without PREDICTING injuries where do you rank Celtics out of east?s 15 Squads ?

[dannyboy35]

I have them at 11

[LatterDayCelticsfan]

6th or 7th seed, under a chaosball reminiscent of the Pierce-Walker days.

[slamtheking]

I have them at 11

This is probably fair.

no quality bigs.  only 2 plus defenders on the team.   no Tatum, KP, Al or Jrue to help with cold shooting nights from JB/White/PP/Hauser. 

Team will probably be averaging abut 115 points a night given up on the defensive end.  not going to win many games with that result.

[Goldstar88]

White, Simons, Brown, Niang, and Garza is a bad starting lineup. Talent wise, they are bottom 3 or 4 in the East. Hopefully they get a good draft pick next year.

[jambr380]

9 or 10. Making the play-in, but not making the playoffs

[Birdman]

Cleveland, New York, Detroit, Orlando, Indiana, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Toronto, Milwaukee, Miami should all have better record than Boston so I?m saying 11th?Washington may sneak in there?Charlotte, Chicago & Brooklyn are bottom 3?.

[Roy H.]

I'll say 8th, assuming they keep Simons.  I'm not sure they will, though.

[Vermont Green]

If injuries are not a factor, then does that assume Embiid and George are healthy, but not Haliburton or Tatum?  If a player is not currently injured, assume they are healthy?

If I assume that Embiid and Paul George are healthy, then PHI should be better than BOS.  I am on the edge regarding MIA, but I don't see them being good even if everyone is healthy.  IND probably won't be good with no Haliburton.  CHI, BKN, CHA, and WAS definitely bad.

So BOS finishes at #9 in the east if by some miracle, Embiid and George stay healthy.  More likely, Embiid and George are not healthy and BOS finishes at #8 in the east.

[Vermont Green]

I'll say 8th, assuming they keep Simons.  I'm not sure they will, though.

If you can't assume injuries, probably shouldn't assume trades either, as you said.  And it may not be about "IF" Simons is traded, it may be about "WHEN" he is traded.  If traded at the deadline, he could still contribute to some wins.  If traded in the this off season, I hope they only do it if they get someone back who is at least pretty good.  At the deadline, a pick and a TPE may be enough.

[Moranis]

If injuries are not a factor, then does that assume Embiid and George are healthy, but not Haliburton or Tatum?  If a player is not currently injured, assume they are healthy?

If I assume that Embiid and Paul George are healthy, then PHI should be better than BOS.  I am on the edge regarding MIA, but I don't see them being good even if everyone is healthy.  IND probably won't be good with no Haliburton.  CHI, BKN, CHA, and WAS definitely bad.

So BOS finishes at #9 in the east if by some miracle, Embiid and George stay healthy.  More likely, Embiid and George are not healthy and BOS finishes at #8 in the east.

Why do you think Miami and Boston are close?  I see Miami as significantly better.  Miami has a much more balanced and cohesive team with similar talent at the top but a lot more depth.  Herro, Powell, Wiggins, Bam, Ware is a pretty solid starting 5. They have Mitchell, Rozier, Jovic, Highsmith, Larsson, and Jaquez. 

[keevsnick]

I posted this in another thread but here it is again:

I expect their defense to be pretty bad. I think they have a fair number of average to great defenders on the perimeter but they also have weak spots in Simons and Niang and very little rim protection behind them unless Queta has taken forward since last year. Maybe this year they'll focus more on being an aggressive turn over causing defense, which could help, but the lack of size severely limits the defense right now.

On offense I think they will be pretty good. Brown/White/Simons is a pretty good collection of play makers, guys who can initiate offense. They can have two of those guys out there at all times with elite shooters like Pritchard/Hauser/Niang spacing the floor. Not sure what to expect from the Baylor/Hugo/Walsh group but I think they will all at least bring energy.

So I think something like 38-42 wins, which probably gets you somewhere in the 7-10 range in the play-in. This is assuming:

1) Jaylen and White both play 65+ games and aren't "load managed" into a tank and that the team in general has average health at least.
2) The team as is, or if they do trade Simons they get back some comparative but cheaper talent.

