Stein has Celtics Ranked 6th in Today's Power Ranking

[saltlover]

If Lebron James back starts to get bad, we have a very good shot at beating literally anyone in the East in a 7 game series with our depth.

Toronto, ATL, Chicago, Miami are all beatable for us.
It's the Cavs that belong in that Spurs, GSW, and perhaps Clippers category of true contenders.

Could we beat the best team in the West over 7 games?
75% no.
But we could take them to 6 games and look to add some free agents.
If you replaced Sully and Amir with Kevin Love and DeAndre Jordan we'd be a true contender with Avery/Smart/IT/Olynyk filling out our playoff rotation.

Depth doesn't matter in the playoffs.

Depth matters less in the playoffs, but it still matters.  Injuries happen.  Being able to try out different lineups in a long series has value.  It doesn't wipe away a massive talent disparity like it can in the regular season, but it can keep you in a series as you hope for an opponent injury to lessen the talent disparity.

[Vermont Green]

I like Indiana, Miami, Atlanta, Clippers, Houston, Grizzlies as teams that I think will be better than the Celtics once things settle out.

I think Orlando, Detroit, Dallas, Bucks are all teams that are about as good as the Celtics and some of them could be ahead of us by the end of the season. 

I actually think Washington has more talent than us and that the Knicks will improve too but at this point, these teams may not be able to dig out of their current rut.

I am surprised by these rankings.  The Celtics certainly seem to be the "sexy" sleeper pick right now.

[Mr Green]

On the one hand, I'm happy to see the Celts ranked so high, and I think they've played some impressive ball lately so it's a defensible ranking.

On the other hand, when was the last time half of the top 10 of the Power Rankings, this far into the season, was made up of teams with zero shot to even make the Finals, let alone win the title?

The list of contenders this year is really short.  Like, Golden State is almost certainly going to win the title as long as they stay healthy, but what competition do they even have, aside from the Spurs, Cavs, and perhaps the Thunder?

IMO even just thinking that anyone can beat the Warriors is looking like a bit of a stretch.

Call me crazy but I absolutely think the Spurs could beat the Warriors in a 7 Game series

I agree with you.

[chambers]

If Lebron James back starts to get bad, we have a very good shot at beating literally anyone in the East in a 7 game series with our depth.

Toronto, ATL, Chicago, Miami are all beatable for us.
It's the Cavs that belong in that Spurs, GSW, and perhaps Clippers category of true contenders.

Could we beat the best team in the West over 7 games?
75% no.
But we could take them to 6 games and look to add some free agents.
If you replaced Sully and Amir with Kevin Love and DeAndre Jordan we'd be a true contender with Avery/Smart/IT/Olynyk filling out our playoff rotation.

Depth doesn't matter in the playoffs.

Depth matters less in the playoffs, but it still matters.  Injuries happen.  Being able to try out different lineups in a long series has value.  It doesn't wipe away a massive talent disparity like it can in the regular season, but it can keep you in a series as you hope for an opponent injury to lessen the talent disparity.

It's not just health, it's our style of play.
We are winning because our defense is relentless. We throw everything at the starting lineup, and then throw everything at the bench unit of every team we play. We have an offense that revolves around ball movement and moving the defense with it- exhausting them mentally and physically.

Our ability to do this is because of our depth.

It's about wearing teams down with suffocating defense and then making them defend the fast break, and stopping the fast breaks off turnovers isn't something that you can suddenly stop from happening because it's the playoffs.

We play harder than anyone, for a longer amount of time than anyone, and we can do this because of our bench depth- that's how we make up for our lack of All Star caliber talent.

[BDeCosta26]

I like Indiana, Miami, Atlanta, Clippers, Houston, Grizzlies as teams that I think will be better than the Celtics once things settle out.

I think Orlando, Detroit, Dallas, Bucks are all teams that are about as good as the Celtics and some of them could be ahead of us by the end of the season. 

I actually think Washington has more talent than us and that the Knicks will improve too but at this point, these teams may not be able to dig out of their current rut.

I am surprised by these rankings.  The Celtics certainly seem to be the "sexy" sleeper pick right now.

I'm not that surprised. We've looked pretty good all year, and were 5-2 in our last 7. Including the extremely close losses to SA and GSW. We've beaten Chicago, Miami, Charlotte, Sacto and NO in that span too. All teams some or all of the talking heads thought would be better than us. People are starting to believe in Boston's ability to climb towards the top of the EC and I don't blame them. It's hard to imagine us going on a significant slide with all our depth.

