Boston Legend Jo Jo White Believes Celtics Are the Early Favorites in 2009-10

Jo Jo White says the Celtics are going to contend for the NBA title in 2009-10. And what Jo Jo White says, goes.

After all, he should know -- he won two titles with the Celtics, in 1974 and 1976.

"I would venture to think [the Celtics are the favorites this year]," White told NESN's Heidi Watney during Monday's edition of SportsDesk. "I felt that last year, had Kevin [Garnett] been healthy, they had a chance of winning it all last year. They're even hungrier this year, now that everybody is healthy."

What's more, this year's Celtics have something special that last year's team may have been lacking at times: cohesiveness.

"I've been watching them very, very closely and this team is closer than even last year's team," White said. "I'm really excited about what's coming up."

The Boston legend was drafted by the Celtics in the first round of the 1969 draft and was an All-Star for seven straight years from 1971 through 1977. For five straight seasons in the 1970s, the durable veteran played in all 82 games for Boston. His No. 10 jersey was retired on April 9, 1982.

White says the Celtics' offseason acquisitions of Rasheed Wallace, Marquis Daniels and Shelden Williams should certainly serve them well in the upcoming season.

"I think we have the deepest team [in the league]," he said. "This is the first time in a long time that I've seen this team this deep. We can play big ball, we can play up-tempo ball, we can play small ball, we can play any kind of ball you can put out there." 

You can watch White's entire interview here: