Contenders?

Looks like Chad Ford has given the C's a quasi-compliment. He doesn't seem to know what to do with this team, so he stuck 'em in the "Contenders" section of his breakdown (with Detroit, Indy, Miami, and NY). He sites the usual suspects - Raef's health, kids' youth, Ricky & Gary "issues." Basically he wraps up by calling us the East's wild card. That pretty much sums it up.

Update: Chad apparently REALLY couldn't make up his mind, because now they are in the "Slipping" category. Who does that? Why change your rankings AFTER they've been posted? Can you say "flip flop?" It is an Insider article, so I shouldn't quote it, but I'll risk this little bit:

They probably don't belong in either the "On the Rise" or "Slipping" category. If we had a "Who Knows", they'd be at the top of the list. The potential problems seem to outweigh the upside . . this year at least. . . which is why the Celtics ended up here.

Whatever.