Tag: espn nba power rankings

Celtics ranked just 7th in recent ESPN ‘Way Too Early’ power rankings

The Boston Celtics are ranked just seventh in ESPN’s recent “Way too early” NBA Power Rankings — why?

The Boston Celtics might have been the third-to-last team to be booted from the 2020 NBA Playoffs with much of their core returning, but for whatever reason they are getting no love in a recent NBA Power Ranking by ESPN.

The Celtics find themselves ranked seventh overall in the Bristol, Connecticut-based sports network’s estimation, trailing the expected candidates in the Los Angeles Lakers, Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks for first through third place respectively, but also oddly the Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors, in that order.

While the rise of Jamal Murray and growth of Luka Doncic of course is a factor, how that elevates either team above Boston with not only Jayson Tatum making the leap to superstar status but Jaylen Brown to All-Star is a little unclear.

Particularly when, by their own admission, Dallas needs a healthy Kristaps Porzingis to hit their full potential.

We understand the safe harbor of betting on a healthy Klay Thompson and Steph Curry, however.

As for their rationale for putting Boston seventh?

“While most of the team is under contract for next season, the biggest uncertainty is whether Gordon Hayward will opt in to his $34.1 million player option for 2020-21 … ,” opined Tim Bontemps. “Otherwise, Boston enters the offseason with three first-round picks with which to work.”

“Kemba Walker’s health will be a priority after he dealt with knee issues for all of this calendar year, as will the growth of their two franchise wing players, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown,” he added.

While it is fair to worry about the health of Walker’s knee, it seems unfair to ding Boston much for a guy who only played five games in the postseason, and only two of them looking like himself.

While there are plenty of question marks about this team going forward, there are also a lot of possibilities in terms of ways the front office could make the team better, so for us, seventh feels at least two slots too low.

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Celtics jump two spots to 3rd in ESPN’s power rankings

The Boston Celtics are getting some love from analysts as they solidify their position as the league’s third-best team in recent weeks.

The Boston Celtics currently find themselves elevated to the third overall spot of ESPN’s power rankings.

Compiled over the course of the 2019-20 NBA season by a panel of five analysts in order to, as they describe it, take “stock of which teams are playing the best basketball now and which teams are looking most like title contenders”, Boston has jumped up to the third slot from fifth the week before.

In the twelfth week of the season, the Celtics are only behind the 32-5 Milwaukee Bucks and 29-7 Los Angeles Lakers, the only two teams in the league with better records, and just ahead of the 26-12 Los Angeles Clippers.

Said ESPN’s Bobby Marks of the No. 3 ranking,

“The three-point win at home to Atlanta might have been a little too close, but the Celtics are winning games they should. The 3-0 week (two without Kemba Walker) now has Boston winners of eight out of nine games, and 6-1 against teams below .500 during that stretch.”

Boston has indeed been taking care of business, but they will need to tighten up if they don’t want to rack up some losses against eminently beatable opponents, a point Marks makes from the glass-half-full perspective.

“With a week of games that includes matchups against sub-.500 teams Washington, San Antonio and New Orleans (they also play at Philadelphia), the Celtics can gain ground on Milwaukee and separate from teams like Miami, Toronto, Philadelphia and Indiana in the East.”

With those teams currently 0.5, 2.5, 4 and 4.5 games back from the Celtics respectively, it will be crucial for Boston to make the most of this busy but generally weak segment of the schedule to maximize its postseason seeding.

While April may still be many months away, January to February represents the best remaining stretch to boost the Celtics’ resume ahead of the trade deadline.

The weeks and months after the Feb. 6 limit on in-season deals sees the schedule stepping up considerably in terms of the difficulty of opponents.

For now, the Celtics have been doing well enough if not excellent against teams they should beat handily, a trend that will be put to the test by Monday night’s matchup with the 11-24 Washington Wizards.

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