With the release of the 2022-23 NBA schedule this past Wednesday now firmly in the rearview mirror, fans and analysts can begin the annual tradition of trying to prognosticate how many wins their favorite team ought to have in the season to come.
The Boston Celtics, who had an overall regular season record of 51-31 in the 2021-22 season just past, are seen by many as the team to beat not only in the league’s Eastern Conference but also for the 2023 NBA Championship. So you would expect to see a significant boost in the number of wins projected by the team, right?
A boost, perhaps, but not exactly a “significant” one in at least one corner of the NBA media sphere, but rather than explain it ourselves, we’ll let Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey tell you in his own words.
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“The players jettisoned by the Boston Celtics this offseason (Aaron Nesmith, Daniel Theis, Malik Fitts, Nik Stauskas, and Juwan Morgan) barely combined for 1,000 minutes last season,” begins the B/R analyst.
“All the most important rotation players from the East’s 2022 Finals representative are back, and they’re now joined by Malcolm Brogdon and Danilo Gallinari.”
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“So, why only one more win than last season?” asks Bailey rhetorically.
“Development from Grant Williams should help, but there’s no guarantee 36-year-old Al Horford will be the picture of durability he was in 2021-22. After all, that season came on the heels of nearly a full year of rest with the Oklahoma City Thunder. This one follows a deep playoff run. The other factor is just a general sense of conservatism that should accompany a prediction like this.”
“It’s hard to win 50 games in the NBA, and the Eastern Conference boasts multiple potential title contenders, including the Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets, and the Toronto Raptors in Boston’s division,” he suggests.
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And while it might be a stretch to suggest that the Raptors, as currently constructed, are a contending team, they could perhaps become one if trades we’d prefer not to discuss end up involving them.
We probably haven’t seen the end of the ascensions from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown,” suggests the Bleacher Report writer, seemingly contradicting his argument. “Marcus Smart is still in his prime.”
“Robert Williams III is one of the league’s underrated wild cards,” Bailey continues, “but Boston will now have more of a target on its back.
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That in particular, and the fact that, as the author notes, “parity is increasing throughout the league,” coupled with the potential for Horford to take a step back in terms of availability, ability, or both, is a fair reason to hedge one’s bets in terms of win potential.
We’re on record at a higher win total for the upcoming season, but this is a reasonable if conservative estimate of what the Celtics’ record very well may look like by the end of the next season.
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