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 2014-15 Celtics Season in Review: A Bridge Year Unlike Any Other

Can Marcus Smart, Brad Stevens and the rest of the Celtics take the next step in 2015-16?

By Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam)

The 2014-15 Boston Celtics season was officially the second one for Brad Stevens as the team’s head coach, but was it really?

Did he actually have a full-fledged basketball roster for more than a few months since replacing NBA champion Doc Rivers? Was Stevens drawing up out-of-bounds plays for the same players each year? Did the former Butler Bulldogs coach even have a semblance of consistency with his NBA team?

In a game fraught was one-and-dones, like most of the high-caliber college basketball programs today, he sure did have a consistent roster from year to year in the Horizon League. His freshman became sophomores, who mostly became juniors, and a lot stayed around for their senior seasons.

Matt Howard, Ronald Nored and Andrew Smith all played four years with their head coach, and Shelvin Mack played three seasons for the Bulldogs.

Stevens, self-admittedly, is not a salesman, so drawing free agents to Boston will be challenging on the surface no matter what, even if Kelly Olynyk’s one-game-suspension armbar squandered the green’s chances of signing Kevin Love (it did not). The Celtics’ next phase truly has not begun, because the team has shifted depth charts more often in the last two seasons than a Celtics fan has dropped F-bombs at LeBron James at TD Garden in the 2015 playoffs.

What To Make of these Boston Celtics

While mostly known for his beautiful hair, Kelly Olynyk has proven to not be terrible at basketball this year.

By Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam)

For most of Wednesday, I was ready to entitle this article, “How About These Above-.500 Celtics.” Then, for most of Friday, I still could have used “How About These Celtics.” If the men in green would have finished off both the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Cleveland Cava-LeBrons, then Celtics Nation would be pondering, “Maybe I want the Celtics to make the playoffs.”

Those two victories would have allowed Boston to match its longest winning streak in the Brad Stevens era. Coincidentally, it was King James and his Miami Heat that were a part of the Celtics’ four-game winning streak in early November last year. If the 2014-15 team matched the streak, all the Celtics talk would be positive: it would be about Kelly Olynyk putting up among the league’s best offensive numbers and Rajon Rondo passing Paul Pierce for the fourth-most assists in franchise history.

NBA Summer League Notes from RoundballDaily.com

Photo: NBA.com

Republished, with permission, from RoundballDaily.com and our buddy Kels Dayton. Kels knows his college and pro basketball, and you can hear him every Sunday at 5 pm talking hoops with us on our "Taking You to School" podcast. 

By Kels Dayton  @RoundballDaily
 
Two days into the NBA Summer League, and it's clear: Victor Oladipo is the face of the entire operation. He's played well, averaging 15 points, 6 assists, and 4.5 boards per game, and his effort and class-leading athleticism on both ends of the floor have been impressive. But that's not the only reason he's been the league's most intriguing player. For one thing, Oladipo is playing in his future home--and the Magic are happy to have him on site already. For another, he's the highest draft pick on display in Orlando, as Anthony Bennett and Cleveland won't play until next week in Vegas. But the biggest reason Oladipo has been the talk of the Summer League is that the Magic have him playing the point.