Posted on 10/2/2007 7:44:51 PM

NBA Futures Betting 2007 Celtics Preview

By D.S. Williamson

Danny Ainge, general manager of the Boston Celtics, has no excuses this coming year. He found a way to not just get one all-star to go along with his incumbent all-star, Paul Pierce, but also found a way to get two other all-stars to go along with Pierce. One being Kevin Garnett, who might be one of the best players to ever strap on a pair of high-tops.

The other all-star, Ray Allen, isn’t too shabby either which means GM Danny Ainge has absolutely no excuses this year. If the Boston Celtics don’t at least make it to the Eastern Conference Finals, then Ainge will have failed.

How good can the Boston Celtics be this year? They can win the championship. The BetUS future book has the Boston Celtics at + 450 to win the championship outright. The only teams with lower odds than Boston are the Dallas Mavericks, Phoenix Suns, and San Antonio Spurs - - the top three teams on the West Coast.

According to the future book, the Celtics are a virtual lock to win the Eastern Conference. Their BetUS future book odds are + 225. That’s amazing considering that in the 2006 – 2007 season, the Celtics lost more games than any other team in the NBA.

Such is the strength of signing two all-stars like Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. Along with Paul Pierce and a better than expected bench, the odds are good that the Celtics will at least make it to the NBA Finals.

Of course, that assertion depends on whether or not the three stars can get along. It worked for the Los Angeles Lakers a few years ago when they signed both Karl Malone and Gary Payton. Well, it worked until they ran up against a younger, tougher, Detroit Pistons team in the NBA Finals.

Unlike the Methuselah group the Lakers became in those Finals, the Celtics won’t have such problems if they are lucky enough to make it. After all, the average age on that Laker team hovered around 30. The average age of the Celtics is a barely out of your parent’s house 25.

That means the men in green will no doubt have the legs to take on the Spurs, Mavericks or Suns. The Celtics also get the most favorable schedule in the league for a team with three all-stars. The only real teams they have to worry about in the Eastern Conference are Detroit and Cleveland.

Even then, the Celtics don’t play those teams every week. The Celtics get to figure out how all three of their great players are going to play together in the playoffs by practicing against the Atlanta Hawks, Toronto Raptors, and Washington Wizards. The Raptors and Wizards aren’t doormats but they aren’t exactly the next coming of the Bernard King New York Knicks either.

What does this mean? First, it means that the Boston Celtics really don’t have any excuses. Secondly, it means that the odds on the Boston Celtics to win the championship are actually pretty good. Why? Two reasons.

First, once Boston makes it to the Finals they only need to beat one other team in a seven game series. They will be younger, faster, and they will undoubtedly have more options on offense than any team they meet for the championship.

Second, Boston can virtually cakewalk their way to the Finals while the Suns, Mavericks, or Spurs will have to face each other to get there.

Not only will Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce be three of the best players on the floor in the Finals, they will be three of the best and most rested players on the floor. That makes the Boston Celtics the first real challenge to Western Conference supremacy in a long, long time.