Isiah Thomas is confident that the Celtics will make a serious run in the upcoming NBA season and there's plenty of reasons to believe that will be the case.During the offseason, the Celtics went hard to acquire superstar Kevin Durant but loss the bid to the Golden State Warriors. However, they made up for it big time by acquiring another superstar in Al Horford in a four-year max deal worth $113 million.
Horford anchored the defense in Atlanta. Now he'll be doing it in Boston along with pesky defenders in Avery Bradley, Marcus Smart, and Jae Crowder. The Celtics finished fourth last season in defensive rating and Zach Lowe of ESPN predicted that they will finish first in forced turnovers this season after finishing third last season.
Nets head coach, Kenny Atkinson, who was an assistant in Atlanta for four seasons, said that Horford will make Boston's defense a lot better because of his ability to defend the pick-and-roll and protect the rim. He will also make the offense more efficient. Boston can run their plays through him because of his ability to shoot from the outside, finish at the rim, and make passes.
The Celtics faced the Brooklyn Nets on Monday in a pre-season game where Thomas scored 19 points, all in the first half, and spent all of the second half on the bench having fun with the fans, dancing to the music during timeouts, and happily cheering on the young guns.
Thomas was asked about his thoughts on his team on the upcoming season. "We have a pretty good team - a team that can make a legitimate noise," said Thomas. "And if we put it together and play the right way, we can make a lot happen this season. We don't ever want to put a ceiling on it, but we have a really good team. I know that," he added.
Celtics' coach, Brad Stevens, thinks that his team still has a lot of things to work on but is highly encouraged by what his players have shown during the offseason. The Celtics will play their last preseason game on Wednesday against the New York Knicks. After that, they'll get ready for their first game of the regular season against the Nets at the Garden.