Way I look at it, the Spurs, Warriors, Cavs and Thunder (if healthy) are the 4 legit title contenders.

Behind them (especially in the East) things get jumbled. I would say the next tier includes teams like LAC, Toronto, Chicago, Boston, Miami and Houston (if they can keep their act together) and MAYBE Memphis (Looks like they're starting to slip though)

After that, the third tier is really close to the second, but includes teams like Orlando, Detroit, Milwaukee, Charlotte and Utah.

If we keep playing the way we have recently, there's no reason this Celtics team can't win 47-50 games and be in the top 4 in the EC. If that happens, I like our chances for a 2nd round or ECF run. Never know what'll happen on the trade front though.

As I keep reading on other teams game threads when they play us. "Man, if Durant played for Boston they'd be a title contender". Were closer than a lot of us believed at the start of the season. I think it's clear we're better than a 35-40 win team.

[i believe in brad]

I like Indiana, Miami, Atlanta, Clippers, Houston, Grizzlies as teams that I think will be better than the Celtics once things settle out.

I think Orlando, Detroit, Dallas, Bucks are all teams that are about as good as the Celtics and some of them could be ahead of us by the end of the season. 

I actually think Washington has more talent than us and that the Knicks will improve too but at this point, these teams may not be able to dig out of their current rut.

I am surprised by these rankings.  The Celtics certainly seem to be the "sexy" sleeper pick right now.

I think most teams around us in the standings have more talent than us - but that's not the only factor in winning (regular season) games.

To me we're a classic example of "whole is greater than sum of its parts".  It's the driving force behind our team and I for one love watching it unfold. 

I think it's fair to say a top 3 seed in the East and some sort of playoff run is not out of the question, and that's as we stand now.  In my eyes any talent upgrade greatly improves those chances and even raises that ceiling because I think Brad will get the most out of anyone who joins the squad.

[slamtheking]

I am surprised by these rankings.  The Celtics certainly seem to be the "sexy" sleeper pick right now.

when I heard we were ranked 6th in the mythical power rankings, this is exactly what I thought.

[cb8883]

The only two teams that matter this year is Golden State and Cleveland. That's going to be the finals again and the King will probably win this time around. That being said how is a team barely over .500 in the 6th spot? I assume it's because of how hard they played the Warriors.

[loco_91]

I like Indiana, Miami, Atlanta, Clippers, Houston, Grizzlies as teams that I think will be better than the Celtics once things settle out.

I think Orlando, Detroit, Dallas, Bucks are all teams that are about as good as the Celtics and some of them could be ahead of us by the end of the season. 

I actually think Washington has more talent than us and that the Knicks will improve too but at this point, these teams may not be able to dig out of their current rut.

I am surprised by these rankings.  The Celtics certainly seem to be the "sexy" sleeper pick right now.

I'm not that surprised. We've looked pretty good all year, and were 5-2 in our last 7. Including the extremely close losses to SA and GSW. We've beaten Chicago, Miami, Charlotte, Sacto and NO in that span too. All teams some or all of the talking heads thought would be better than us. People are starting to believe in Boston's ability to climb towards the top of the EC and I don't blame them. It's hard to imagine us going on a significant slide with all our depth.

Way I look at it, the Spurs, Warriors, Cavs and Thunder (if healthy) are the 4 legit title contenders.

Behind them (especially in the East) things get jumbled. I would say the next tier includes teams like LAC, Toronto, Chicago, Boston, Miami and Houston (if they can keep their act together) and MAYBE Memphis (Looks like they're starting to slip though)

After that, the third tier is really close to the second, but includes teams like Orlando, Detroit, Milwaukee, Charlotte and Utah.

If we keep playing the way we have recently, there's no reason this Celtics team can't win 47-50 games and be in the top 4 in the EC. If that happens, I like our chances for a 2nd round or ECF run. Never know what'll happen on the trade front though.

As I keep reading on other teams game threads when they play us. "Man, if Durant played for Boston they'd be a title contender". Were closer than a lot of us believed at the start of the season. I think it's clear we're better than a 35-40 win team.

