Game Thread: Celtics Hosting Lakers, 7:30 PM Eastern Time, January 17, 2014

[Lakers+USC=#1]

Lakers need to stop this shit. With every win, we get further and further away from getting either Exum or Smart in the lottery.

Lose by a point, lose by 20 - I don't care, just lose.

Lol, thats why I said the Celtics won last night.

On a serious note, with me, its not that im rooting for the Lakers to lose when im watching the game, its just I dont care if they do lose because that is helping us with the draft.

 

[LAKERSUSCBAM]

The Celtics may end up in the lottery anyway but that would NOT be cause for celebration on the part of the franchise's FO or fans.

Logicman would disagree with you

 

[Brahmsian]

Logicman would disagree with you

I have no problem with that. I never expect unanimous agreement with my opinions.

 

[LogicMan]

If this draft was not so deep I might think a little different . The top 5 in this draft are a very special bunch.

 

[trojanfan12]

If this draft was not so deep I might think a little different . The top 5 in this draft are a very special bunch.

Exactly. Both teams were in essentially the same position going in to this season. They could have kept most of their rosters from the past few seasons together and been looking at 1st or 2nd round exits in the playoffs.

Both teams also could easily have worked the off-season to put together teams that would get them 5-8 seeds in the playoffs and 1st or 2nd round exits for years to come. Instead, they are sacrificing a season or 2 so that they can attempt to get back to contender status within the next 3-4 seasons or so and hopefully maintain it for awhile.

 

[LogicMan]

It would be great if there was a simple rotation scheme on who gets the top pick

I heard the nba may consider this

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

Exactly. Both teams were in essentially the same position going in to this season. They could have kept most of their rosters from the past few seasons together and been looking at 1st or 2nd round exits in the playoffs.

Both teams also could easily have worked the off-season to put together teams that would get them 5-8 seeds in the playoffs and 1st or 2nd round exits for years to come. Instead, they are sacrificing a season or 2 so that they can attempt to get back to contender status within the next 3-4 seasons or so and hopefully maintain it for awhile.

Perhaps the Celtics could have because making the playoffs in the East isn't that hard.
But the Lakers? Easily?
I don't see it.
They already had dealt a bunch of draft picks, were over the cap, and other then Gasol ( who someone would only want if they wanted an expiring contract) had no tradable assets.

 

[HizzleRocker]

I think you are about the only speaking the truth.
No fan really wants to invest near 3 hours watching to see their team lose.
People in the mindset wouldn't even watch.

The lottery, draft, guarantees nothing.

Truth of the matter, the Lakers or no other teams players are tanking.

Some teams just don't have the talent, and some teams, and probably Lakers at the top of the list have had a an already thin roster torn apart by injuries.

There are 2 types of tanking. 1) Tanking on the court and trying to lose games. 2) Tanking from the top, i.e. Owner, GM, etc...

#1 is inexcusable and no respectable player would do that. No team, imo, is doing that. However, I have felt from early early on that we have been doing #2.

I agree that the lottery does not gaurantee anything. However, you need to remember that we don't get another 1st Round pick through 2016. We gave them all away. This year is basically our ONLY shot at getting a franchise player through the draft (under rookie contract) for 3 years. Pair that with the fact that their may only be a couple franchise PG's in this years draft, and they will likely both be gone in the top 8 - We need a top 8 pick.

 

[trojanfan12]

Perhaps the Celtics could have because making the playoffs in the East isn't that hard.
But the Lakers? Easily?
I don't see it.
They already had dealt a bunch of draft picks, were over the cap, and other then Gasol ( who someone would only want if they wanted an expiring contract) had no tradable assets.

Definitely would have been harder for the Lakers. However, when considering that the current team (minus Kobe and Nash) was sitting at 10-9 and hovering around the #8 seed before the injuries hit, it was definitely possible to have put together a lineup that would have gotten them exactly what I stated.

Also, when Kobe went down with his current injury, we were starting to see signs of him returning to something close to normal (at least as close as he's going to be considering the injury he was coming back from). Again, looking at where this team was and with Kobe pushing the team, they may well have landed a 7 or 8 seed, especially with Pau starting to play better.

Because of this, the injuries may ultimately be a blessing in disguise because they have pretty well ended any hope of making the playoffs.