NBA GM survey picks Celtics to repeat as champs

97 percent of the league's 30 general managers picked the Celtics to return to the NBA Finals as champions of the East. That's 29 out of 30, with Boston GM Brad Stevens voting for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Celtics were also an overwhelming choice to repeat as NBA champions, getting 83 percent, or 25 of the executives' 30 votes. That's the biggest percentage since the 2018-19 Warriors were picked to three-peat by 87 percent of voters.

Of course, those Warriors could tell you that winning the GM survey is no guarantee of subsequent playoff success. That team lost to the Toronto Raptors in the Finals that season. In fact, only 10 of the surveys in it's 22-year history have predicted the champion, and that's including last year, when the Celtics were tied with the Denver Nuggets for 33 percent of the votes to win it all.

Boston was also chosen as the league's best defensive team with 57 percent of votes and the most efficient offense (53 percent of votes), while Jayson Tatum was considered the NBA's best small forward (47 percent) and Jrue Holiday the best perimeter defender (43 percent).

This is encouraging for the Celtics and their fans, but they should keep in mind that the NBA's general managers usually predict that the next NBA champion is the same as the previous NBA champion, with GMs choosing the defending champions in 14 of the 23 surveys.

According to the survey, they're likely to have to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, who got 80 percent of the votes to win the West, and 13 percent of the votes to win the title. Two overwhelming favorites not meeting in the Finals? Why, that hasn't happened since last season! And the one before. And the year before that as well.