I agree with this assessment. Though it's kind of tough to put the top 4 teams into one tier when there's sooo much space between them-- W's are way better than the Spurs, and the Spurs are way better than the Cavs/Thunder. Those gaps are arguably bigger than the gap between the best team in the 2nd tier and the worst team in the 3rd tier.

Anyway, the C's are competitive with all but 4 teams in the league. I'll take it!

[Endless Paradise]

The only two teams that matter this year is Golden State and Cleveland. That's going to be the finals again and the King will probably win this time around. That being said how is a team barely over .500 in the 6th spot? I assume it's because of how hard they played the Warriors.

lol, as if the Spurs haven't actually been better than the Warriors over the past 15 games and as if Kevin Durant is chopped liver.

I agree with this assessment. Though it's kind of tough to put the top 4 teams into one tier when there's sooo much space between them-- W's are way better than the Spurs, and the Spurs are way better than the Cavs/Thunder. Those gaps are arguably bigger than the gap between the best team in the 2nd tier and the worst team in the 3rd tier.

By what metrics are the Warriors "way better than the Spurs"? Because the Spurs have them in margin of victory, trail them slightly in point differential, and have a significantly better defense.

Even with the Warriors' historic 24-game win streak to start the season... the Spurs trail them by 3.5 games.

[fairweatherfan]

By what metrics are the Warriors "way better than the Spurs"? Because the Spurs have them in margin of victory, trail them slightly in point differential, and have a significantly better defense.

Even with the Warriors' historic 24-game win streak to start the season... the Spurs trail them by 3.5 games.

Agree that the Spurs are inexplicably flying under the radar yet again, but what's the difference between the bolded?  I thought they were essentially the same thing.  Pace adjustment?

[Endless Paradise]

By what metrics are the Warriors "way better than the Spurs"? Because the Spurs have them in margin of victory, trail them slightly in point differential, and have a significantly better defense.

Even with the Warriors' historic 24-game win streak to start the season... the Spurs trail them by 3.5 games.

Agree that the Spurs are inexplicably flying under the radar yet again, but what's the difference between the bolded?  I thought they were the same thing.  Pace adjustment?

Huh. This entire time, I'd always been believed margin of victory to be literal - that is the point differential specifically in wins versus total point differential. Guess that's not true. I do know NBA.com and other websites have slightly different ways of computing point differential and net rating, though.

But that said, I'd mistakenly referred to point differential when I meant SRS. The Warriors currently are 3rd in NBA history in SRS, while the Spurs are fifth (and the Thunder when Durant plays, surprisingly, are 10th - just ahead of the 2007-08 Celtics).

[BudweiserCeltic]

The only two teams that matter this year is Golden State and Cleveland. That's going to be the finals again and the King will probably win this time around. That being said how is a team barely over .500 in the 6th spot? I assume it's because of how hard they played the Warriors.

Maybe because there are 24 or so other teams that are barely over .500 (by your definition) or worse?

Also over the last 10 games the only team that has had a better record than us and not ranked higher than us is the Clippers (who have had a very up and down season as it is).

The Celtics also have the 5th best average point differential in the league.

So the Celtics being ranked #6 based on how they've played so far and such is not as outlandish as some want to make it at the moment.

[MJohnnyboy]

The only two teams that matter this year is Golden State and Cleveland. That's going to be the finals again and the King will probably win this time around. That being said how is a team barely over .500 in the 6th spot? I assume it's because of how hard they played the Warriors.

Maybe because there are 24 or so other teams that are barely over .500 (by your definition) or worse?

Also over the last 10 games the only team that has had a better record than us and not ranked higher than us is the Clippers (who have had a very up and down season as it is).

The Celtics also have the 5th best average point differential in the league.

So the Celtics being ranked #6 based on how they've played so far and such is not as outlandish as some want to make it at the moment.

That and the Clips haven't beaten anyone that good.

Remember when the Celtics gave up their core guys from their contender days to the Nets (KG and Pierce), Mavericks (Rondo), and Clippers (Doc)? To think that they're better than all those teams in such a short amount of time later... Wow, Brad is a miracle worker.

[footey]

And a little room to move up -- at least past Toronto. 

Surprising parity (mediocrity) this year leaves the C's either in position for a fun non-championship run, OR, a big trade for a star to perhaps move in or near the real contenders.

I think we have the potential to make the finals as is, without a roster move, but not win a championship. No one in the Eastern Conference scares me, including the Cavs. Although I may eat my words when Irving comes back.