NBA record predictions: Sixers, Nets, and the Eastern Conference

Predicting the NBA Eastern Conference standings: Boston Celtics

CEILING: Top-4 seed, second round exit

FLOOR: Play-in tournament, first round exit

The Celtics’ offseason boils down to subtracting Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier, then adding Al Horford, Dennis Schroder, and Josh Richardson. Boston’s new President of Basketball Operations (and former coach) Brad Stevens also has a shiny new $17 million trade exception he can use during the season.

For Boston, it’s hard to tell where the team will land. Last season was hard to gauge for so many reasons, COVID being chief among them. The Celtics were especially hard hit by COVID, with Jayson Tatum citing season-long issues stemming from his exposure to the virus.

There aren’t many better one-two punches in the East than Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Both are still young and have shown a remarkable growth curve thus far, meaning further growth is possible. By season’s end, Tatum could be pushing the 10 best players in the NBA.

Also, the Celtics have a pretty appetizing depth chart at first glance. Marcus Smart is freshly re-signed, while Dennis Schroder and Josh Richardson — much maligned by their previous fanbases — are better than their reputations suggest. Even Al Horford could discover some extra gas in the tank with Boston, a franchise he pretty much captained a couple seasons ago.

Ime Udoka shows promise as a first-time head coach, and Boston should have the ancillary pieces to fill out a useful enough bench around the core. Assuming Tatum and Brown both stay healthy and produce at the level we’ve come to expect, Boston could inch back into the range of home court advantage. On the other hand, the Celtics were in the play-in tournament last season and did lose key pieces. Horford, Richardson, and Schroder all have recent red flags on their resumé, and there’s no proof (yet) that Tatum and Brown are enough to compete at the highest level.