If we make the playoffs which teams would you not want to meet in the 1st round?

[CelticsFanFromNYC]

If the hawks(no horford) and bobcats(surprise) made the playoffs last season and with our improved roster this up coming season, we have a shot to make 8th imo.

You dont need a plus shot blocker, best rebounder, super clutch scorer etc. The spurs for example dont have some of these players in their lineup. They play great as a unit though and execute plays to near perfection

The Bobcats making the playoffs were only a surprise if you weren't paying attention to the Bobcats.

like the hood kids on my block would say..  "FACTS!"

[nickagneta]

I can't help but think where we have improved our roster. Checking the important areas like the starters and regular rotation players

Rondo is Rondo
Bradley is Bradley
Olynyk is Olynyk
Sullinger is Sullinger
Green is Green
Bass is Bass
Wallace is Wallace
Faverani is Faverani
Anthony is Anthony
Zeller is worse than Humphries
Smart might be better than the Crawford/Bayless combo but he might not

And we added Turner, a horribly inefficient scorer that's a bit of a wing tweener that got little playing time in Indiana and possibly for good reason.

Yeah Rondo could play better and the youth could grow but none of that is a certain. Its not like a star player was added or a rim protecting rebounding big man, things this team definitely needs to get better.

I think to make the playoffs this team is going to need about a 15-20 game improvement, meaning it would be one of the larger single season improvements in league history. Does anyone really think this team changed so much that a 15-20 win turnaround is possible?

I just don't see it. What I see is a team that does what teams have been doing in the league since its inception when they do not add significant star talent to a team and are relying strictly on player growth, a marginal improvement at best. That's what the numbers say and I'm sticking with those numbers.

Celtics will probably win between 25-31 games and miss the playoffs....again.

[Tr1boy]

If the hawks(no horford) and bobcats(surprise) made the playoffs last season and with our improved roster this up coming season, we have a shot to make 8th imo.

You dont need a plus shot blocker, best rebounder, super clutch scorer etc. The spurs for example dont have some of these players in their lineup. They play great as a unit though and execute plays to near perfection

The Bobcats making the playoffs were only a surprise if you weren't paying attention to the Bobcats.

Hawks also shouldnt have made it

[redbrwn55]

or team(s).

My list is

-Cavs.  Lebron is Lebron and i don't think the guy has been eliminated in the first round in the last.... years

-Bulls. If Rose is really back 100 percent, this is a team nobody in the nba will want to face.  Gasol, Noah, Gibson makeup a pretty tough looking frontcourt trio.  Butler is underrated and a heck of a defender.  Mcbuckets and Mirotic shouldn't be taken lightly and could really stretch out the floor. So to tell you the truth, I think these are the only two teams that I would worry about. They are really strong and have good players. The rest, not so much.

Outside of these two teams, no other teams would really scare me.

As for Boston not having a go to guy...you could argue that,  but Jeff Green has been an excellent clutch scorer the last couple of years and has hit some huge shots.

Dont get me wrong, Cleveland is a better team then Boston.  That's obvious.   But to the point where Boston should fear them? Absolutely not.

Kyrie Irving is not as good as Wade was in his prime. Nowhere near it.  Im also going to say that Kevin love is not as good as Bosh was in his prime.   The overall supporting cast IMHO were better in Miami then what LeBron had in Cleveland.  IMHO Miami in the big three era were much scarier than Cleveland is now. At least Bosh was decent (and long) enough Defensively to hold his own against opposing bigs.  The front court defense of this Cleveland team will be even worse than Boston's.  They will be a painfully bad team Defensively,  and I don't think they'll be good enough offensively to overcome that. 

I have to agree on both points but I think the latter is less likely to happen because I think Rose won't be able to stay in peak condition to return.  But that's just my opinion.  What do you think?  I just hope that the team would be able to step it up and focus on each game than thinking about future games. 

[Quetzalcoatl]

I think Rondo would find his playoff form vs the Bulls, just because he always does.  The team I'd least like to face would be the Pacers, because they're boring to watch.

[Moranis]

Boston won't make the playoffs so it doesn't matter, but the obvious answer is the Cavs.  Lebron has never lost in the first round and is by far the best player in basketball, we have no one capable of guarding Love, and they have great scorers in the backcourt.  Horrible matchup for Boston.  But again Boston won't make the playoffs so it doesn't matter anyway.

Jeff Green has proven that he defends LeBron about as well as anybody in the league - he has pretty much shut him down on occasions in the past.

Kevin Love is grossly overrated,  and this will be exposed this year when his scoring average drops from 26 to 18.  He's the perfect example of a guy who scored by being a volume chucker on a bad team.  Bosh's scoring dropped from 24 PPG to 17 PPG the instant he moved from Toronto to Miami, and he never averaged close to that again.   Kevin Love is an unathletic 6'10" power forward who has zero post game and spends all of his time chucking up jumpers.  Not really that much of a handful.

Irving?  Yes, hes a very good player and a talented scorer,  but Rondo at his best can dominate a game as much as Irving can.

As for Boston not having a go to guy...you could argue that,  but Jeff Green has been an excellent clutch scorer the last couple of years and has hit some huge shots.

Dont get me wrong, Cleveland is a better team then Boston.  That's obvious.   But to the point where Boston should fear them? Absolutely not. 

Kyrie Irving is not as good as Wade was in his prime. Nowhere near it.  Im also going to say that Kevin love is not as good as Bosh was in his prime.   The overall supporting cast IMHO were better in Miami then what LeBron had in Cleveland.  IMHO Miami in the big three era were much scarier than Cleveland is now. At least Bosh was decent (and long) enough Defensively to hold his own against opposing bigs.  The front court defense of this Cleveland team will be even worse than Boston's.  They will be a painfully bad team Defensively,  and I don't think they'll be good enough offensively to overcome that. 


The top western conference teams will destroy the Cavs. They are no championship threat now or in the near future.

OkC, San Antonio, tge Clippers, all will destroy them.

Cleveland will struggle against Washington, Chicago, and probably even Brooklyn and Miami.

I thought Green did a good job on James but then I actually looked.  James in his career against Green (and I realize that includes some early time), but Lebron against Jeff averaged 28.4 p, 7.4 a, 7.3 r, 2.2 s, 1.0 b with 3 turnovers and 1.6 fouls and is 41.2% from three and 55% from the field (2 and 3).  Not exactly the shut down defender he is portrayed as. 

They have met in one post season series, but that was 2011 when Green was a backup.