Yea you’re right to not trust Embiid. Pistons we will see, I just really like the young Cade/Duren pairing and I expect them to continue to improveI don't trust the Pistons or Embiid's health. I did forget about Orlando. There is a clear top four with BOS out of it, so "easily" was a bridge too far, but I really wouldn't be surprised. Brown can have a breakout year. Still a lot of talent on that roster. They are surely not tanking.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the Celtics are better than a few teams expected to win more, but it also wouldn’t surprise me if they are in the play in range and decide to start resting guys and get themselves a spot in the lottery.
The lottery is so different now, with the altered odds you can sneak into the back end of the lottery and win it. That’s gotta be incredibly enticing for a team like the Celtics, who know they probably aren’t true contenders until Tatum is Tatum again