The Boston Celtics will contend for a spot in the ’07-’08 NBA playoffs. Their fans, however, will likely not see this as cause for celebration. This is a team that just finished last in the worst conference in basketball; this is a team that, over the past four seasons, has won just 42 percent of its games; a team that traded its first-round pick in last year’s draft for Sebastian Telfair, a sub-par point guard who has caused more troubles for the organization than he has assists; a team that hasn’t advanced past the first round of the playoffs since 2003—and all of this as part of the worst division in basketball. Yet, fortunately for the Celtics, that’s also precisely why they can maintain hope for this upcoming season. That, and Danny Ainge has finally made an offseason move that isn’t entirely ludicrous.
In looking ahead to next season, the most obvious cause for optimism is the arrant poverty of the Eastern Conference. First, the Cleveland Cavaliers—yes, the same Cleveland Cavaliers organization that features the likes of Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Drew Gooden, and Eric Snow as regular starters, and that has never won an NBA championship—represented the East in the Finals this year. Don’t get me wrong. I like the Cavs. They play team basketball; they hustle; they stress fundamentals; and in many ways, mostly in the form of King James, they represent a long-awaited and –needed return to old-school, defensive-minded hard-nosed basketball. Still, the Cavs’ embarrassingly poor Finals performance against the San Antonio Spurs speaks volumes about the quality of their Conference—in short, it’s not good.
And the Atlantic is the worst division in this diminutive Eastern Conference. One need only to have witnessed the Raptors-Nets match-up—both hail from the Atlantic—in the first round of this year’s playoffs to appreciate how poor the Division truly is. Vince Carter was the best player on the court. Enough said. And if that isn’t enough to convince you, consider this: the Nets, who eventually won that series, were a mere 41-41 during the regular season. Their coach is Lawrence Frank. Definitely enough said. In sum, the Celtics play in the worst division in the worst conference in basketball; they are amongst the worst of the worst. That’s at least one reason, odd as it seems, to maintain hope for the future of the franchise.
American Chronicle: Why the Celtics Will Make the Playoffs, and Why Celtics Nation Shouldn’t be Celebrating
07-23-2007, 06:01 AM
Why the Celtics Will Make the Playoffs 
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