Back in early October, the Red’s Army staff made its predictions for how the 17-18 season would transpire. It’s time to look back and see how we did.
The first prediction we made last fall was how the Celtics would finish the regular season. The 16-17 Celtics had hit 53 wins, but that was without Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, and this promising young rookie named Jayson Tatum. Here’s what we said back then with our explanations included:
John Karalis (@redsarmy_john) — 53-29
I’m pegging this season as a repeat of last year for the most part. Same amount of wins, early season experimenting, some struggles at the start, and then a big run to finish the season. Integrating everyone, especially defensively, will be a challenge made tougher by the early season schedule. They’ll figure it out, though, and end up challenging for the top seed again.
Mike Dynon (@MikeDynon) — 55-27
Logically, the new roster will need an early adjustment period. But once they come together, they’ll exceed last season’s 53 wins. This is probably the most talent Brad has ever coached. Why wouldn’t he get his highest win total?
Ben Mark (@bmark86) — 55-27
This is only a 2 game improvement from last year, but in reality signifies a big step forward. The 16-17 Celtics had an expected win total of 48 games, with a +2.6 point-per-game differential, and 25 wins after trailing in the fourth quarter. This 2017-18 team will be slow to take off while integrating new faces and squaring off against a tough October/early November slate, but once they do, they’ll win plenty of games convincingly. I’d expect this team to win 55 games with a greater positive point differential due to a greater infusion of star power, the progression of some promising young guys, and the wizardry of Brad Stevens.
KJ Kourafas (@oK_Kourafas) — 55-27
The Celtics will struggle to find any kind of consistency early in the season, resulting in an uneven start. The team will pick up steam at the end of the year and make a splash in the playoffs.
Liam Green (@blackl0dger) — 57-25
Combination of overall east weakness, Cavaliers coasting (and missing I.T.) and genuine improvements to the team.
Verdict: Three of us (me, Mike and KJ) nailed the Cs record, but none of us really got the arc of the season right. John, myself and KJ all made reference to a slow start for various reasons, but mostly due to a lack of familiarity and cohesiveness. Sure, you could say 0-2 is a slow start, but the 16 straight that followed certainly wasn’t.
Tomorrow’s look-back: Where we predicted the Celtics season would end.
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