Jay Williams believes the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks will reach the NBA Finals later this fall.
But if it’s not Giannis Antetokounmpo and Co. coming out of the Eastern Conference, Williams thinks it will be the Boston Celtics.
With the restart of the 2019-20 NBA season looming, Williams offered his assessment of both conferences and shed light on a few teams that might make some noise in the playoffs. The guard-turned-analyst is high on the C’s primarily for their scoring depth.
“When you have Gordon Hayward, who’s going to be healthy, when you have Jayson Tatum that was playing at an MVP-caliber-type level before the season ended, you add that to Jaylen Brown, who secured his bag,” Williams said Thursday on ESPN’s “Get Up.” “He’s playing at a very high level defensively. He’s a big-time wing, too, that can lock down defenders. You combine that with Kemba Walker — four guys that can average over 20 points. Marcus Smart, defensively, he’s there.
“The only void for the Boston Celtics is having that size in the middle. Enes Kanter, Robert Williams, if he’s healthy — do they have that to combat that against Milwaukee? But if they get hot from the outside, this is a team that can catch fire and a team that can find themselves in the world championships of the NBA Finals.”
Jalen Rose is even higher on the Celtics than his ESPN colleague. Rose believes the unconventional finish to the season favors a team built like the Celtics, who he predicts will reach the Finals.
