Celtics debut at No. 14 in ESPN's NBA power rankings

Boston retired No. 14 for Bob Cousy.

Over the weekend, Marc Stein released his training camp edition of NBA power rankings on ESPN.com.  Your Boston Celtics find themselves in the top half of the league, checking in at No. 14 overall.  A season ago, the C's never rose above the No. 17 spot.

Boston ranks seventh in the East, behind the Cavs (2), Hawks (9), Heat (10), Bulls (11), Bucks (12) and Raptors (13).  The departure of Paul Pierce was apparently enough for Stein to bump the Celts ahead of the Wizards (15), an Eastern Conference semifinalist in 2014-15.

Also of note to Celtics fans, the Mavericks are in prime position to fork over a lottery pick at No. 18 (Boston gets Dallas' 2016 first-round draft choice if it's outside the top seven), while the Nets are No. 26 (the Celtics own Brooklyn's unprotected first-round pick next year).



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