With the NBA season now here, Zach Lowe of Grantland wrote a piece detailing the tiers of the NBA. The tiers that Lowe includes on his list are contenders, solid playoff teams, 8th seed contenders, high lottery and low lottery teams. This year the Celtics have moved up and are listed in the second tier of the NBA in solid playoff teams, along with other teams such as the Grizzlies, Wizards, Bulls, Hawks, Heat, Pelicans and Raptors.
Compared to where Boston was ranked last year in Grantlands' rankings near the bottom of the conference, the team impressed people enough to where they're considered a lock for the playoffs.