With analytics and stats taking over the NBA, ESPN's newest Insider information projects the Celtics as the 4th best team in the NBA using their real plus-minus statistics. Via Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com:
RPM was developed by Jeremias Engelmann and Steve Ilardi to estimate a player's on-court impact on team performance, measured in net point differential per 100 offensive and defensive possessions. RPM takes into account teammates, opponents and additional factors. When used along with playing time projections, it's proved to be a very accurate predictive tool overall.
2. Boston Celtics
Projected wins: 49.