There are huge expectations surrounding the Boston Celtics next season as they're seen as the clear favourites to win the Eastern Conference. Many things have worked in their favour this summer which has fans in Beantown extremely excited for the campaign. LeBron James' decision to join the Los Angeles Lakers has opened the door for a new team to take over in the east and the Celtics are primed to do so.But with or without James, they were always likely to be the best team in the east as they're set to welcome back Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward from injury. General manager Danny Ainge revealed this week that the All-Star duo will be ready to go "full speed" for training camp next month.
Self-confidence
It's not just the Boston faithful who are expecting big things next year, there's real confidence within the team too.
Earlier this month, young guard Jaylen Brown boldly declared that the C's will make the NBA Finals during an appearance on CJ McCollum's podcast.
"Oh, we're getting to the Finals. No question about it," Brown said.
His teammate Jayson Tatum was recently asked about those comments and he didn't disagree with it.
"Man, I'm always going to back up my teammates," he said, per Jake Fischer of Sports Illustrated.
"I'm not saying that we're gonna be able to skip steps. We gotta take it one game at a time. I just hope that we stay healthy this year and see what we can do."
Health was clearly a major problem for the Celtics last year but if they're able to keep their best players on the floor, they'll be a hard team to overcome.
With one of the best coaches in Brad Stevens at the helm, it's not crazy to say that they are the one team perfectly built to challenge the Golden State Warriors.
They're among the best defences in the league and have a mixture of star power, youth and athleticism to contend with the defending champions.
Boston reached Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals without Irving and Hayward and there's a real excitement for how much further they can go with the pair in their lineup.
The Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers are the two teams likely to stand in their way in the east but the Celts are confident that they can overcome either team.
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