Winning back-to-back titles used to be commonplace in the NBA, but times have changed. No team has repeated in six years and no franchise has even made consecutive appearances in the NBA Finals in five years. In this era of unpredictability, the Boston Celtics strive for continued dominance, and general managers across the league think they can achieve just that.
On Tuesday morning, the NBA released the results from its annual GM Survey. Following the Celtics' 2024 championship, higher-ups across the Association once again view Boston as title favorites.
A whopping 83% of voters believe the C's will prevail in the 2025 NBA Finals. That overwhelming majority is the third-highest rate for a title pick in the history of the NBA GM Survey, which began 23 years ago.
The 2023-24 survey also chose the Celtics to win it all, yet they shared the top spot with the Denver Nuggets. This year, there's no competition. The second-place Oklahoma City Thunder wooed just 13% of voters while 3% of respondents picked the Dallas Mavericks.
This landslide isn't a shock. Boston went 64-18 during its 2023-24 campaign and held the best overall record in the league by a wide margin. In the postseason, the Celtics demolished the competition, going 16-3 en route to their 18th title in franchise history.
Vegas thinks highly of them too. The Celtics have the best odds (+320) to capture the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy, per FanDuel Sportsbook. Oklahoma City is next at +650 and the New York Knicks aren't far behind at +750.
Given the Celtics' championship aspirations, it's no surprise that NBA executives ranked them well across several survey categories.
How did the Celtics fare in the rest of the survey?
GMs predict Boston sitting atop the Eastern Conference for the second year in a row and boasting the best defense in the entire league. Celtics guard Jrue Holiday will lead that defensive unit, with 43% of voters selecting him as the best perimeter defender in the business. The two-time NBA champion received the same honor last season via 50% of votes.
On offense, things are equally great for the Celtics. When GMs were asked which squad would maintain the most efficient offense, Boston was the most popular response, replacing the Nuggets from last year. As for who will direct the best offense, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla finished second in voting behind Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle. The Celtics and Pacers, who met in the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals, had the best offensive ratings throughout the regular season.
Commanding Boston's potent offense will be Celtics stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Tatum was deemed the top small forward in the NBA while Brown landed in fifth. In addition, both members of the terrific tandem were seen as potential MVP candidates. Tatum secured a slight share of votes at 7% (tied for third place) and Brown trailed behind him with his name listed on an unspecified number of ballots.
Brown is more often thought of as a shooting guard, however, GMs didn't have him in their top five at that position. The reigning Finals MVP received some votes though alongside Celtics guard Derrick White.
As for Tatum, he earned an unspecified amount of votes at power forward and was labeled as one of the most versatile players in the NBA by 10% of respondents.
In spite of all the praise, the Celtics still have a bit of bulletin board material heading into the 2024-25 season. Tatum frequently rode the bench during the 2024 Paris Olympics and Brown didn't even make Team USA's roster despite Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard unexpectedly withdrawing.
There'll be little room for criticism of Boston's dynamic duo if the pair of stars can help the Green Team capture back-to-back titles. The Celtics' journey to prove NBA general managers right starts shortly after their ring ceremony on Tuesday, October 22, with a season-opening matchup versus the Knicks.