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

[flybono]

8

[Ilikesports17]

I?m not super sure what to expect this year. We have a lot of question marks. How does JB adjust to consistently having more responsibilities. How does Simon?s do with slightly less offensive burden. How does Quetta do? Do any of our prospects become legit players?

Plenty of the other teams in the East have similar questions.

But I?d say teams that should certainly be better than us:

New York, Orlando, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Detroit, Atlanta

Teams were in the same tier as: Toronto, Indiana, Miami

Teams were better than: Brooklyn, Chicago, Charlotte, Washington

Teams I don?t have a clue about: Philly.

So my guess is we?ll be somewhere in the play in. Gun to my head, I?d say we finish 8th. One of Toronto, Indiana, Miami or Philly will finish ahead of us.

[Who]

But I?d say teams that should certainly be better than us:

New York, Orlando, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Detroit, Atlanta

I am not sure Detroit will be.

Fair chance they take a step backwards next year. They have lost 2 key offensive players in Schroder and Malik Beasley. They were the 2nd and 3rd best offensive players on the team during their strong run late in the season and in the playoffs. Detroit were already an offensively challenged team to begin with.

The one thing that could swing it the other way - in a positive direction for DET - is that they have a lot of youth who could take a step forward. Jaden Ivey, Ausar Thompson, Ron Holland. Maybe Jalen Duren.

DET still have no 2nd star next to Cade Cunningham. Their top level talent is weak. Duren is probably their 2nd best starter and he is an average starter to slightly below average starter. Jaden Ivey is probably in the bottom 20% of starting guards. Tobias Harris is in the bottom third of starting PFs. The starting SF will likely be D Robinson (shooter) or Ausar Thompson (defense). Either one of them will be in the bottom 33% if not bottom 20% of starting SFs. It is not that strong a core group.

Detroit do well with good depth behind their starters which gives them a boost and allows them to punch above their weight. I Stewart good backup big. LeVert good backup wing. Sasser a middle of the pack backup PG. Ausar or D Robinson a middle of the pack bench wing. Then Ron Holland who may be below average to average bench player himself. Paul Reed another solid backup big man. The bench is a good group.

[Ilikesports17]

But I?d say teams that should certainly be better than us:

New York, Orlando, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Detroit, Atlanta

I am not sure Detroit will be.

Fair chance they take a step backwards next year. They have lost 2 key offensive players in Schroder and Malik Beasley. They were the 2nd and 3rd best offensive players on the team during their strong run late in the season and in the playoffs. Detroit were already an offensively challenged team to begin with.

The one thing that could swing it the other way - in a positive direction for DET - is that they have a lot of youth who could take a step forward. Jaden Ivey, Ausar Thompson, Ron Holland. Maybe Jalen Duren.

DET still have no 2nd star next to Cade Cunningham. Their top level talent is weak. Duren is probably their 2nd best starter and he is an average starter to slightly below average starter. Jaden Ivey is probably in the bottom 20% of starting guards. Tobias Harris is in the bottom third of starting PFs. The starting SF will likely be D Robinson (shooter) or Ausar Thompson (defense). Either one of them will be in the bottom 33% if not bottom 20% of starting SFs. It is not that strong a core group.

Detroit do well with good depth behind their starters which gives them a boost and allows them to punch above their weight. I Stewart good backup big. LeVert good backup wing. Sasser a middle of the pack backup PG. Ausar or D Robinson a middle of the pack bench wing. Then Ron Holland who may be below average to average bench player himself. Paul Reed another solid backup big man. The bench is a good group.

Yeah Beasley was big and I thought they?d have done a better job replacing him.

But like you say they are so young and Ivey who I actually like despite a relatively poor fit next to Cunningham missed most of last season.

If I had to pick an over under for them Id set it at 45 games and I?d set ours right at .500

[celticinorlando]

Boston has the worst set of bigs in the NBA and a very poor bench. They will finish like 10th and miss the playoffs. I have some concerns about Brown being the lead dog. I think we are going to see him struggle with it throughout the season. When he tries to do too much is his a frustrating player to watch.

I do not see any drastic moves being made until the trade deadline when they dump expiring contracts (Simons, Niang, Tillman)  And that means Queta and Niang are probably going to start. That is gross. 

This team will score well some nights because of JB, Simons, PP, White, Hauser and Niang (puke) can all hit volume 3s. And Joe is going to let them shoot. But some nights they will look dismal for the same reason.

But this team is going to challenged on defense and rebounding every night. Simons, Hauser, Queta, Garza, Niang, etc are all poor defenders and that is putting it nicely.

No idea if the Minott kid is even NBA material and I don't see him being in the rotation. He is a poor man's Brissett.

White
Simons
Brown
Niang
Queta/Garza

Bench:
Queta/Garza
PP
Sam
Baylor
Tillman (looks absolutely washed)
Hugo (still raw, rookie and he won't play in other than blowouts)
Walsh (can he actually look like a rotational player?)
Davison (towel boy)
Minott (towel boy part 2)
Williams (G League most of the season)
Bassey (summer league star?)

