John Hollinger has his Celtics' Preview out and has some good things to say about the team. I have tired of all of the pundits who love to put the Celtics down and won't even give us a chance. Most base it on our 33 win season last year and we all know that the team was much better than that record but because of injuries, early chemistry problems, and the midseason trade, they didn't quite put it together. We are young and many blame their dire predictions on our youth, but we have talented youth that are now veteran youth and many will be taking a big step forward this season.

Anyway, back to Hollinger. He first takes a very analytical look at last year's team and the reasons for their failures.

The Celtics' problem was possessions. They made the shots they got, but because they couldn't rebound and made too many turnovers they didn't get nearly enough attempts. Boston turned the ball over on 17.3 percent of its possessions -- only the Knicks were worse. That was one problem with playing West, a converted shooting guard, at the point, although Greene (who had the worst Turnover Ratio among point guards) was nearly as big a factor.

Actually, this is a good lesson on the dangers of going gaga over a player's potential before he's proven he actually can play. Who knows, maybe Greene will eventually become a player. But in 2005-06, he was in completely over his head.

The pick Boston traded belongs to Cleveland so it's probably going to be a very late one, while Grant is so battle-weary that he might not be able to suit up this year. Rondo might pay more dividends a year or two from now -- he can't shoot but is a natural at the point and really can defend.

I thought Telfair made some solid improvements last year, despite losing his starting job, so this could work, but if you're trading a pick this high you really want to know you're getting a good player out of it -- for instance, Houston traded the pick immediately after this one and got Shane Battier. The deal's eventual success will hinge on Telfair learning how to shoot.

Boston has six wing players who could be quality contributors on most teams, but at least one of them might be squeezed out of the rotation because the Celtics have so much talent here.

Boston spent the offseason cornering the market on point guards who can't shoot, adding Telfair and Rondo before deciding that having Greene too would be overkill. Telfair is good enough now to be a decent backup, but whether he'll ever be more than that depends on him adding some shooting skill to all those slick ballhandling moves. Ditto for Rondo, though he'll at least contribute immediately at the defensive end.

If you asked me to pick my surprise team for 2006-07, this would be the one. I don't think the Celtics are going to be that much better than they were a year ago, but it will superficially appear to be much greater if they end up winning the division -- something they have a far greater chance to do than most people realize.

It's always hard to predict how young talent will develop, but Boston has so much of it that you have to figure a couple of these guys will take fairly large steps forward. If so, it's easy to picture a win total in the low-40s and a division title; and if the steps are large enough, they could perhaps be much better.