Celtics Earn Shocking Spot In NBA Power Rankings

The Boston Celtics dropped to 17th in ESPN’s recent NBA power rankings and seventh among Eastern Conference teams.

They’re in an even worse position in NBA.com senior writer John Schuhmann’s rankings.

Schuhmann divided the Association into two separate lists, one for the Eastern Conference and one for the Western Conference. Boston is 12th out of the 15 teams in the east, down from ninth last week.

“What talent remains in Boston is all on the perimeter. As things stand, their bigs are Neemias Queta, Luka Garza and Xavier Tillman, with Niang probably set to play a lot of minutes at the four. That group is going to struggle matching up with the frontlines of the top six teams in these rankings,” Schuhmann wrote. “The Celtics could set another record for 3-point rate, creating high variance from game to game and quarter to quarter. But the quality of those looks will certainly go down without Jayson Tatum’s creation. and with opposing defenses able to help off of pieces of the rotation more than they could in years past. It’s a gap year, but it shouldn’t be a wasted one, with Baylor Scheierman (the 30th pick in last year’s draft) the key young guy who could take advantage of the opportunity that the Celtics’ step backward will provide.”

After going 61-21 last season and making it to the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Celtics are heading into the 2025-26 campaign with massively reduced expectations for numerous reasons.

Superstar Jayson Tatum will likely miss the entire upcoming season due to the torn Achilles he suffered during Game 4 of the conference semifinals against the New York Knicks.

Boston has also said goodbye to multiple key contributors from its recent playoffs squads, including Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis and Luke Kornet.

Among the newcomers to the team are sharpshooting guard Anfernee Simons, veteran power forward Georges Niang and rookie guard Hugo Gonzalez.

Schuhmann isn’t the first analyst to give the Celtics rough feedback for their summer moves, as ESPN’s Kevin Pelton recently gave the team a C for their offseason grade.

With threats like the Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers and rising Orlando Magic expected to be among the best in the conference next season, it shouldn’t be a surprise to see the Celtics outside of the top tier. They still have Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and others though, so it’s a shock to see teams like the Philadelphia 76ers (seventh), Toronto Raptors (10th) and Chicago Bulls (11th) ranked ahead of Boston.