[jambr380]

I'll say 8th, assuming they keep Simons.  I'm not sure they will, though.

Yeah, I'm assuming they're keeping Simons with my 9th/10th prediction. If they salary dump him and bring back a player or players that can't play, it may look more like 12th, only ahead of CHI, WAS, and BKN. Yes, I would even have CHA over them. Crazy that I'm putting that much on Simons' shoulders, but he is kind-of the make or break guy for me.

[celticsclay]

I'll say 8th, assuming they keep Simons.  I'm not sure they will, though.

Yeah, I'm assuming they're keeping Simons with my 9th/10th prediction. If they salary dump him and bring back a player or players that can't play, it may look more like 12th, only ahead of CHI, WAS, and BKN. Yes, I would even have CHA over them. Crazy that I'm putting that much on Simons' shoulders, but he is kind-of the make or break guy for me.

I just don't see White, Pritchard and Brown dogging it or sitting out excessive number of games in the middle of the year at this point in their careers (I obviously could see Simons doing that cause he has done it his whole career). It is a lot different to shut down a player like Lauri Markanaan that has never been in the playoffs or players like Paul George where there is potentially really significant benefit in having him miss time instead of limping into 8th seed last year. I also think we are going to hear reports that Tatum is ramping up activity in like February which would make it even more difficult to tank.

[jambr380]

I'll say 8th, assuming they keep Simons.  I'm not sure they will, though.

Yeah, I'm assuming they're keeping Simons with my 9th/10th prediction. If they salary dump him and bring back a player or players that can't play, it may look more like 12th, only ahead of CHI, WAS, and BKN. Yes, I would even have CHA over them. Crazy that I'm putting that much on Simons' shoulders, but he is kind-of the make or break guy for me.

I just don't see White, Pritchard and Brown dogging it or sitting out excessive number of games in the middle of the year at this point in their careers (I obviously could see Simons doing that cause he has done it his whole career). It is a lot different to shut down a player like Lauri Markanaan that has never been in the playoffs or players like Paul George where there is potentially really significant benefit in having him miss time instead of limping into 8th seed last year. I also think we are going to hear reports that Tatum is ramping up activity in like February which would make it even more difficult to tank.

The team as currently constructed is pretty bad. We lost 5 rotation players this offseason (including Tatum) and only brought in 1. And the Tatum loss is monumental.

If Brad manages to balance the team better (by bringing in a starting level big), then I can see us sneaking into the playoffs - especially if Tatum makes his way back and Lillard signs. But if we have guys sitting out here and there, our depth is absolutely abysmal. We will need to see major jumps from guys like Queta, Baylor, and Garza. And guys like Pritchard and Hauser will need to prove to be good starters.

[Celtics2021]

I'll say 8th, assuming they keep Simons.  I'm not sure they will, though.

Yeah, I'm assuming they're keeping Simons with my 9th/10th prediction. If they salary dump him and bring back a player or players that can't play, it may look more like 12th, only ahead of CHI, WAS, and BKN. Yes, I would even have CHA over them. Crazy that I'm putting that much on Simons' shoulders, but he is kind-of the make or break guy for me.

I just don't see White, Pritchard and Brown dogging it or sitting out excessive number of games in the middle of the year at this point in their careers (I obviously could see Simons doing that cause he has done it his whole career). It is a lot different to shut down a player like Lauri Markanaan that has never been in the playoffs or players like Paul George where there is potentially really significant benefit in having him miss time instead of limping into 8th seed last year. I also think we are going to hear reports that Tatum is ramping up activity in like February which would make it even more difficult to tank.

Agreed.  JB isn?t good for 80 games, but he played two months with a torn meniscus last year, so he also just is not going to sit for the heck of it.  White and Pritchard will both go 82 games if you let them, and White has incentive for 70 games, so he is not going to sit to help the team get a draft pick.

I think the team is going to hover around the 6th or 7th seed this year, barring major injuries.  If Tatum won?t make it to the playoffs I could see them starting a mid-March tank to get towards the top 10 and hope for lottery luck, especially if they are looking like a 9 or 10 seed, but no one in this organization likes losing and they aren?t going to do it on purpose or even half on purpose.