How Many Games Will the Celtics Win?

[keevsnick]

Simple question, now that you've had a chance to get a look at the team in Pre-Season how many games do you think they will win? As a reference point BETMGM has the Celtics over/ under set at 40.5 wins. Will they underperform or overperform this season?

[Who]

I am feeling pessimistic today. I am going for 34 to 38 wins.

[Birdman]

I pick below 29 but hope I?m wrong.. if white or brown go down with a injury then it be below 20

[Who]

There are 11 teams in the West that I have above the Celtics. The East is more of a mess. There are 5 teams I have clearly above Boston. Then it gets muddled.

So I have Boston somewhere in the 17-24 range. It wouldn't surprise me to see them finish in that 17-21 range and be the 6th-10th seed in the East. Or in that 22-24 range and finish outside of the play-in spots.

[slamtheking]

34-38 win.  Figuring them for 37. 

they should be able to score pretty well with their guards and wings.  it's the bigs that'll get them killed on D and the boards all year.  Teams with size or active rebounders will give us a lot of trouble.  that'd be most of the league

[Who]

There are 4 teams I am confident Boston finishing ahead of in the East - Washington, Brooklyn, Toronto, Miami. They would only need to finish ahead of one more team (likely Charlotte or Chicago) to finish in a play-in spot.

[slamtheking]

There are 4 teams I am confident Boston finishing ahead of in the East - Washington, Brooklyn, Toronto, Miami. They would only need to finish ahead of one more team (likely Charlotte or Chicago) to finish in a play-in spot.

not so sure about Toronto.  they did look bad last night but they have many more players that are NBA level players that would make other teams' rotations than the C's do.  amazes me that they continue to underperform relative to their talent every year after Kawhi won them the title.

If anything I'd say it's more likely Charlotte finishes worse than the C's than Toronto

[Phantom255x]

37-45

Probably still enough for a 9 or 10 seed because the other East teams are still the dregs of the conference (Hornets, Wiz, Nets, etc.)

But yeah also if Jaylen or White go down for significant time that number easily decreases to below 30 wins.

[Who]

There are 4 teams I am confident Boston finishing ahead of in the East - Washington, Brooklyn, Toronto, Miami. They would only need to finish ahead of one more team (likely Charlotte or Chicago) to finish in a play-in spot.

not so sure about Toronto.  they did look bad last night but they have many more players that are NBA level players that would make other teams' rotations than the C's do.  amazes me that they continue to underperform relative to their talent every year after Kawhi won them the title.

If anything I'd say it's more likely Charlotte finishes worse than the C's than Toronto

Yeah, I am looking at Toronto's roster again ...

I like their starters but their bench is very poor.

G: Quickley, J Shead
G: RJ Barrett, Ja'Kobe Walter
F: B Ingram, G Dick
F: Scottie Barnes, C Murray Boyles
C: J Poeltl, Mogbo

I look at those substitutes and they are among the worst / weakest / least proven bunch of substitutes in the league. They are young. Very young. So if they get good internal improvement, they could end up with a decent bench. That is a big variable for them. However, if they don't get that improvement, that is one of the worst benches in the entire league. G Dick is the only guy of the 5 bench players that has established himself as a useful rotation player.

So then how good is the starting lineup? Let's say it is middle of the pack. A middle of the pack starting unit combined with one of the worst benches in the league is typically a team that will finish in the 20-25 range.

I am down on Toronto. I think they sucker punched themselves with that bench. That starting lineup should be a playoff team but when you fill your bench with 3rd stringers you do a lot of damage to your squad. Those guys do not just fail to add to your team but actively subtract from your team making it worse. I am not optimistic about Toronto this year.

[Roy H.]

I'm going to say 40.  I think for most of the off-season I would have thought that was wildly optimistic due to our lack of bigs, but I think the rest of our team is still quite good.  I expect to get outrebounded a lot and we'll get attacked inside, but I can still see us finishing as high as sixth in the East.

[Donoghus]

43-44 wins. Still like their chances to avoid the play in if healthy. Also, I just dont think the East is that good at all.