyrie, Hayward, and Horford figure out how to jam together by playoff time, and Jaylen and Jayen develop enough to have some big games when it matters.

High 40s?   Ouch.

I can't see Brad letting that happen.  Personally, I think the C's are about to storm the east. 

Kyrie won't need too much time to gel, not with players like Hayward and Horford alongside him.  Basketball is going to be easy for them.   Brad had been waiting for something like this for some time, I expect this new group to come out a well-oiled machine. 

Gordon and Kyrie is comparable to Curry and Thompson. 

And we still have Smart, whom no one -- especially Curry or IT -- wants to face.   

Not to mention, we may also be sitting on the ROY.   

I like our makeup.  And I think this trade made the Cavs much worse.  Corrosive to their chemistry, trading their 2nd best player to a top rival.  And Kyrie is going to know -- time is now to back up that trade demand.

We're going to be good.  2008 good, but that still may not be enough to beat GSW. 

65 wins.

❤️ Love the optimism, TP!

[rondohondo]

55-60

People don't expect much from Brown and Tatum next year, but I think they will be very good.

Brown will be a stud defender against 1-3, and will be a beast on the fast break.

Tatum is going to be a stud on the offensive end. He has all the tool. The Dirk step back, pp mid range game, smooth 3 point shot , length to get his shot off over almost anyone.

By the end of the year, this will be the best lineup IMO

Kyrie
Jaylen
Hayward
Tatum
Horford

That is so much fire power