Projected 2023-2024 Wins

I know, it's too early, but ESPN has put out their projections, so this is as good a time and place as any to start this poll.  We'll resurrect this poll in a month, when things are more settled.


https://us.yahoo.com/sports/espn-unveils-2023-24-win-185959140.html



ESPN unveils its 2023-24 win-loss record prediction for Celtics


Nick Goss
Wed, August 23, 2023 at 11:59 AM PDT·2 min read



The Boston Celtics have not finished the regular season atop the Eastern Conference standings since 2016-17. ESPN is predicting that drought will end during the upcoming 2023-24 campaign.

We're getting to the point in the NBA offseason where season predictions are starting to roll in, and on Wednesday ESPN unveiled it's win-loss projections for each Eastern Conference team.

They have the Celtics finishing 55-27 in first place. ESPN also predicts the Milwaukee Bucks to finish a game behind the Celtics at 54-28, while the Cleveland Cavaliers are the only other East team projected to win 50-plus games at 50-32.

The Celtics have finished second in the East in back-to-back seasons. They have won 50 or more games in four of the last seven seasons. In two of those three seasons the C's didn't reach 50 wins, they won 49 (2018-19) and 48 (2019-20). So they've been pretty consistent since Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were drafted in 2016 and 2017, respectively.

On paper, the Celtics have one of their best rosters in a long time. Tatum and Brown were both All-NBA players last season. Malcolm Brogdon was the Sixth Man of the Year Award winner. Al Horford and Robert Williams are back, too. Derrick White should play a larger role as the starting point guard. The major offseason transaction was center Kristaps Porzingis being acquired from the Washington Wizards via trade and point guard Marcus Smart being dealt to the Memphis Grizzlies.

Tatum, Brown and Porzingis are all capable of scoring 20-plus points per game. The last time the Celtics had three 20-point scorers was 2019-20. Boston's roster has plenty of outside shooting, too. The Celtics ranked second in 3-point shots taken per game and sixth in 3-point percentage last season, and we should expect similar results in 2023-24.

The real question mark is defense. The departure of Smart is a huge loss on that end of the floor. Williams, Horford and Porzingis are all very good defenders, but can they stay healthy for a full season? Williams and Porzingis have long injury histories, while Horford is 37 years old. The Celtics were good defensively last season but often failed to reach the level they hit for most of 2021-22 that led to an NBA Finals berth.

Barring significant injuries, the Celtics should be the No. 1 or No. 2 seed again in the East. But ultimately, winning Banner 18 is going to determine whether the 2023-24 season is a success or failure for the Celtics.


Bob
MY NOTE:  Please tell us what you voted for and why.  Questions about defense?  Zinger's health?  Why?

No multiple choices, obviously, but vote cancelling is allowed.  So you can change your mind.


.

60. We will be better than last year. Much better.

I'm going with Worcester. Last season they won 57 games. 3 more wins would have got them to 60.

60 wins really seems very possible.

The addition of KP should make the Celtics a better offensive team, a better rebounding team and a better defensive team in the post.

With CJ having a full year under his belt of coaching the team combined with the additions of quality and experienced staff, the team should be improved.

Health is always a concern because players in all sports do get injured. However, I do not see the Celtics as being anymore prone to injury than another team.

I said 62, but there are so many unknown factors;bench production, health issues etc. My number is driven, among other things, by a belIef that Tatum and Brown will continue to improve. Tatum from 3 and Brown ballhandling and court vision.

I’m betting on KP being healthy and being a significant contributor both on offense and defense. (The amount I bet will be tiny)

It could happen, I hope it happens and I’ll go with 61 wins.

I went to a medical conference today on the use of lasers for therapy. They said short term laser therapy to the sole of the foot is very effective for plantar fascia-itis, an easy malady to remedy. Of course there's always Bob's good and proven low tech remedy of stretching the plantar fascia with rubber bands. Zinger will be ok.

worcester wrote:I went to a medical conference today on the use of lasers for therapy. They said short term laser therapy to the sole of the foot is very effective for plantar fascia-itis, an easy malady to remedy. Of course there's always Bob's good and proven low tech remedy of stretching the plantar fascia with rubber bands. Zinger will be ok.

worcester,

Yeah, but don't let me get my hands on a laser. I'll turn into a cross between Dennis the Menace and Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) playing Spaceman Spiff.


Bob


.

Dennis and Calvin morphed into one? World watch out!

Meanwhile tomorrow I'm off to Greece for the next 15 says. If I bump into Giannis, I'll ask him to request a trade to Boston.

For some reason DBoss and Worcester's votes aren't showing up in the tally.


Bob


.

bobheckler wrote:For some reason DBoss and Worcester's votes aren't showing up in the tally.


Bob


.

I guess I never actually voted.  I have now though.

