With the current roster, is the Celts a playoff team??

[Celtics4ever]

  I'll go out on a limb and say that every team in the league hasn't improved. Some will be better, some will be worse.

I think it is safe to say we will be worse than last year.

[eugen]

The Celtics were 41-40 with KG and Pierce and basically every team in the league improved this off season.  I really don't get the posters on this site sometimes.  We won't win 30 games

TP. We won't win 20-25 games

[GreenEnvy]

I can still see

the Raptors
the Sixers
the Bucks
the Magic
the Bobcats
the Hawks
the Pistons
the Cavs
and
the Wizards

as Eastern Conference teams that we could be better than next season.

Doubt it for Wizards, Pistons, Hawks, Cavs.

50/50 Bobcats, Bucks, Raptors.

Probably better than Magic.

Definitely better than Sixers.

[LooseCannon]

Stevens was a defense-first coach at Butler.  With most of a full season of a Bradley/Rondo backcourt, I can see him putting together a top-10 team on defense.  It might require finding a cheap but adequate true center on defense, but it is possible.  Add that to Bradley making at least 37% of his threes and Olynyk also being a perimeter threat while playing acceptable NBA defense, and I can see the offense being good enough to make it into the playoffs when paired with maybe the 8th or 9th best defense in PPP.

[LooseCannon]

I can still see

the Raptors
the Sixers
the Bucks
the Magic
the Bobcats
the Hawks
the Pistons
the Cavs
and
the Wizards

as Eastern Conference teams that we could be better than next season.

Doubt it for Wizards, Pistons, Hawks, Cavs.

50/50 Bobcats, Bucks, Raptors.

Probably better than Magic.

Definitely better than Sixers.

Out of the teams you listed as "doubt it", I'd expect 1-2 of them to find a way through injury, bad coaching, or stupidity to find a way to lose more games than the Celtics.

[Kane3387]

I don't believe so. Our defense will take a hit and we will likely be worse at finishing games and winning close ones.

I see us as of now in the bottom 7 or 8. You can't just lose Kevin Garnett and Paul pierce for nothing from a player standpoint and replace rivers with Stevens and think we will be as good as we were last year. We were 41-40 and the 7th seed.

[wdleehi]

I can still see

the Raptors
the Sixers
the Bucks
the Magic
the Bobcats
the Hawks
the Pistons
the Cavs
and
the Wizards

as Eastern Conference teams that we could be better than next season.

Doubt it for Wizards, Pistons, Hawks, Cavs.

50/50 Bobcats, Bucks, Raptors.

Probably better than Magic.

Definitely better than Sixers.

The Wizards were 24-20 once Wall came back from his injury last year.  That's a better winning % then the Celtics last year.  I would put them ahead of this current Celtics team.

[mmmmm]

I can still see

the Raptors
the Sixers
the Bucks
the Magic
the Bobcats
the Hawks
the Pistons
the Cavs
and
the Wizards

as Eastern Conference teams that we could be better than next season.

I think this is the central issue.   Yes, it is definitely possible a couple of those teams end up better than the Celtics.

But there is also a legitimate possibility that none of those teams do.

[lightspeed5]

-bucks are for sure a playoff team, no idea why it was on that list.
-cavs are a playoff or borderline playoff team. to think otherwise would be to undermine that teams talent.

-wiz with john wall recovered will be much better, potentially playoff team but borderline.

-piston with josh smith are now a playoff or borderline playoff team


we're in the same bad boat with the magic, bobcats, raptors and sixers, but the sixers may be better with noel, bobcats have al jefferson which is better, magic have harkless/harris/vucevic growing, and raptors with rudy gay were better.... we're stuck with gerald freakin wallace and jeff green


we're for sure the top 4-5 worst teams in the east, but could easily be the  worst team to 3rd worst depending on magic, bobcats, and raptors performance.

[eugen]

I see a lot of people being super high optimistic about reaching playoff. This optimism is coming from where? From Mr Kardashian? From junky players of Chinese league? Or from new "coach"?

[rondoallaturca]

I can still see

the Raptors
the Sixers
the Bucks
the Magic
the Bobcats
the Hawks
the Pistons
the Cavs
and
the Wizards

as Eastern Conference teams that we could be better than next season.

The only teams we'd be better than would be the Sixers and the Magic, and MAYBE the Bobcats and Cavs. Add in the Suns and potentially Utah in the West, and that makes Boston a bottom 5 or 6 team in the league.

[lightspeed5]

I can still see

the Raptors
the Sixers
the Bucks
the Magic
the Bobcats
the Hawks
the Pistons
the Cavs
and
the Wizards

as Eastern Conference teams that we could be better than next season.

The only teams we'd be better than would be the Sixers and the Magic, and MAYBE the Bobcats and Cavs. Add in the Suns and potentially Utah in the West, and that makes Boston a bottom 5 or 6 team in the league.

i dont see us being better than the cavs

[LooseCannon]

-bucks are for sure a playoff team, no idea why it was on that list.

No team should be considered a lock for the playoffs unless it can withstand injuries.  Will the Bucks be in the playoffs if their top two players both miss at least a third of the season?

I could easily see the Bucks getting off to a slow start and becomes one of those dysfunctional locker room teams.  I could see OJ Mayo being much worse than people expect and having a terrible year.  I can also seeing the team over-achieve and surprise people, but missing the playoffs wouldn't be a shock.

[slamtheking]

I can still see

the Raptors
the Sixers
the Bucks
the Magic
the Bobcats
the Hawks
the Pistons
the Cavs
and
the Wizards

as Eastern Conference teams that we could be better than next season.

Cavs, Pistons, Wizards, Bucks, Hawks no.  Raptors and Sixers probably not.  Magic possibly not -- depends on how their youth has developed. 

Only see the Bobcats as a definite.  If things go 'right' for the C's, where
- Rondo and Sully come back fully healthy
- Green plays like he did in the second half of the season
- Lee and Bass find their shots
- at least one of Crawford or Brooks has a break through season
- two of Olynyk, Iverson or Melo has a good season
- Humphries plays his butt off for that next contract
- Wallace shows signs of life and plays like he did 3 years ago
AND the rest of the East with marginal talent goes into tank mode

THEN the C's could make the playoffs

[Celtics18]

-bucks are for sure a playoff team, no idea why it was on that list.

No team should be considered a lock for the playoffs unless it can withstand injuries.  Will the Bucks be in the playoffs if their top two players both miss at least a third of the season?

I could easily see the Bucks getting off to a slow start and becomes one of those dysfunctional locker room teams.  I could see OJ Mayo being much worse than people expect and having a terrible year.  I can also seeing the team over-achieve and surprise people, but missing the playoffs wouldn't be a shock.

I may have missed something, but I'm not sure what the Bucks have done to get better.  I don't see Mayo as an improvement on Ellis.  I do like Sanders, and think he'll continue to improve.  They've got some talent, but are still very young.  I'm not a believer in Brandon Jennings. 

Miami, New York, New Jersey, Indiana, and probably Chicago look to be virtual locks for the playoffs.  The Hawks lost Smith, but picked up Millsap.  They'll likely be a playoff team again.  That leaves two spots up for grabs as far as I can see.  I don't see any reason why we couldn't claim one of those spots.