prediction

[Jamey Rallis <rallis@vgi.com>]

Nothing's happened in the preseason to greatly alter my gut feeling, but
after listening to Forant, I feel like going wildly optimistic and
predicting above my normal 36-37 range.  Which sadly was supposed to be
pessimistic last year.

So in the wildly optimistic feeling of Mondays, I'll go with...

38 wins.

Oh, and as far as feeling like this season proves to be an utter failure,
it's tough to be concrete, like playoffs or # of wins or anything.  It's
more a negative atmosphere around the team.  I'd say last year was
definitely a failure, and this year will be as well if the following
occur.

Pitino continues to fail to develop younger players, especially post
players.  Name one dominant big man he's ever coached, that wasn't
dominant before he got there.  Where are the post moves?

The chicken outbreak defense continues to be a league wide joke.

Players fight on the bench, and with the media/fans because they're 
above being criticized.

Players stop talking about how much they want to win, and start acting
like it.  Like getting in shape, and passing the damn ball, rebounding,
etc.  This one I'm thinking of Batgirl, Twon, and Kenny in particular.

The team gets healthy and goes on a huge losing streak at home, against
the weaker teams, destroying all confidence.

Pitino continues having to make excuses, doublespeaking, and doing
anything but getting the team to win.

Fans/media/other teams continue to mark Celtics games as easy wins.

We hear about dumbass trades like Fortson for trash.

We continue to believe the Celtics couldn't be any worse with any other
GM/coach combination, even ML Carr.

That, to me, is why last year was such a flop, and this year will be too
if the above continues.  The coach/team president should not spend every
postgame interview explaining why things aren't as dire as they seem.
That's just wrong, and it sucks.  And it happened too often the last
couple years.

--Jamey R.