Boston Celtics: 5 Reasons Celtics Are Locks to Repeat as Atlantic Division Champ

When the Atlantic Division standings for the 2006-2007 NBA regular season were finally settled the Toronto Raptors were the division champs. 

That summer the Boston Celtics acquired Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. 

Every season since then, when the Atlantic Division standings have become final, the team at the top has been the Boston Celtics. 

Now Ray Allen is gone, he and his bone spurs have taken their talents to South Beach. 

Can the Celtics maintain their grip on the Atlantic Division crown even after one member of their "Big Three" has departed? 

Yes, of course they can. The Celtics are not rebuilding, they're re-loading. 

They're not about to let that Atlantic Division crown slip through their fingers in the process either. 

Rajon Rondo

Rajon Rondo's 2011-2012 regular season was good; it wasn't career-year good, but it was very good. He led the NBA in assists at 11.7 per game. Yes, Rondo also committed 3.6 turnovers per game, but he still had a better than 3-1 assists-to-turnover ratio. 

Once the postseason began Rondo took his play to another level.

In the playoffs he averaged 17.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 11.9 assists per game. He also led all players in steals, impressive considering that the Celtics didn't even make the NBA Finals. 

Rondo established himself as an elite player in the 2012 postseason. 

Next season, with Ray Allen in Miami, the "Big Three" in Boston will still exist, there will just be one new piece. His name is "Rajon Rondo." 

The rest of the Atlantic Division point guards, Kyle Lowry, Jrue Holiday, Raymond Felton and Deron Williams can all fight for second place. 

Added Depth

This is a simple numbers game. 

The 2012-2013 Boston Celtics should be able to pull serviceable NBA players from this group of players. 

Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Brandon Bass, Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley, Chris Wilcox, Jeff Green, Jason Terry, Fab Melo, Jarred Sullinger, and E'Twaun Moore.

That's 11 players, and the roster is not yet complete. 

Even during the rare periods time when the Celtics were fairly healthy last season, they didn't have that type of depth. 

On a team that will still rely heavily on two aging veterans, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. The added depth with allow Doc Rivers to give them rest when needed, which in turn will allow them to excel when it is most important. 

The Celtics depth, and experience is the best in the division, naturally they'll be finishing at the top of it as well. 

Defense

Shooters can run hot and cold, there will always be some turnovers, and some close calls. 

The Boston Celtics play great defense. It's been a stable of the Doc Rivers era, Kevin Garnett is a former defensive player of the year, Avery Bradley could be a future winner of that award. 

The Atlantic Division as a whole is a tough division. 

The Philadelphia 76ers aren't an easy team to score on. Knicks head coach Mike Woodson prides himself on his team's defense, and the Toronto Raptors have their fair share of problems, but defense is not one of them.

Only the Brooklyn Nets finished in the lower half of the league in team defense last season. 

In a tough defensive league the Celtics stand out as the most reliable defensive squad. 

Boston lost Ray Allen, but Allen was not one of Boston's key defensive players. The team brought in Jason Terry, Jeff Green and two rookies, Jarred Sullinger and Fab Melo. 

Both rookies show plenty of promise defensively. Sullinger lacks athleticism, but gives tremendous effort. Melo's effort can be an issue, but his natural shot-blocking abilities are for real. 

Jason Terry is not the same type of defensive player he was earlier in his career, but he's better than Ray Allen. 

It all starts with head coach Doc Rivers though. Rivers is a defensive-minded coach. He knows, from his own experiences as a player, that even if you lack athleticism, if you give maximum effort, then you can be an effective defender.

The experience and the defensive prowess aren't going anywhere, and that makes winning the division a lot easier.  

Kevin Garnett

While Rajon Rondo put up the best all-around numbers of any Celtic in the playoffs last season, it was Kevin Garnett who was the team's real leader. 

Why wouldn't he be? He's been in that role every since the first day he donned a Celtics' uniform. 

No other team in the Atlantic Division can boast of having a player with the resume, and passion of Kevin Garnett.

Tyson Chandler is a great defender, but he's got a career scoring average of 8.6 points per game. Marcus Camby is a great defender, but he's older than Garnett, more injury prone, and like Chandler far less talented on offense.

The Philadelphia 76ers amnestied Elton Brand, Kwame Brown is not on Garnett's level.

Andrea Bargnani or Brook Lopez? Not even close defensively to Garnett.

Garnett gives the Celtics a great blend of defense, offense, and off-court positives. 

There's a reason that the Celtics lavished a three-year, $34 million contract on the 36-year-old Garnett, it wasn't charity. It was because he's still got game, and that's especially true on defense.  

Paul Pierce

Yes, Paul Pierce had a rough postseason, he struggled from the field, he didn't rebound the ball nearly enough. 

He still managed to hit one of the biggest shots of the playoffs for Boston. 

Next season Pierce will be back, he'll have had a normal offseason schedule, a normal preseason schedule and a normal regular season schedule. 

That could easily result in a more "normal" level of Paul Pierce production. 

Pierce does not need to be Kobe Bryant, he doesn't need to jack up 23 shots a night to insure that he scores his points. 

On what looks like a fairly deep Celtics team he can play within himself. He can pick his spots, and he can still score when he needs to. 

The Philadelphia 76ers wish they had one scorer as reliable as Pierce. The Knicks have Carmelo Anthony, but lean very heavily on him. Joe Johnson, for all his skills, has never really won anything major, and hasn't played in too many big games. 

Pierce won't put up numbers like he did earlier in his career,but if the division is on the line he's one of the guys any coach would love to have on their side. 

Luckily for Doc Rivers he already has him. 

Look for Pierce to put up somewhat underwhelming numbers, but become more efficient and maintain his ability to hit big shots, just like in the video above.