Who Do the Celtics Want to Face in the First Round?

By Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam)

Each of the three Celtics’ potential first-round opponents, the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat, will most likely enter the 2016 playoffs without one of the players that was part of their rotation entering this season: Tiago Splitter, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Chris Bosh, respectively.

Meanwhile, the C’s have been very fortunate on the injury front this season, as they are fully healthy entering the last week of the season. In fact, six of their top seven minutes-per-game producers have played more than 70 games this season. In addition, Marcus Smart and Kelly Olynyk would finish with an average of 65 games played if each play in the final two contests.

But, how confident should the Celtics feel with one of the lowest strengths of schedule in the NBA this season? On Saturday, Boston fell to the Hawks, with the loss giving Atlanta the season series, and therefore, the tiebreaker in the standings. The C’s are seeking to sweep their season series against the Hornets and Heat, as they host those squads at TD Garden on Monday and Wednesday, respectively.

So, who should Boston be hoping to draw in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs? Let's take a look at the candidates.

The Official (Way Too Long) SuiteSports 2014-2015 NBA Preview: Part III - West > East

This is the face Stan Van Gundy is going to make when Josh Smith shoots a three.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

Last year, the Western Conference dominated the East, to a tune of 284-166. Prorated to a 82-game schedule, that's the equivalent of the West being a 51-31 team and the East being a 31-51 team. That's kind of a lot.

The trend should continue this year. As such, after outlining nothing but lottery teams in the first two sections of this preview, we've exhausted the Eastern Conference lottery teams, but have yet to hit that point with the West. This section breaks down four playoff teams, all from the East, and two lottery teams, both from the West. But in a vacuum, the two best teams in this section are both lottery teams out West. But we'll get to them later.

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Detroit Pistons
2014 Record: 29-53
Over/Under Wins: 36
Odds To Win Championship: 300-1

Of all the teams that didn’t sign LeBron James and trade for Kevin Love this summer, Detroit is the most likely to improve in a big way. And they’re doing it without the benefit of a first-round pick. The reason they’ll likely improve is that they’re going from having one of the worst coaches in the league (the Maurice Cheeks-John Loyer combination) to having one of the best in Stan Van Gundy. He’s never won a title, but he’s been to the Finals once and he’s never had a losing season. In Orlando, he turned Rafer Alston into a reliable, steady hand who started for a team that made the Finals, and took Dwight Howard and launched him into the most destructive defensive force since Kevin Garnett.

I Like This Team - A Glass Half-Full NBA Preview (Part II)

With Derrick Rose back in action, the sky is the limit for the Bulls.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

After spending most of last week being mean, we turned the tables on Friday and started to say nice things about every team. This continues the Era of Good Feelings (or were those in the 1820s - I can never remember), and I explain how and why each of these teams has a shot at the postseason (or better) this season. This group has the last few lottery teams from last year, and the first group of playoff teams. It also includes the first two teams (one from each conference) with a semi-realistic shot (or better) of reaching the Finals.

New York Knicks

And underrated part of the trade that sent Ray Felton and Tyson Chandler to Dallas in exchange for Jose Calderon and Samuel Dalembert (and other spare parts) is that it reunites Calderon and Andrea Bargnani. Back before he got hurt in 2012, Bargnani was enjoying the best offensive season of his career, thanks in large part to a robust foul rate, and was doing most of his best work when he shared the floor with Jose Calderon. In 2013, Bargnani was injured and Calderon was traded mid-season and they never really clicked. But now they have another chance.

Your NBA Team Sucks - A Glass Half-Empty Season Preview (Part II)

Uh-oh. Not again.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

Welcome to Part II of Your Team Sucks - explanations for why each team in the league is comically worse than you think they are. If you missed Part I yesterday, you can find it here.

Part I covered the 10 worst teams in the league last year (save for Cleveland, who we'll save for Part III tomorrow), so this will cover the 10 teams in the middle, including our first batch of playoff teams from a year ago. But we start with a few more lottery teams first.

New York Knicks

They were 24th in defensive efficiency last season. In order to improve this, they traded Ray Felton for the one point guard in the league who might actually be worse defensively - Jose Calderon. They also dealt their only serviceable defensive player in the same deal - Tyson Chandler went back to Dallas and all they got in return was Samuel Dalembert. This means that New York’s big man rotation is Dalembert, Amar’e Stoudemire, and Andrea Bargnani. There’s no possible way that they improve defensively.