How The Bucks Compare: An Early Eastern Conference Primer

Apr 3, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Milwaukee Bucks guard

(5) drives the ball against Boston Celtics guard

(4) in the first half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Boston Celtics

Last Season: 40-42 (7th – First Round)

Player Additions: David Lee, Amir Johnson, Perry Jones, Terry Rozier, R.J. Hunter, Jordan Mickey, Zoran Dragic

Player Subtractions: Brandon Bass, Gerald Wallace, Chris Babb, Phil Pressey, Gigi Datome

2015-16 Outlook

It’s hard to gauge exactly where the Celtics are at entering this season. With all of their draft picks, and all of their cap space, I think many people expected this to be a real landmark summer in the Celtics’ rebuilding process, yet as you can see from the names listed above it never really materialized like that.

Marquee free agents stayed away from Boston and the franchise’s illustrious history, at least for one more year. What the Celtics do have is a roster loaded with young talent though, whether that turns out to be used as trade bait, or for their own development remains to be seen though.

With Brad Stevens, arguably the league’s best young coach at the helm, there’s every chance those youngsters could be shaped into something of real substance in Boston too.

Marcus Smart will return after a solid rookie campaign, James Young returns also and will be hoping for further opportunities. The additions of Rozier, Hunter and Mickey on draft night means there’s even more young talent to play with, added into a mix that already contained Avery Bradley, Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk too.

Young talent is great, but to be truly competitive it has often been shown that there’s a need for a couple of more experienced and quality options too, and this year Boston has that.

Amir Johnson and David Lee were very shrewd acquisitions that will make the Celtics better up front, while the re-signing of Jae Crowder is a much more important move than many probably realize just yet.

Throw in the sparkplug that is Isaiah Thomas off the bench, and the Celtics are going to be fun to watch at the very least.

How The Bucks Compare

Right now, the Bucks are not just better than the Celtics overall, but perhaps more importantly considering the young age of both teams, they are more experienced too.

With a center depth chart of Tyler Zeller and Kelly Olynyk, you’d have to feel that this is the type of game that Greg Monroe and John Henson will be circling upon the schedule release, and then licking their chops in anticipation.

Just like Atlanta before them, the Celtics are another team who the Bucks should look to give a hard time to by exploiting their significant advantage in length on the wings.

Next: The New-Look Nets