[Who]

There is a cluster of teams there in the East that the Celtics are close to. They could be near the top of that cluster, middle of the cluster, bottom of the cluster. It could only be a few wins that separate that cluster. It could be luck where they finish within that cluster.

They could be as high as 6th or as low as 13th.

Washington and Brooklyn are the only teams in the East without a chance of making the playoffs / play-in. The other 13 teams all have a shot at making the play-in.

[Who]

Two teams I am trying to get a grip on are Charlotte and Chicago. Are they legit play-in hopefuls? Or are they not? Are they better than Boston? Or worse than Boston?

Charlotte got some talent.

G: LaMelo, Dinwiddie
G: C Sexton, Josh Green
F: Brandon Miller, Knueppel,
F: Miles Bridges, Grant Williams
C: Mason Plumlee, Kalkbrenner

Others: Tre Mann, Okogie, Pat Connaughton, Liam McNeeley, T Saulan

Those 3rd stringers are exceptional. They are 15 deep. They are better equipped to handle injuries this season because they have crazy depth.

Yet, the depth is more in the middle & back end. They have no high end bench players. Their 1st choice bench is probably only a middle of the pack bench. It is a strange bench. Like they need to package 2-3 guys together and get an upgrade somewhere. Too many similar level players. Solid players. But no strong bench players.

Then you look at their starting lineup. Man, there are a lot of me first guys in that team. LaMelo is a me-first guy. Colin Sexton is a me-first guy. Brandon Miller is a me-first guy. Miles Bridges is a me-first guy. All those guys like to call their own number and play one on one hoop. They look like a team that should underachiever because of that. They won't play as a team.

Mason Plumlee is the only team player and he has been struggling to hold down a backup center role in the league in recent years.

The immaturity of both LaMelo and Brandon Miller make me nervous. LaMelo is a legit talent. An All-Star talent. He could even be a top 10 player in the league if he screwed his head on right. But he'd rather have fun and try to get on Sportscenter than tone it down and make simple winning plays. Brandon Miller is nothing but collection of bad habits. He doesn't impact winning at all despite his impressive talent.

So how good is the team? I have a tough time pegging this group down. They could be a .500 team. They could be a 30 win team. At least they shouldn't be a 20 win team again even if LaMelo gets hurt because they have too much quality depth.

LaMelo is the only guy in that starting lineup that can make others around him better. If he was truly committed, he could do some fun things with that group. But if he ain't, they won't even look like a team. Just 15 guys wearing the same shirt.

[Who]

Two teams I am trying to get a grip on are Charlotte and Chicago. Are they legit play-in hopefuls? Or are they not? Are they better than Boston? Or worse than Boston?

Chicago

G: Ayon Dosunma, Tre Jones, Jevon Carter
G: Coby White, K Huerter
F: Josh Giddey, I Okoro
F: Matas Buzelis, Pat Williams
C: N Vucevic, Zach Collins

I liked this team in the close of last season. They had a lot of quick ball-handling players and a bunch of 3 point shooters. They were tough to matchup with. But they got rid of Lonzo Ball. Lonzo was the only non-guard other than Giddey who could play this style. Now other than Giddey they have a very little ball-handling or passing at the forward slots.

Lonzo gave them an advantage. His size and ability to shift up a position to forward allowed them to keep all those small guards on the floor while also creating that offensive advantage in quickness, ball-handling, passing.

They just look worse without him.

I am not buying Chicago. I am going to put them 13th and rule them out as a play-in contender. Boston should finish ahead of these guys.

[Birdman]

Brooklyn & Chicago will fight for worst record in East

[Phantom255x]

9th or 10th

[Goldstar88]

Brooklyn & Chicago will fight for worst record in East

Not sure how you figure that. Chicago was almost a .500 team last year and they made the play-in.

[footey]

6th

CLE, NY, ORL, IND, MIA, BOS

BOS is not 6th in talent, but Joe is too crazy competitive. 

[Who]

Chicago had 24 wins 38 losses last year in early March. Then finished the season on a tear winning 15 of their final 21 games. That took them to 39 wins 43 losses.

Their 24-38 record was a .387 winning percentage. A 32 win team if they had of continued at the same pace.

So a lot depends on the legitimacy / sustainability of that winning tear Chicago had late in the season ... as to whether they are a threat to make the play-in / playoffs or not.

[Who]

6th

CLE, NY, ORL, IND, MIA, BOS

BOS is not 6th in talent, but Joe is too crazy competitive.

No Milwaukee or Atlanta in your top 6?

I have them as 4th and 5th. Behind the same top 3 as you have.

[Celtics4ever]

It depends on Brown and how much he can score.    I do not see us winning more than 45 games and I think 41 games is more likely and we could go as low as 36.   That will make us around the 7-10 seed in the East.  This would place us just out of the lottery. 

This guess is predicated on the roster we have now and Tatum not returning.  I do not think we will do a hard tank but a soft one.

I think they need penalties for teams that tank year after year maybe have your pick placed at the botton of the first round if you're in the lottery three years in  a row or the like.   This is as big as problem as team and aprons but on the other end.