Boston won 53 games last year and the team without Hayward is pretty similar.
and the team without Hayward ... is much younger(giving minutes to Brown, Tatum, Rozier, Semi instead of Bradley, Crowder, Green, Olynyk)
and the team without Hayward ... has no experience playing together(4 returning players)
and the team without Hayward ... has less reliable outside shooting(compare Bradley, Crowder, Olynyk, Green to Brown, Tatum, Morris, Semi ... not to mention larger roles for Smart and Rozier)
and the team without Hayward ... is much thinner than last year's team(the Celts are one injury to 31 year old Al Horford away from starting Aron Baynes at C and giving heavy minutes to Semi Ojeleye and Daniel Theis ... they're one Kyrie Irving injury away from starting Marcus Smart and relying on Al Horford or Jaylen Brown to be their #1 offensive option)
Honestly, I might be too optimistic with 45 wins. That feels kind of like a best case scenario. I guess we just need to hope Horford and Kyrie stay healthy and Kyrie has a MVP caliber campaign.