Celtics: By The Numbers
125/1…The Boston Celtics odds in Vegas to win the NBA championship. They aren’t quite there yet. While this team has made improvements to their roster, people clamoring to see a big jump from this team need to temper their expectations.
15/2… This is the formula that Coach Brad Stevens hopes is going to work for him. A standard NBA Championship contender has two superstars and five to six rotational players. The Celtics have zero superstars and 15 rotational players, making them probably the deepest team in the NBA. So, Stevens is hoping his 15 rotational players will ware down two superstars, because they will all remain fresh with lower usage.
20 to 25… This is the minute limit that Stevens has put on his players, saying he wants no one to play over 20 to 25 minutes a night. The upside to this is his players stay fresh and possibly avoid injuries. The downside; its hard to get a rhythm going if you do not get the minutes.
3…This is number of years that it will be most likely take before the Celtics are competing for an NBA Title.
The Celtics have potentially one building block on this team in Marcus Smart, and the faster he continues to grow the faster the rebuilding process will go. Smart needs to get into the paint with authority and get to the free throw line, something he was not able to do last year, averaging only 1.9 free throw attempts per game.
If he can improve and the Celtics can land a superstar in the next draft from Brooklyn’s unprotected first round pick (Celtics own from Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett trade). Brooklyn is a team to watch as there is a good chance they are one of the worst teams in the league.
