Are the Celtics overrated?

The Boston Celtics have the 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. A brilliant young coach in Brad Stevens and a 5'9 maestro Isaiah Thomas (prayers go out to him and his family for their loss). A young scrappy group, who allow Thomas to do what he does best, score. Many analysts believe that this is the team that will challenge the Cavs. However, I think they are very overrated and one of the worst #1 seeds in NBA history.

Sure the Celtics are deep, and have the East's best record, but if you dive in to their wins they are actually not that impressive. The Celtics at best are a great regular season team. They play in the weakest division in the NBA with the Knicks, Nets and 76ers. They are a sub .500 road team. Against the leagues best teams, Golden State (1-1), San Antonio (0-2), Houston (1-1), Cleveland (1-3), Toronto (1-3), they struggled mightily lacking signature wins. They combined to go 4-10 against the best 5 teams in the league by record (not including themselves). Most of their wins came against teams under .500 as they didn't so so well against teams over .500. This shows that good teams have the ability to shut the Celtics down.

They are a great regular season team, just like the 60-win Hawk team who was the 1 seed, 2 years ago. After teams study and for 7 games can lock them down they do not have the ability to win series in the post season. That team made it to the conference finals but was facing a Wizards team with no Wall and it took 6 games. Many believe if Wall was healthy that series the Wizards would have faced the Cavs in the ECF. They did make it through and got swept by the Irving, Love less Cavs. 

The Celtics rely heavily on Thomas and at 5'9 he can be neutralized over a 7 game series by a longer defender. The tear he is on is still incredible but with teams will be able to focus in on him in the playoffs. The Celtics really don't have anyone else that can create offense on that level. Al Horford is a great player, but can't be your best offensive player for a series. 

Offense isn't their biggest problem though. Isaiah Thomas is one of the league's worst defenders. Bradley and Smart do make up for it but you can only hide him for so long. In the last meet up against the Cavs the 1-3 pick and roll was deadly as Thomas can't pick up James and with no rim protector he had a free lane to the hoop. The Celtics struggle rebounding and the ball and have no rim protector. That is a recipe for disaster in the post season. 

Now they have already lost Game 1 in their first round series, but I just don't believe the Bulls have enough shooting to win this series so I'll take the Celtics in 7. The next series they will be going against the Wizards (most likely) and I think they just don't have the pieces to win. I think they will go down in 6. 

With all that being said the future is bright. They have a top 4 pick in this stacked NBA draft, another probable lottery pick next year. On top of that they still have tons of cap room so they can go out and get big name free agents. I believe if they make the right moves, bring in a big free agent and pick the player that best fits their team they will be a much better basketball team next year and might actually scare the Cavs. Remember the Cavs were scared that the Celtics would add another piece (Paul George, Jimmy Butler) on deadline day. The Celtics are a piece away.