Celtics No. 13 in ESPN's preseason NBA power rankings

No. 13, James Young.

The preseason edition of Marc Stein's ESPN.com NBA power rankings has just been released, and the Boston Celtics find themselves at No. 13 overall.  The Celtics rose from No. 14 in the training camp rankings, passing the Milwaukee Bucks.  Boston is also slotted ahead of fellow Eastern Conference playoff contenders Washington (No. 15) and Indiana (No. 16).

One spot in front of the C's are the 12th-ranked Toronto Raptors, who Stein feels are no lock to defend their Atlantic Division title:

For all the things that the East can't give you, here's one small consolation: We'll almost certainly have a race for the Atlantic title. The Celts, with Amir Johnson and David Lee sprucing up a front line that badly needed it, will be a (regular season) team to reckon with and perhaps even topple Toronto. Don't say we didn't warn you.

The Celtics are the sixth-rated team in the East, behind Cleveland (No. 2), Atlanta (No. 8), Miami (No. 9), Chicago (No. 10) and Toronto.  Also noteworthy to C's fans, the Brooklyn Nets (who traded their first-round draft pick to Boston) are No. 29, on top of only the 30th-ranked 76ers.



Follow Mark Vandeusen on Twitter @LucidSportsFan