Every yea, all the NBA general managers are given 48 questions in an annual survey about their predictions on the new season. This year is a special occasion as it is the 25th anniversary of the survey. These questions range from best teams, players, coaches, offseason moves and more. The Celtics show up a good amount in this year’s survey, so lets go over it.
Standings Predictions
Starting in the predictions portion of the survey, we have the Eastern Conference standings predictions. With 60% of the vote, the GMs predicted
that the New York Knicks would be the first place in the East. This was followed by the new look Philadelphia 76ers in second place and the Cleveland Cavaliers in third. The Boston Celtics find themselves as the fourth best team in the East with 27% of the voters predicting them to finish there. This ranking is an improvement from last year’s survey where the Celtics finished eighth. Boston only received a 7% chance to finish in first place at the top of the East, tied with Cleveland.
Coaching
Out of all the categories in the survey, coaching was the one that saw the Celtics appear the most. When asked which head coach was the best manager/motivator, Joe Mazzulla was tied for first place in the voting along with Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra at 23%. When it comes to which head coach makes the best in game adjustments, Mazzulla was voted in fifth place at 7% of the vote while Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle was number one at 30%.
Mazzulla also received votes in the categories of which head coach runs the best offense and the best defensive schemes. The craziest thing to me is out of all the things Joe Mazzulla was voted for, the reigning Coach of the Year in the NBA received zero votes for the best coach in the NBA. Although if you asked Joe, I don’t think he would care.
When asked who the best assistant coach in the NBA was, Sam Cassell finished tied for 5th place at 7% while former Celtics senior consultant and current Clippers assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy finished first with 17% of the vote. Cassell has been seen as a hot head coach candidate in the NBA for a while now and has been with Boston since 2023 so its cool to see him get respect from around the league.
When asked which active player will make the best head coach someday, Celtics guard Mike Conley was the winner by a big margin, finishing with 50% of the votes while Derrick White also received votes. Conley was brought in to Boston to be a veteran presence for the young guys on this team and has gotten glowing reviews from every player and coach so far. He also seems to have a great relationship with Payton Pritchard and that is a dynamic I can’t wait to see this season.
Players
Next up we have the players portion of the survey where the GMs were asked to name their MVP pick, breakout candidates, and the best player at each position. For MVP, the Spurs Victor Wembanyama is an overwhelming favorite, finishing with 77% of the vote. Nikola Jokic and Anthony Edwards followed him in the rankings but we also saw Jayson Tatum received votes as well.
Coming back from his torn Achilles last season, Tatum looked just as good as he did before the injury, averaging 21.8 points, 10 rebounds, and 5.3 assists in 16 games played last year. This season, Tatum said he had a full offseason of rest and recovery and with Jaylen Brown being traded, we could realistically see Jayson Tatum take a run at the MVP.
When asked “Which player is likely to have a breakout season in 2026-27,” the Spurs young guard Dylan Harper was voted number one with 27% of the vote. There was a tie for second place between Maine native and Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg, Raptors forward Collin-Murray Boyles, the Rockets guard Amen Thompson, and Thunder guard Cason Wallace at 17%.
Payton Pritchard was also recognized. Pritchard is coming off a career season last year with career highs of 17.0 points, 5.2 assists, and 3.9 rebounds in 79 games between starting and coming off of the bench. He was also just awarded with a contract extension of 2 years and $44.2 million on October 13th, showing the Celtics strengthened belief in the guard. There is a chance we could see Pritchard running away with the Most Improved Player Award this year and maybe even take a leap into being an All-Star in 2027.
In the position rankings portion of the survey, when asked who the best small forward in the NBA was, it was a tight battle between Jayson Tatum and Luka Doncic of the Los Angles Lakers. Sadly, Doncic was voted the favorite at 37% while Tatum finished with 33%. Tatum did also receive votes for the best power forward in the NBA, but that was dominated by new Miami Heat star Giannis Antetokounmpo at 70%.
Offseason Moves
When it comes to offseason moves, it feels right the Boston appears a lot throughout this section in one way or another. Boston received some votes when it came to which team made the best offseason moves overall with former Celtic and current 76er Jaylen Brown being voted as the second best player when it comes to making an impact on their new team. Paul George did not receive any votes for any of the categories, which is a little disappointing because he could make a real impact for Boston this season.
The question that was the most interesting to me in this section was the most underrated player acquisition of the offseason. In that ranking, Mitchell Robinson finished in second place with 17% of the vote, only beat of by Tobias Harris of the Spurs at 20% of the vote. Robinson signed with the Celtics back in July after spending 8 seasons with the New York Knicks and even winning a championship with them in 2026. In 60 games last year Robinson finished with averages of 5.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks while being a major presence on the glass and finished 8th in Sixth Man of the Year Voting. We have seen Robinson’s impact on the Celtics throughout the preseason so far and baring any major injury, will be the defensive anchor of this team moving forward.
Other Notable Mentions
Starting with the rookies and international portion, Chris Cenac Jr. was tied for fifth place with the Grizzlies Cameron Boozer, the Lakers Cameron Carr, the Warriors Yaxel Lendeborg, and the Bulls Caleb Wilson when it came to the biggest steal of the draft at 7%. The Milwaukee Bucks 30th overall pick Brayden Burries was voted number one at 30%.
Cenac Jr. was the 27th overall pick by Boston out of Houston and it was a surprise that he fell that far. In his freshman season at Houston, Cenac Jr. averaged 9.5 points and 7.9 rebounds in 37 games. At only 19 years old, he has a chance to develop into a legit piece for the Celtics moving forward, especially with Boston’s reputation at developing big men in Big Fella University.
When it comes to defense, Derrick White received votes in the category of best perimeter defender in the NBA but no other Celtics appeared on the list in any category. In the miscellaneous section, the Celtics finished in fourth place when it came to which team was going to have the leagues most efficient offense at 13%. Boston also received some votes in the category most fun team to watch but didn’t get any votes for best home court advantage. Finally, Jayson Tatum got some votes when it came to the best leader in the NBA while Jalen Brunson of the Knicks finished number one at 53%.
Takeaways
The biggest takeaway I have from the 2026-27 NBA GM Survey is that almost everyone believes there are maybe four contenders in the NBA: the Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks, Antonio Spurs, and Oklahoma City Thunder. Almost every category had one of those four teams as the number one answer.
In a way, it feels like other great teams like the Celtics are getting outshined a little bit. It makes sense in a way but I feel like we will look back on these answers next year and laugh at some of these answers.
For the Celtics, I definitely think they are getting underrated by the league as a whole. Not being voted for almost any defensive categories seems really weird given they were the fourth best defense in the NBA last year in defensive rating and added George and Robinson alongside White who was on the All Defensive 1st Team. I guess just like last season, no one really knows what to expect from Boston, and I hope it works in their advantage to sneak up on teams once again.
