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October 7, 2012 — Celtic Nation staffer Adam Lowenstein, a.k.a. Stats Adam, offers his take on the Celtics’ prospects for the upcoming season —

The 2012-13 Boston Celtics are different from last year’s version in one distinct way:  The bench.  As of the beginning of the regular season, Avery Bradley will likely still be sidelined with his injured shoulders. Therefore, Courtney Lee will be slotted into the established starting lineup of Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, Brandon Bass and Kevin Garnett.  Yet, the Celtics still do have enough firepower from the bench with the likes of Jason Terry, Jeff Green, Chris Wilcox, Jared Sullinger, Fab Melo and Jason Collins.  In addition, for the first time since the start of 2007-08 preseason, Doc Rivers is having his team participate in the NBA Europe Live Tour.  The second instance of this bonding experiment should bring together a team filled with a lot of fresh faces.

However, the x-factor for this year’s Celtics is neither a player that the organization acquired this offseason nor is it an established veteran; it is Jeff Green, who is coming off of heart surgery that prevented him from playing in any games during the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season.   Green is such a dynamic player that can play either forward position and create unique offense by running extremely well with Rondo.  I think he will live up to his hefty four-year, $36-million deal and be a huge asset to the Celtics in their pursuit of Banner #18.

2012-13 Boston Celtics Prediction: 57-25 record and NBA Championship.