Predicting the Boston Celtics’ 2014-15 Win Total

By Ryan Aston @mrmarykateolsen on October 30, 2014

Last night, the Boston Celtics were able to emerge victorious in their season opener against a Brooklyn Nets team that should make the playoffs again in the Eastern Conference. It was a quality win for the C’s that had just about everything fans wanted to see — a healthy Rajon Rondo leading the charge, an impressive debut from Marcus Smart and efficient offensive performances from the rest of the team’s key players. So can Boston prove the doubters wrong, cobble more nights like this together and improve on their 25-57 mark of last season? From where I sit, it’s definitely possible.

Bovada is looking for the Celtics to have slightly better results than they did in 2013-14, setting the over/under at 26.5 wins. The Westgate Sportsbook agrees with the mark and Bwin predicts a couple more wins than that with a line set at 28.5. As it stands now, I think it’s entirely reasonable to take the over in all of these cases.

So are the playoffs on the horizon for the 2014-15 Celtics? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’m sure visions of postseason play danced in fans’ heads when Rondo was painting their town red with Kevin Love this past summer, but make no mistake about it — this team is still in a rebuild, Danny Ainge is in asset accumulation mode (and doing a fine job of it) and Rondo could still be traded by the deadline.

Moreover, the Celtics’ offseason acquisitions don’t equate to any kind of turnaround, not even in a weak Eastern Conference. I was a big fan of Smart in the draft and I think he can be a high-level player, but he can’t shoot a lick; meanwhile, second-year Celtic Kelly Olynyk has the opposite problem. Marcus Thornton will have the occasional offensive explosion, but he isn’t a difference-maker on the whole. As for Evan Turner, well, let’s just say there was a reason that two teams gave up on him last season.

Still, just because the playoffs won’t be in the cards in 2014-15 doesn’t mean there isn’t reason to be excited about the future. Olynyk and Jared Sullinger are coming along nicely. Avery Bradley will be around for awhile (overpaid though he may be). Perhaps most importantly of all, the team has boatloads of draft picks coming to them.

So how does this all translate on the court? What’s the magic number for Boston in 2014-15? My prediction: Brad Stevens and his squad go 29-53. It may not be setting the world ablaze, but it’s a marked improvement from a year ago and something to build upon in the seasons ahead.

Ryan Aston covers the Utah Jazz for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @MrMaryKateOlsen or add him to your network on Google.