NBA analyst projects stunning shift for Boston Celtics in Eastern Conference
NBA.com writer John Schuhmann put together his offseason East power rankings this week and projected Boston to finish 12th in the Eastern Conference behind teams such as the Toronto Raptors and Chicago Bulls. The main reason? A skepticism about the team's depth in the frontcourt after the departures of Kristaps Porzingis, Luke Kornet and Al Horford.
'What talent remains in Boston is all on the perimeter,' Schuhmann wrote. 'As things stand, their bigs are Neemias Queta, Luka Garza and Xavier Tillman, with Niang probably set to play a lot of minutes at the four. That group is going to struggle matching up with the frontlines of the top six teams in these rankings. The Celtics could set another record for 3-point rate, creating high variance from game to game and quarter to quarter. But the quality of those looks will certainly go down without Jayson Tatum's creation and with opposing defenses able to help off of pieces of the rotation more than they could in years past.'
The NBA.com projection puts Boston only above deep lottery teams like the Hornets, Wizards and Nets in the East, putting Boston in range for a high lottery pick potentially. However, it's far different outlook from the betting odds consensus right now, which still pegs Boston as a East playoff team with an over/under win total of 42.5 for next season. Brad Stevens has made clear this offseason that the team plans on competing despite major losses from their title team.
'I never put a ceiling on any team,' Brad Stevens said in July. 'We were fortunate to have a number of teams there as we led up to this kind of window that were really fun, and that I thought never really cared about ceilings and had a chip on their shoulders. I expected this team will, too. The last time that Jaylen Brown was on a team that was doubted was a long time ago. The last time that Payton Pritchard's been on a team that was doubted -- he probably hasn't been. I mean, you go down the list, Derrick White and all these guys. I'm excited to see what this team has in store. I know Joe's excited.'
The Celtics will open up training camp with their new-look roster in the first week of October.
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