My Celtics Season Preview

Today is one of my favorite days of the year. As a man who loves both pomp and circumstance, it stands to reason that I love opening night in every sport. There is just something about the way everyone is full of hope about the upcoming season that puts an extra spring in my step. Right now all the players are healthy, every coaching decision is the right one and every team has a shot to make the playoffs if everything goes their way. However, this opening night is especially buzz-filled because it features a clash of two of the super teams in the NBA: The Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat.

After being six minutes and a healthy Kendrick Perkins away from another banner, the Celtics went out and completely reloaded the team. They brought in veteran big men Shaquille and Jermaine O'Neal, re-signed guards Nate Robinson and Ray Allen and also added free agent Delonte West. But, perhaps the biggest addition is a healthy Kevin Garnett, who is now a full season and a half removed from knee surgery and appears to have most of his lift back. He might never be back to where he was before getting hurt in Utah, but he's miles ahead of where he was last season. You could see in the preseason that he has a lift in his jump that was never evident last year. Add to that solid bench guys like Big Baby and Luke Harangody and this team looks 10 players deep. Even though they made the Finals last June, it is not a stretch to say this team is miles ahead of that squad.

In my opinion, the team has two main obstacles this season: health and morale. The guys the Celtics brought in add a lot of veteran leadership, which is a polite way of saying they are old. Guys like the O'Neals need to stay healthy or else all the offseason moves were for nothing. After all, you can't rebound wearing street clothes and sitting on the bench. The good news is that if we learned anything from last year's big playoff push it is that Head Coach Doc Rivers knows how to manage a veteran team. No need to kill yourself playing 45 minutes in January if you're planning to play until late June. Doc will carefully monitor every player's minutes and make sure that they don't burn themselves out trying to win 70 games in a season. It is not a stretch to assume everyone on the roster will be called upon to play a few crucial minutes as the season wears on, which is why it was so necessary to improve on the depth of last year's team. Still, there is a flipside: when you add this many players who are used to playing a lot of minutes it becomes a balancing act to keep the guys who's minutes they are taking happy. The fear is that guys like Glen Davis aren't going to get the playing time they have been accustomed to over the last couple of seasons and they might feel the need to make those minutes count when they do get into the game, disrupting the flow of the offense. You just keep your fingers crossed that everyone will be able to get enough touches so that it doesn't become a problem as the season wears on.

That aside, it's not like the Celtics won't have any issues to deal with from outside their own locker room. Every other team in the Eastern Conference seemed to have re-loaded their squad for this season as well. It (of course) starts with the Heat bringing in an All-Star team of guys like LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Mike Miller to team with Dwayne Wade. But, even the middle-of-the-pack teams made big free agent moves. The Knicks brought in A'mare Stoudemire, the Nets are most likely going to have Carmelo Anthony by the trading deadline, a good Bulls team added Carlos Boozer and even the Wizards lucked out in drafting talented rookie John Wall. In addition to all of that, the stacked Orlando Magic are still lurking around the upper level of the NBA and frisky teams like the Charlotte Bobcats are only going to get better with experience. Whoever comes out of the Eastern Conference will definitely have earned it.

Now, because the Celtics know that their goal is another banner and not a lot of regular season wins, I am not expecting them to run away with the East's #1 seed. In fact, I would not be surprised to see them finish third or even fourth in the conference, winning around 58 games. This is a team built for the playoffs and that is when I see the Celtics really turning it on. They have the size to out-rebound the Heat and Shaq is here to make guys like Dwight Howard work for every basket. To be honest, the more I think about it, I'm really not all that worried about their ability to get passed the other teams in the Eastern Conference. If they stay healthy (which I admit is a very big if) I am predicting a rubber match with the Lakers in the NBA Finals and this time the outcome will be different. Last year we were forced to throw guys like Sheldon Williams out there in crunch-time, but he's been replaced with former All-Stars like Jermaine O'Neal. Additions like that should make all the difference and that is why I'm predicting another championship come June.