Hollinger predicts Celtics go 54-28...

[the_Bird]

See, I think 54 games is low, but I don't think it's THAT low.  f I were guessing, I'd put the over/under at about 57. 

I fully expect it'll take a while for KG to get back to being KG, and that he'll be held out a fair number of games (if the knee gets sore or starts tightening up, they'll hold him out). 

Given the ages of Paul and Ray, I think you've almost got to expect that they'll miss a few games here and there as well.  They won't push it, the mission will be to get into the playoffs as healthy as possible, so we'll see plenty of games where they're only on the court for ~30 minutes, and they'll also err on the side of caution when the inevitable bumps and bruises start to accumulate.

As to last years' win total, we began the year absolutely on fire, I'm not sure it's realistic to expect THAT kind of start again; just a more normal start to the season and you're looking at a few less wins.

In general, though, I think they're going to be a little more on cruise control - get through the season intact, try and ramp things up later in the season but don't kill themselves and burn themselves out going for the #1 seed. 

So, 57 sounds about right to me, and if Paul or Ray misses any significant amount of time (which has to be considered a risk - not an absoloute, but a risk), there's still a pretty steep talent dropoff still to Daniels.

[wdleehi]

I love these types of predictions. 



I love it when the experts do not blow smoke up the team's rear but instead tell them they are not as good as there were or they think. 


Let's give the team one more reason to go into the season wanting to prove their greatness. 

[Birdbrain]

Doubt it they are headed for 65 + and home court adv.  Of course they will be overly concerned with resting KG, PP and Allen so while the pt diff might be low the wins won't.

Go C's.

[drza44]

I'm on an island, apparently, but I really think they blow this regular season out.  The whole trend from the last two regular seasons is that they have been well on 65-win pace even without going all-in every night.  Last year before the injury, there were nights that the Celts were absolutely coasting to wins.  And that was with a second unit that quickly gave up several leads that the starters built.

Now?

The first unit is more motivated than last year, and the second unit should be DRAMATICALLY improved.  Like the hey-day Spurs with Manu, our second unit should be coming in and increasing leads.

Barring another catastrophic injury, I'll be shocked if this season doesn't produce the highest win total of the KG/PP/Allen era. 

[BudweiserCeltic]

I'm on an island, apparently, but I really think they blow this regular season out.  The whole trend from the last two regular seasons is that they have been well on 65-win pace even without going all-in every night.  Last year before the injury, there were nights that the Celts were absolutely coasting to wins.  And that was with a second unit that quickly gave up several leads that the starters built.

Not entirely accurate though. Earlier in the season, it was the 2nd unit that was giving us chances to win because our first unit was having some really slow starts.

It wasn't really until Rondo cameout saying that he was playing like crap, which he was, and turned it around. At that point, our first unit was looking better than ever, and our 2nd unit slowed down a bit. But overall, our 2nd unit was doing their job earlier in the season in my opinion. Paul Pierce wasn't playing well either, even though he came into the season in great shape. He had some 2nd half/4th quarter heroics though early on.

Eddie House wasn't playing particularly well during the first two months, his shooting wasn't there. Tony Allen was playing pretty good though. Then there was Big Baby who was forcing his midrange jumper, trying to develop it into a weapon (which paid off later on in the season).

So in all, if our bench was healthy throughout the season, our 2nd unit would've been more than OK.

Right now we're substantially better, but it wasn't like our bench was as awful as people are trying to make it out to be. Circumstances (injuries) made it particularly bad.

[drza44]

I'm on an island, apparently, but I really think they blow this regular season out.  The whole trend from the last two regular seasons is that they have been well on 65-win pace even without going all-in every night.  Last year before the injury, there were nights that the Celts were absolutely coasting to wins.  And that was with a second unit that quickly gave up several leads that the starters built.

Not entirely accurate though. Earlier in the season, it was the 2nd unit that was giving us chances to win because our first unit was having some really slow starts.

