Pacers fan here, but Im a Hoosier 1st and foremost, so unless your name is Eric Gordon, I pull for you to do well,lol. So with Brad Stevens, and now Hayward being Celtics, Im pulling for them to win it all, although still will root for Pacers when they play Celtics, but it doesnt hurt as much when we do lose to them.
Most times when there is a big roster change, it does take time for teams to work kinks out, so Im sure they will have a learning curve. I dont think it will be quite as long of a learning curve as it might be for other teams, do to Brad Stevens. Brad has a way of getting the most out of the whatever the talent level he has to work with. Lets be honest when you best player is 5'9 at best, and you do as well as they did, with IT as their star, and a roster full of basically role players, thats not a knock on any of those guys either, as when I think of role player, I dont think garbage, I think of a guy who is talented, but fits whatever role you ask of him. Horford is pretty darn good, but I wouldnt call him a star by any means.
I think the big ? for the Celtics, is 1, how Kyrie fits in, if he thinks this is his team, and he is the Lebron if this team, he will be sadly mistaken, and that could cause chemistry issues. The other ? is can Kyrie stay healthy, this isnt a player who has been all that durable in his career.
Celtics no longer have their best 2 defenders, so that possibly could be a issue, although Brad Stevens has a way of getting guys to give effort on defense, and I do think that Brown kid, could be a very good wing defender, but the loss of Avery and Crowder will likely so up some especially early in the season. Gordon is a solid defender, and with the emergence of Jaylen Brown, along with Smart, they should be OK.
The ability is there for Kyrie to be a solid defender more so than with IT, but its the willingness to play defense is the issue, like James Harden, although I would say Kyrie does put more effort than Harden does,lol.
If Kyrie stays healthy and thats a big IF, I believe Boston could be the best team in the EC, and beat the Cavs. I fell Lebron is at the age, where if he has to fully carry the load night in and night out, all season long, then do it also come playoff time, his run of consective finals run will be over. Cavs now have no closer to go to outside of Lebron now, and with Lebron having to carry all the load, I think he will be wore down some come playoffs.
If I were a betting man, I would almost bet the farm on Boston vs Warriors finals this yr, with Warriors obviously winning it all, just to much talent on Warriors for any team to overcome unfortunately, if they are fully healthy that is.