Winning the East once again may not prove so easy for Boston.
In the second half of their 2021-22 campaign, the Boston Celtics came out of nowhere to become the best team in the league, but they face a much tougher Eastern Conference landscape heading into the 2022-23 NBA season.
With the Philadelphia 76ers, Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets being potential contenders should they play to their potential and the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors looking like tough outs in the 2023 NBA playoffs, winning the East once again may not prove so easy.
The hosts of the ESPN “First Take” show recently debated this among several questions.
Watch the clip embedded above to hear what they have to say.
The Boston Celtics may be the favorites to win the 2023 NBA Finals, but that does not mean everyone agrees with the line in Sin City. And we are not just talking about salty fans of other clubs. Even some prominent analysts have serious misgivings about the Celtics.
Could they know something we do not?
Specifically, one of the hosts of the semi-eponymous “Jalen and Jacoby” show Jalen Rose and David Jacoby put together by the folks at ESPN have some bones to pick with those projecting Boston as a finals squad. They actually see the Celtics bowing out of the 2023 NBA playoffs in the second round!
Take a look at the clip embedded below to hear what the duo has to say about such a sizzling hot take about a team most fans and analysts are seeing go much further in the next postseason they play in.
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What’s good y’all. It’s Prince here with another Layup Lines, and I want to talk about the upcoming season, which is quickly approaching next week. Do you know who’s going to win the title? Or who will even make the NBA Finals? Because I have no clue, and I love it.
In the Western Conference, the reigning champion Warriors will be a force again. But the Clippers and Nuggets are finally healthy, the Suns are still around, and the Grizzlies, Timberwolves, Lakers, Mavericks and Pelicans will also vie for playoff spots. That’s nine potentially good teams fighting for eight spots before we even get into fringe teams like the Trail Blazers and Kings.
In the East, the Heat, Celtics, Bucks and 76ers should all be really good again. But the Nets are finally close to complete, the Hawks and Cavs are better, and the Raptors and Bulls will still be competitive. Again, that’s nine teams before we get to fringe squads like the Knicks and Wizards.
That’s enough interest to hold me all year before we even get into micro-storylines within each team like the Celtics’ coaching situation, the Nets’ drama, the Lakers’ Russell Westbrook conundrum, etc.
People often speak of how overrated parity is, because the league has always had a dominant dynasty. But I, for one, enjoy not knowing who’s going to win the title before the season even starts. And we still technically have a dynasty at play with the Warriors — even if it doesn’t feel like it — which gives us the best of both worlds.
Every team has that target to gun for, while also legitimately having a shot to go really far if things break the right way. This all should just make for another fantastic season of NBA hoops, and I can’t wait.
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Speaking of the Warriors, they have some issues to work through before they can worry about winning another title. But it sounds like they’re on the path to doing just that.
Draymond Green’s discipline for punching Jordan Poole was announced as a fine and not a suspension on Wednesday. Head coach Steve Kerr said Green will re-join the team Thursday and play in their preseason finale Friday.
Some people may be surprised he wasn’t suspended, but as my collegue Bryan Kalbrosky wrote, it was the right call. For one, Green’s teammates wanted him back. But also, he earned the right to be at the ring ceremony ahead of Golden State’s opener.
“This is Green’s fourth ring, and that puts him in rarefied air. Warriors owner Joe Lacob has described this championship as the “most meaningful” that the team has won, too, after their core group recovered from devastating injuries to accomplish it.
But there is also a real possibility this could be Green’s final championship with Golden State. Green has a player option in his contract, and if he does not get an extension, he could very well opt-out and become a free agent.
Green made a mistake, assuredly, but he should be there with his teammates when they are presented with their championship rings. He put in the work, and he should be recognized for his achievement.”
Picks for all 30 teams to either make or miss the playoffs.
It’s funny to think there may be more parity in the NBA this year when the reigning champion is the same team that has won four of the last eight titles. But the league has never felt more wide open than it has the last few seasons, and that should remain the case in 2022-23.
There might be five teams in each conference that you can confidently say will make the playoffs. After that there’s a jumble of about five or six teams per conference that will scrap for the final three spots.
For The Win sorted through all the mess to pick who will make and miss the playoffs (after the play-in tournament). Odds are from BetMGM.
How can they ensure they have an easier path this time around so as not to have their very legs betray them in the Finals?
The Boston Celtics came about as close to winning an NBA title as one can without sealing the deal, the team running out of gas in the Finals after a grueling second half of the season and path through the 2022 NBA Playoffs, in particular, damning them after landing the second seed and the toughest of all East paths to the league’s biggest stage.
What do the Celtics need to do to secure the Eastern Conference’s top seed for 2022-23? How can they ensure they have an easier path this time around so as not to have their very legs betray them in the Finals?
The hosts of the CLNS Media “Celtics Beat” podcast recently tried to tackle this issue with guest Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe.
Take a look at the clip embedded above to hear what they had to say.
Boston is the favorite to emerge victorious from the East in the 2023 NBA Playoffs per the panel, but opinions are more divided when it comes to the Finals.
While it might seem a bit early to be thinking about the 2023 conference and NBA Finals, that doesn’t mean the NBA media agrees.
The dog days of summer have long been the time of the league calendar for media outlets to speculate, rank and project where individual players and teams will stand relative to one another in the season to come. Such is the case during this year’s summer doldrums. And with the Boston Celtics the odds-on favorites to win it all in many corners, the team figures to be at or near the top of most such assessments heading into the 2022-23 season.
Such is the case in a recent panel assessment by ESPN, who see the Celtics in the mix for the next title as well — let’s take a look at their conclusions.
Boston Celtics star swingman Jayson Tatum cracks Bleacher Report’s top 3 young stars to build around list https://t.co/FIvd6ezq0P
When teams are picking at the top of the NBA Draft, it’s usually due to losing a lot of games in the proceeding season. So predicting that one of those teams is going to make the playoffs in the next year is extremely bold.
When it does happen, it’s often a team with a pre-established core bouncing back from a down year due to injuries. In that case, the newly acquired rookie doesn’t always contribute much to the winning — like Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody, who were lottery picks of the Warriors last year.
Every once in a while, though, a rookie slides into a budding situation and immediately contributes to a playoff push. This past season, Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes was an integral part of Toronto’s return to the playoffs, and Evan Mobley nearly helped the Cavs get in.
Playoff odds aren’t available for the 2022-23 season yet, but once they are, these are the non-playoff lottery teams with the best chance to make similar runs with the help of their newly acquired rookies.
