FanPost

Why the Celtics will be a playoff team this year

1. Rondo will be fully healthy.

2. Rondo will be in a contract year, putting up triple doubles seemingly every game

3. Sullinger, KO, and Bradley will all improve

4. Stevens will have another year with the group to mold into his vision

5. Marcus Smart will be a first team all rookie + elite defensive guard

6. We have a somewhat decent center. An actual center.

7. The Eastern Conference is still relatively awful.

8. The Celtics play in the worst division in the entire NBA; it's not even close.

9. Rajon Rondo again

10. Green won't have to come into games thinking about creating offense for himself and teammates, Rondo will spoon feed it to him.

It's no secret that the Celtics have very little length and rim protection. To counter that, we have what could be the best defensive trio of guards in the entire NBA, combined with Green who is an elite defensive swingman, and Sullinger and Bass who are both extremely underrated rotation and pick and roll defenders. Bass in particular seems to be particularly underrated defensively. I still remember him doing a great job on Melo in all the big games.

Offensively we have a star PG, and a bunch of high quality pieces that Stevens will have to figure out. The key is of course Rondo because all of our pieces - Bradley, Green, KO, Sullinger, etc. are all very good complimentary pieces to Rondos game. Whether that be spreading the floor or being good cutters/finishers, Rondo has shown to have very good chemistry with each of them. If Stevens can bridge the Spurs motion offense with Rondo, we could be passable enough to get by.

Don't confuse this with expectations of a high seed and upsetting Lebron in the playoffs. I just find it hard to believe we're going to be a lottery team with a healthy Rondo and all the other pieces we have.

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