I think it’s way too early for this prediction. I’d like to see them get thru training camp in one piece first. I agree with the Zinger trade, we needed an upgrade at the 4-5 and got an all star talent for peanuts. Obviously it’s all going to come down to health. Coaching should be better, J’s should be better. Gotta love our roster compared to our top rivals in East. Heat overachieve every year, I don’t know if Jimmy has enough help. Giannis’s team is older in backcourt and doesn’t have good match ups vs the J’s. Sixers in shambles because of Harden situation. If we can get 70 healthy games out of Zinger….oh Timelord should be improved. I like our roster and chances.

I went with 61. Just a feel or guess. I think this team can do it.

db

cowens/oldschool wrote:I think it’s way too early for this prediction. I’d like to see them get thru training camp in one piece first. I agree with the Zinger trade, we needed an upgrade at the 4-5 and got an all star talent for peanuts. Obviously it’s all going to come down to health. Coaching should be better, J’s should be better. Gotta love our roster compared to our top rivals in East. Heat overachieve every year, I don’t know if Jimmy has enough help. Giannis’s team is older in backcourt and doesn’t have good match ups vs the J’s. Sixers in shambles because of Harden situation. If we can get 70 healthy games out of Zinger….oh Timelord should be improved. I like our roster and chances.

Cowens

Agree with you that it comes down to health. My primary concern is if Zinger, Rob, and Brogdon can stay healthy. If so mid 50's in wins should be easy. I don't agree that we got Zinger for peanuts. We gave up a tremendous player. You can't measure what Smart did on his stats. His intangibles both on and off the court are going to be missed. I do agree we are getting a very talented player, that will provide an upgrade to our frontcourt. I do agree the Heat overachieve every year, but my concern is if they get Lilliard without giving up Bam they will be a thorn in our side again. I do like our chances though!!

Always a fun time of year.

If Boston stays healthy they will blow through a 60 win season.

cowens/oldschool wrote:I think it’s way too early for this prediction. I’d like to see them get thru training camp in one piece first. I agree with the Zinger trade, we needed an upgrade at the 4-5 and got an all star talent for peanuts. Obviously it’s all going to come down to health. Coaching should be better, J’s should be better. Gotta love our roster compared to our top rivals in East. Heat overachieve every year, I don’t know if Jimmy has enough help. Giannis’s team is older in backcourt and doesn’t have good match ups vs the J’s. Sixers in shambles because of Harden situation. If we can get 70 healthy games out of Zinger….oh Timelord should be improved. I like our roster and chances.

Cow,

Health is always an issue.  Bucks fans can come up with whatever number they want, but if Giannis blows out a knee that prediction becomes immediately useless.  Same thing here.  We could get through training camp in one piece and a key player could get injured in Game 1 of the regular season (e.g. Hayward, Gordon) and all our predictions immediately become hopelessly wrong.

Here's some assumptions I didn't include in the original post because I thought they were implicit:
1.  Everybody is as healthy as can be reasonably expected for a player playing their minutes and with their injury history.  
2.  There aren't any more significant trades, only filling out the bottom third of the bench.  

Therefore:
Zinger is healthy for camp.  The front office is claiming he will be.
Brogdon is still on the team.  I'm guessing he will be barring a blockbuster because we lost our starting point guard, Smart.
The roster we have, except for the addition of a 14th and 15th man (certainly nobody higher than 10-12th), is set.


Bob


.

Celtics17 wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:I think it’s way too early for this prediction. I’d like to see them get thru training camp in one piece first. I agree with the Zinger trade, we needed an upgrade at the 4-5 and got an all star talent for peanuts. Obviously it’s all going to come down to health. Coaching should be better, J’s should be better. Gotta love our roster compared to our top rivals in East. Heat overachieve every year, I don’t know if Jimmy has enough help. Giannis’s team is older in backcourt and doesn’t have good match ups vs the J’s. Sixers in shambles because of Harden situation. If we can get 70 healthy games out of Zinger….oh Timelord should be improved. I like our roster and chances.

Cowens

Agree with you that it comes down to health. My primary concern is if Zinger, Rob, and Brogdon can stay healthy. If so mid 50's in wins should be easy. I don't agree that we got Zinger for peanuts. We gave up a tremendous player. You can't measure what Smart did on his stats. His intangibles both on and off the court are going to be missed. I do agree we are getting a very talented player, that will provide an upgrade to our frontcourt. I do agree the Heat overachieve every year, but my concern is if they get Lilliard without giving up Bam they will be a thorn in our side again. I do like our chances though!!

We got rid of Smart and GWill after the Zinger trade which was Muscala and Gallinari and a pick at first I believe, then Smart was added later for Brogdon; but he didn’t go to Wizards, GWill went later too. If a big if, if we can stay healthy and agree Zinger, Rob and Brogdon all have to stay healthy, this is a great trade, exactly what we need. We actually have more intriguing size everywhere on this new roster. Maybe it wasn’t a total bag of peanuts, but Wizards sure didn’t get much compared to the haul Danny got for Gorbert.

Rosalie,

I believe this is the thread you were looking for.

We always seem to run this out a bit early, in this case late August, way before we got to see the team in action. No matter, many picks in the 60s, so fan confidence was high early on.

Can I update my vote?  I had them winning 60.

Now I think they will win more games.

Jrleftfoot came the closest with 62 wins.