Unsurprisingly, the Golden State Warriors premiered in the No.1 spot in ESPN's recent NBA Power Rankings, Training Camp edition. Seeing the Boston Celtics, not the Houston Rockets, holding down the second spot was a bit of a shocker, however.
The panel of over 40 ESPN personalities declared the Warriors and Celtics as the top two teams in the league, with the Rockets, Toronto Raptors, and Oklahoma City Thunder rounding out the top five.
It is interesting, yet understandable, to see the Celtics as the No.2 ranked team coming into the season.
With previously injured stars Kyrie Irving and Gordan Hayward rounding out a starting five that includes Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Al Horford, it's easy to see the Celtics upside. Led by one of the NBA's best coaches in Brad Stevens, Boston is the clear favorite in an Eastern Conference now devoid of LeBron James.
Getting to the NBA Finals is still no sure thing for the Celtics, though. Philadelphia has to be taken seriously as their core of young stars prepare to take its next step and Toronto, the East's best team from a year ago, just added a top-five talent.
Throw in teams like the ascending Milwaukee Bucks and Boston's path suddenly seems a bit tougher.
Meanwhile, there is no way around the Warriors opening up atop the rankings. Coming off back-to-back titles, Golden State has seemed almost unbeatable the past few years. And that was before they signed one of the NBA top, if not the top, centers in DeMarcus Cousins.
Anything can happen in basketball but it seems like a pretty safe bet that the ESPN voters will be right on at least one of their rankings.
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