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7 days ago

Painful Reminders (Part I): The Celtics Drafted JaJuan Johnson Instead of Jimmy Butler

On June 23rd, 2011, Brian Robb and I stood around a high top bar table in Tommy Doyle’s in Kendall Square.  Before us lay one of the biggest mounds of buffalo chicken wings I had ever endeavor to make disappear.  These 25 cent flappers- one of the few indulgences afforded to the participants of our [...]

19
7 days ago

Chris Wilcox: 2012-13 Final Grade

There are a number of contextually-appropriate ways to craft this post. One would be to forgo words entirely, and represent Chris Wilcox’s entire season with a series of videos. That would involve one part of this: For every eight parts of this: Note the headline on that second clip. Someone was so amused/enraged by Wilcox’s [...]

12
8 days ago

Rajon Rondo’s 2012-13 Final Grade

Here’s a sweeping general statement involving super specific statistics that may or may not mean anything: In the 1423 minutes Rajon Rondo played this season, the Boston Celtics were outscored by 1.3 points per 100 possessions. When he sat (including all contests after he tore his ACL), Boston was better than their opponents by 1.8 [...]

93
9 days ago

Avery Bradley Elected to NBA All-Defense Second Team

Avery Bradley has been a standout defender for the past couple seasons…in the regular season anyway. Now he has a trophy to prove it. The NBA announced this afternoon that the third-year guard has been elected by coaches around the league to the second-team all-NBA defensive team for the first time in his career. Bradley [...]

13
12 days ago

Paul Pierce’s Contract: Dispelling The Myths and Stating The Facts

The first domino to fall this offseason is Paul Pierce’s contract. Until Danny Ainge figures out what he’s doing there, little else matters. As we wait for this decision, we also must face the rest of the offseason, which means it is also rumor season. With that time of year, comes plenty of information floating [...]

42
12 days ago

Final Grade: Avery Bradley (C+)

In his third year in the league, in which promising players often make brash leaps from benchwarmer to starter, from starter to star, Avery Bradley took a big step back. But his regression might be deceptive. When he returned to the Celtics’ lineup on January the 2nd after two in-season months recovering from offseason shoulder [...]

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Season Predictions

CelticsHub contributed regular season and playoff predictions over at Chris Forsberg’s ESPN Boston Celtics Report. Here’s where our heads are at three days before the season tips:

CelticsHub’s Brian Robb (ESPN.com TrueHoop Network)
Predicted record: 41-25
Season outcome: Lose in Eastern Conference finals
Summary: The loss of Jeff Green is a major blow, but I still land on the optimistic side of the fence for this squad. After last year’s disappointment, the sense of urgency is greater than ever for the senior members of the C’s, and I see one final deep playoff run for this core. The new-look bench should help take some of the onus off the starters and with the addition of another veteran scorer (via buyout), Boston could sneak up on people. The X factors? Health and the ability for Rajon Rondo to excel consistently.

CelticsHub’s Ryan DeGama (ESPN.com TrueHoop Network)
Predicted record: 38-28
Season outcome: Lose in Eastern Conference semifinals
Summary: The compressed regular season will not only weather the aged Celtics but hang a lantern on their offensive decline. Danny Ainge wisely tried to upgrade the talent at the top of the roster but failing a Hail Mary at the trade deadline, this proud bunch will again run out of gas in the early rounds.

CelticsHub’s Brendan Jackson (ESPN.com TrueHoop Network)
Predicted record: 40-26
Season outcome: Lose in Eastern Conference finals
Summary: It’s not going to be easy, but I think the Celtics will be the third best team in the East behind Miami and Chicago. This makes them poised to play a tough Eastern Conference team in the first round that could easily bounce the older, injury prone Cs. Think Boston v. Indiana. The Celtics get bounced by the young, deep Pacers and storylines abound. David West gets to say “told ya so!” to Ray Allen and the once-Champion Celtics go down in much the same way the 2003-2008 Detroit Pistons era did. On the flip-side, say the Celtics manage to stay healthy and fresh going into the playoffs. Not only that but they also hit their stride going in and win their last 7 regular season games. They steamroll through the first round, and manage to get through the next two rounds against really tough opponents. The last hurrah is a trip to the finals where no matter the outcome, the C’s can still hold their heads high. I think ultimately it will be somewhere in between but I’ll err on the side of the positive. The Celtics will lose in the Eastern Conference finals and the Big Three era will go down in an ESPN Instant Classic dog fight. The series will be so intense that LeBron James and Dwyane Wade‘s over-celebration will be appropriate.

CelticsHub’s Hayes Davenport (ESPN.com TrueHoop Network)
Predicted record: 40-26
Season outcome: Lose in Eastern Conference semifinals
Summary: Even with the improvements made around the East, I think the Celtics are good for a playoff seed in the 3-4 range. But though they won’t be an easy matchup for anybody, I don’t see them beating Miami or Chicago in the playoffs.

Check out ESPN Boston to see everyone else’s predictions for the C’s in 2011-12.

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