It wasn't really until Rondo cameout saying that he was playing like crap, which he was, and turned it around. At that point, our first unit was looking better than ever, and our 2nd unit slowed down a bit. But overall, our 2nd unit was doing their job earlier in the season in my opinion. Paul Pierce wasn't playing well either, even though he came into the season in great shape. He had some 2nd half/4th quarter heroics though early on.

Eddie House wasn't playing particularly well during the first two months, his shooting wasn't there. Tony Allen was playing pretty good though. Then there was Big Baby who was forcing his midrange jumper, trying to develop it into a weapon (which paid off later on in the season).

So in all, if our bench was healthy throughout the season, our 2nd unit would've been more than OK.

Right now we're substantially better, but it wasn't like our bench was as awful as people are trying to make it out to be. Circumstances (injuries) made it particularly bad.

A season has peaks and troughs for all involved.  The starters did have periods of playing slow, but the bench did as well as epitomized by the stretch where they blew huge leads in consecutive games which led directly to KG blowing up on them and making Big Baby cry.

The point is, this starting unit has been the foundation for consecutive mid-60s win seasons with win margins up around 10 (indicating relative ease) with our best 3 players averaging only about 35 mpg each.  Add to that the the second unit, which has alternated between being an asset and a weakness, is looking to be vastly improved over anything we've seen.  Yes, there are some injury/age concerns, but barring another catastrophic injury problem I think the odds are that this team should win more games this season than in the previous ones.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I'm on an island, apparently, but I really think they blow this regular season out.  The whole trend from the last two regular seasons is that they have been well on 65-win pace even without going all-in every night.  Last year before the injury, there were nights that the Celts were absolutely coasting to wins.  And that was with a second unit that quickly gave up several leads that the starters built.

Not entirely accurate though. Earlier in the season, it was the 2nd unit that was giving us chances to win because our first unit was having some really slow starts.

It wasn't really until Rondo cameout saying that he was playing like crap, which he was, and turned it around. At that point, our first unit was looking better than ever, and our 2nd unit slowed down a bit. But overall, our 2nd unit was doing their job earlier in the season in my opinion. Paul Pierce wasn't playing well either, even though he came into the season in great shape. He had some 2nd half/4th quarter heroics though early on.

Eddie House wasn't playing particularly well during the first two months, his shooting wasn't there. Tony Allen was playing pretty good though. Then there was Big Baby who was forcing his midrange jumper, trying to develop it into a weapon (which paid off later on in the season).

So in all, if our bench was healthy throughout the season, our 2nd unit would've been more than OK.

Right now we're substantially better, but it wasn't like our bench was as awful as people are trying to make it out to be. Circumstances (injuries) made it particularly bad.

A season has peaks and troughs for all involved.  The starters did have periods of playing slow, but the bench did as well as epitomized by the stretch where they blew huge leads in consecutive games which led directly to KG blowing up on them and making Big Baby cry.

The point is, this starting unit has been the foundation for consecutive mid-60s win seasons with win margins up around 10 (indicating relative ease) with our best 3 players averaging only about 35 mpg each.  Add to that the the second unit, which has alternated between being an asset and a weakness, is looking to be vastly improved over anything we've seen.  Yes, there are some injury/age concerns, but barring another catastrophic injury problem I think the odds are that this team should win more games this season than in the previous ones.

Not only is there an improvement in talent this year (not really my concern last year), there's better depth this year, and that will be huge plus.

[footey]

I will be disappointed if we win less than 65.

[slamtheking]

As to last years' win total, we began the year absolutely on fire, I'm not sure it's realistic to expect THAT kind of start again; just a more normal start to the season and you're looking at a few less wins.

True, I wouldn't expect them to start 27-2 again this year but on the other hand, I don't expect them to have the same freefall as last year right after that hotstreak.  I don't think 54 or 57 wins is in the ballpark for this team if healthy.  I figure 65 would be in the ballpark barring any surprise/major injuries.

They may be resting the starters to some extent but they're still going out there to win.  It's not like we don't have a deep and solid bench to provide minutes this year either.