Terrible Slate of X-Mas games

[Brahmsian]

In that case, Memphis needs some realistic talent evaluation and needs a top 7 pick. Like what Boston did whatever that term is

Memphis is hardly the only franchise could use better talent evaluation.

Don't forget that poor talent evaluation can waste high picks.

 

[Clayton]

Memphis is hardly the only franchise could use better talent evaluation.

Don't forget that poor talent evaluation can waste high picks.

Well, of course. Memphis has generally been a very poor drafting team. But they need to miss the playoffs this year because they aren't going anywhere in the West. Their year was last year.

Bill Simmons wrote about the Celtics tanking to get Durant or Oden. They got the pick that would be Jeff Green and flipped it for Ray Allen. That is tanking. The Grizzlies should learn from that.

 

[Brahmsian]

Well, of course. Memphis has generally been a very poor drafting team. But they need to miss the playoffs this year because they aren't going anywhere in the West. Their year was last year.

Bill Simmons wrote about the Celtics tanking to get Durant or Oden. They got the pick that would be Jeff Green and flipped it for Ray Allen. That is tanking. The Grizzlies should learn from that.

Bill Simmons is, off this example anyway, less knowledgeable about basketball than most of the sportswriters for either the Boston Globe or the Boston Herald. He may have been a bit off his game when he wrote it, to give him the benefit of the doubt.

BTW, Ainge later got Green back for some very expendable and/or unhealthy players.

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

I look at it like this, imagine if the Knicks were playing the Nets & the Lakers were playing the Sixers or Celtics. See it could have been worse. The NBA it's CRAPTASTIC!!:

 

[wildturkey]

They got him by trading someone not as good when they realized the team they had was not going to win any titles soon and would have difficulty staying over .500. And to a lesser extent by canning Rick Pitino who had demonstrated he was a better college recruiter than a basketball coach.

Realistic talent evaluation is NOT TANKING!

You are delusional. Get over it. Stop acting like your favorite team is on some higher moral ground than every other franchise. The Celts are tanking and have tanked. They're doing it this season but may end up in the playoffs by default because the Atlantic is a shitfest. They did it in 07 trying to get Oden/Durant. They did it in 97 trying to get Tim Duncan. There's nothing wrong with it either. It's no accident the "rebuild" just so happens to coincide with the best draft in 10 years.

 

[Tai Chi≈Surfing]

Getting rid of Hollins was their biggest mistake. They have almost the same roster as last year but they aren't anything this year. It also hurts that Gasol is out with a serious injury

I do hope Lionel Hollins is on the Knicks' short list for when and if they decide to dump Mike Woodson.
But knowing who the Knicks' owner is, I won't be holding my breath.

 

[Brahmsian]

You are delusional. Get over it. Stop acting like your favorite team is on some higher moral ground than every other franchise. The Celts are tanking and have tanked. They're doing it this season but may end up in the playoffs by default because the Atlantic is a shitfest. They did it in 07 trying to get Oden/Durant. They did it in 97 trying to get Tim Duncan. There's nothing wrong with it either. It's no accident the "rebuild" just so happens to coincide with the best draft in 10 years.

YOU'RE the one who's delusional!

The Celtics know very well that scouting and trading work consistently better than tanking.

Moral considerations are an extra reason they don't tank.

True, they have had bad seasons, but those happen now and then on random chance to ALL franchises in all sports.

 

[wildturkey]

So why not get rid of Pierce and KG last year? Why not keep them one more year and let them retire as Celts? Why did Doc want out so bad? Because 2014 was the year to blow it up and go for a draft pick. THAT IS TANKING. You're purposely building a not-so competitive roster in order to land a draft pick and assets. That is exactly what Boston is doing. And good for them. It's a perfectly legit strategy. But like I said, it just so happens they may end up in the playoffs still because the Atlantic is terrible. Want an example of a team that didn't tank? Atlanta. They were in a similar spot as Boston. But you know what they did? Got Paul Millsap and kept Korver and Teague. They could have signed middling rotation players to field a non competitive roster to tank, but didn't.

For what its worth, all of ATL's deals are favorable contracts to trade but that's not relevant. The point is their roster acquisitions were obviously intended to still win games and snag a playoff spot.I'd keep spelling it out for you but its apparent your shades are far too green to see what's in front of your face.

 

[Brahmsian]

So why not get rid of Pierce and KG last year? Why not keep them one more year and let them retire as Celts? Why did Doc want out so bad? Because 2014 was the year to blow it up and go for a draft pick. THAT IS TANKING. You're purposely building a not-so competitive roster in order to land a draft pick and assets. That is exactly what Boston is doing. And good for them. It's a perfectly legit strategy. But like I said, it just so happens they may end up in the playoffs still because the Atlantic is terrible. Want an example of a team that didn't tank? Atlanta. They were in a similar spot as Boston. But you know what they did? Got Paul Millsap and kept Korver and Teague. They could have signed middling rotation players to field a non competitive roster to tank, but didn't.

For what its worth, all of ATL's deals are favorable contracts to trade but that's not relevant. The point is their roster acquisitions were obviously intended to still win games and snag a playoff spot.I'd keep spelling it out for you but its apparent your shades are far too green to see what's in front of your face.

Doc wanted out because he had been through a rebuilding phase with Orlando before coming to the Celtics and didn't want to go through another one.

KG and Pierce were traded because they were getting past their primes and the Nets made a wishful-thinking type offer for them.

Garnett's floor time had to be limited last year to keep him heathy enough to play meaningful minutes in the post-season. Pierce had probably the worst shooting percentage of his career. But the Nets owner was thinking they'd help ticket sales despite that.

