We’re about six weeks away from the start of the NBA season. Full-scale preview material on the Grizzlies will commence with media day at the end of the month and then with the beginning of preseason. But in the meantime I’m going to post brief previews and predictions on the rest of the league, going division by division at the rate of roughly one a week. First up, the Atlantic Division:
- If healthy come May, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett will lead the Celtics back to the title.
1. Boston Celtics
Conference Rank: 2nd
Forum Date: Monday, December 14th
Notes: Be still my heart: I only own two sports jerseys. One is a Kevin Garnett Timberwolves jersey. The other is a Rasheed Wallace Pistons jersey. So I guess I’ll be rooting for the Celtics this season despite spending my first decade as an NBA fan rooting against the old Larry Bird Celtics. If this team is healthy come May, then they’re my pick to take back the title. A frontcourt rotation of Garnett, Wallace, Kendrick Perkins, and Glen Davis has a chance to be the league’s best — physical, versatile, experienced. Combine that with two playoff-tested shotmakers (Paul Pierce and Ray Allen), a dynamic, penetrating lead guard (Rajon Rondo), a multi-positional sixth-man type (Marquis Daniels) to keep the vets fresh, and a proven coach (Doc Rivers), and this team has everything it needs to be the last standing.
Pivotal Player: Rondo is a potential question mark because of a bumpy offseason and the lack of a strong backup. But the real pivotal player here is Kevin Garnett, who has an unusual number of miles on his odometer at age 33 and is coming off a season-ending knee injury. If Garnett can get back to 90% of his pre-injury self, he’ll ignite what can again be the league’s best defense and potentially keep volatile teammates such as Rondo and Wallace on the same page. If Garnett can’t make it back, the Celtics can still be a top 4 seed in the East, but would have little chance of going all the way.
Griz/Memphis Connection: The Celtics spent the 58th pick in this summer’s draft on Lester Hudson, the Memphis native and UT-Martin grad who was a dynamic scorer at the college level. Hudson is probably a longshot to make a loaded, veteran Celtics team, but he’ll take a shot over the next six weeks, and there are few prospective pros more worth rooting for. Hudson tells part of his story — including financing his college education partly through loans, just like a lot of us — to the “Celtics Town” blog.
