Boston Celtics: 2017-18 NBA season preview

Best-case scenario

This Boston Celtics team is talented, with plenty of room to exceed expectations. Both Hayward and Irving have the potential to become even better versions of themselves and reach higher heights. That raises the ceiling of the Celtics significantly.

Boston Celtics

Surrounding the stars are a number of players with either room to grow or an opportunity to prove themselves on the NBA stage for the first time. If Jaylen Brown becomes a good shooter, if Jayson Tatum can score efficiently out of the gate, if Marcus Smart can maintain his intensity level every game while making smart plays — the pieces are here for an incredibly high ceiling.

If Boston hits on some of its deeper bench pieces, this team will be loaded. Guerschon Yabusele and Daniel Theis were stars of sorts in Europe. Yabusele has a creative post force and Theis was Germany’s premier defender. Abdel Nader was an All-league player in the G League last season. The list goes on.

If the depth comes together, Boston will cruise in the regular season and could easily end up with a win total in the upper-50s. The best version of the this team involves Hayward as the top player, with Irving as the “1B” to the “1A” of Hayward.

The main players stay healthy, Tatum is incredible out of the gate, and this team once again claims the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Come May, the Celtics win Game 7 at home in the conference finals to knock off LeBron James for the first time since 2009.

Worst-case scenario

Chemistry takes time, and the Celtics have a lot to develop over the course of the season. Gone are the player-to-player connections that develop over the course of many games played together. This squad must learn anew how to play with each other.

There is too much talent for the Celtics to completely fall apart. This won’t be the 2012 Los Angeles Lakers, or other failed super-teams of recent memory. Brad Stevens is a talented coach who raises teams above the sum of their parts, and thus pushes the floor higher than most teams.

But there are ways this could go wrong, and they start with Kyrie Irving. As a player who has not proven he can play winning basketball without LeBron James, Irving must show he can fly outside of Cleveland. Hayward will have greater expectations on his shoulders than ever before.

If Irving is inefficient yet uses a high number of possessions, and the role players shoot poorly, this team could stumble to string together wins. Add in the sheet lack of continuity, and the Celtics could lose games early that they should win.

A worst-case scenario could mean a win total in the mid-40s and a lower playoff seed, even down to sixth. While unlikely, the sheer unknown of remaking an entire roster leaves that possibility on the table.