Taking advantage of the ignorance of another franchise's owner is SMART, not tanking!

 

[wildturkey]

LOL. You realize none of that negates the fact they're tanking, right? Keep reaching for that green and white rainbow

 

[trojanfan12]

The lineup was great when the schedule came out but by the start of December you knew the Bulls/Nets would be a trainwreck and once Melo was out you knew OKC would handle them. The final 3 games were watchable and surprisingly the Heat/Lakers was better than the Rockets/Spurs

Heat/Lakers was good enough that the Mrs. didn't make me turn it off. Although, I did have to mute it!!

 

[trojanfan12]

Doc wanted out because he had been through a rebuilding phase with Orlando before coming to the Celtics and didn't want to go through another one.

KG and Pierce were traded because they were getting past their primes and the Nets made a wishful-thinking type offer for them.

Garnett's floor time had to be limited last year to keep him heathy enough to play meaningful minutes in the post-season. Pierce had probably the worst shooting percentage of his career. But the Nets owner was thinking they'd help ticket sales despite that.

Taking advantage of the ignorance of another franchise's owner is SMART, not tanking!

Make no mistake, the Celtics are tanking. Are their players going out there and not playing as hard as they can every game? No. They are definitely playing hard. But all one has to do is look at the roster to know that they aren't trying to put a contending team on the floor.

As wildturkey points out, they could have kept Garnett, Pierce and Doc together for one more season so that they could retire as Celtics. Instead, they looked at how deep the upcoming draft is and made a decision. Nothing wrong with that. Now they just have to hope that they can get in to the lottery. The East so horrible this year that it's like everyone except Miami, Indiana and maybe Atlanta are tanking.

 

[Brahmsian]

LOL. You realize none of that negates the fact they're tanking, right? Keep reaching for that green and white rainbow

Envious, much?

I root for the Celtics because I've lived in Boston for 40 years now. During that time Ive rooted for some TERRIBLE Bruins hockey teams and some sorry Red Sox and Celtics teams as well.

The Celtics are tanking ONLY in your jealous imagination. ONLY there!

 

[LALakersboy24.7]

Heat/Lakers was good enough that the Mrs. didn't make me turn it off. Although, I did have to mute it!!

I see what you did here, you decided to listen to John Ireland & Michael Thompson Instead, not a bad idea too bad that Ireland is an idiot most of the time, but Michael Thompson is ok

 

[Brahmsian]

Make no mistake, the Celtics are tanking. Are their players going out there and not playing as hard as they can every game? No. They are definitely playing hard. But all one has to do is look at the roster to know that they aren't trying to put a contending team on the floor.

As wildturkey points out, they could have kept Garnett, Pierce and Doc together for one more season so that they could retire as Celtics. Instead, they looked at how deep the upcoming draft is and made a decision. Nothing wrong with that. Now they just have to hope that they can get in to the lottery. The East so horrible this year that it's like everyone except Miami, Indiana and maybe Atlanta are tanking.

You haven't watched Gerald Wallace much, have you? Or Jared Sullinger?

If the Celtics were tanking their record would be closer to 6-23 than it's actual 12-17. Which is bad enough, but better than I expected before the season started.

 

[trojanfan12]

You haven't watched Gerald Wallace much, have you? Or Jared Sullinger?

If the Celtics were tanking their record would be closer to 6-23 than it's actual 12-17. Which is bad enough, but better than I expected before the season started.

I can't type any slower, so please try and keep up.

I clearly stated that the players are competing and playing hard every night. Tanking isn't having players go out and not try. It's not the coach telling them to "get out there an lose". These guys are athletes and have pride. They are also trying to stay in the league and make a name for themselves.

Tanking is done by management putting a team on the floor that they know can't contend and is likely lottery bound. It's not that the players aren't playing hard, it's that they don't have enough players.

If the Celtics had kept KG, Pierce and Doc, they would be sitting a no less than the 3 seed in the East right now.

Again, nothing wrong with that.

 

[Brahmsian]

I can't type any slower, so please try and keep up.

I clearly stated that the players are competing and playing hard every night. Tanking isn't having players go out and not try. It's not the coach telling them to "get out there an lose". These guys are athletes and have pride. They are also trying to stay in the league and make a name for themselves.

Tanking is done by management putting a team on the floor that they know can't contend and is likely lottery bound. It's not that the players aren't playing hard, it's that they don't have enough players.

If the Celtics had kept KG, Pierce and Doc, they would be sitting a no less than the 3 seed in the East right now.

Again, nothing wrong with that.

Sorry I missed that.

The word "tanking" sometimes gets too automatic a reaction from me.

 

[trojanfan12]

Sorry I missed that.

The word "tanking" sometimes gets too automatic a reaction from me.

No worries!! It always got the same reaction from me as well until it was explained to me the same way.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

I can't type any slower, so please try and keep up.

I clearly stated that the players are competing and playing hard every night. Tanking isn't having players go out and not try. It's not the coach telling them to "get out there an lose". These guys are athletes and have pride. They are also trying to stay in the league and make a name for themselves.

Tanking is done by management putting a team on the floor that they know can't contend and is likely lottery bound. It's not that the players aren't playing hard, it's that they don't have enough players.

If the Celtics had kept KG, Pierce and Doc, they would be sitting a no less than the 3 seed in the East right now.

Again, nothing wrong with that.

Perfectly said.
Some people actually think a team tanking means the players on the court are told to not compete to the best of their abilities, which is absolutely ridiculous.

These players are all professional athletes who achieved that status by excelling at every level leading up the ladder.

Players who achieve making it to the NBA, want to stay in the NBA.
Getting a reputation for not playing hard is a ticket to the D League or overseas.