The Celtics are getting some love in the 2016-17 GM surveys


The 2016-17 NBA GM surveys came out today, and we've got some front office folks who love them some Celtics. First of all, to no one's surprise, the only teams that received votes to win it all this year are Golden State and Cleveland. They split the votes at 69 and 31 percent respectively. Interestingly enough though, the only team in the East besides the Cavaliers to get a vote for winning the conference were the Boston Celtics. Via NBA.com:


So at the very least, there's someone out there *cough* (Danny Ainge) that thinks the Celtics are going to the finals. The C's did get a lot of love when it comes to the defensive side of the ball. That starts with some individual accolades for our lockdown guy on the outside Avery Bradley:


Bradley was phenomenal last season, scoring an All-defensive 1st team award and receiving the most votes of any guard in the NBA. It seems that most front offices around the league envision him duplicating that effort this year.

Boston was also awarded as having the 2nd best team defense with 13.3% of the vote. They finished behind San Antonio who collected a whopping, and well deserved, 50% of the tally.

Maybe garnering the most affection in the GM survey is Celtics' head coach Brad Stevens:


As Celtics fans, we see the genius of Brad Stevens night in and night out, but clearly the things he has been able to do here in Boston have resonated throughout the league. Is there another coach calling a timeout with 2.6 on the clock to win the game because he didn't like the execution after the one he called just over a second earlier?

Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier also got some mention for "Player Most Likely to have a Breakout Year":


Alas, there is one glaring omit in the whole survey. Gigi Datome is getting no love from the NBA GM's across the Atlantic:



Photo Credit - Nathaniel S. Butler, GETTY Images

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