Its pretty obvious that I was saying that they drafted 6th not that they had the 6th worst record. Every NBA fan knows that Cleveland jumped us.
The 3rd worst team would have had better odds, so that still would have been the right move. Also, the 4th pick would have been more valuable as a trade chip and would've given us more options.
Yet your own statement is defeated by the facts. Even if Danny tried tanking last year (and you have to assume the ping pong balls go the same way) it still doesn't net you one of the 3 guys you're wishing they drafted! For all you know, that 3rd place finish STILL ends up with the Celtics picking 6th. In short, how can you say he screwed up when the scenario you paint doesn't net you with the results you're after?
We are in the 2nd year of a rebuild and only have one potential star on the roster in Smart, and he hasn't even shown much so far. Right now, we are most likely going to be picking in the 6-10 range. Even if we hit on this lottery pick, it will still be years before we have the stars to actually make a playoff run.
Clippers 2015- late 1st and not that valuable
Cleveland 2016- same
Dallas 2016- same
So we have our 15,16 and BKN's 16. I guess we are really banking on the Nets getting us a high lotto pick. Sorry, but I just dont see much to be excited about right now.
Well, it's not exciting when your favorite team is losing games. But ask a bunch of other teams how it feels to be truly mired in mediocrity and not really have any way out of it.
I don't think there's a star on this roster (before or after the Rondo trade). I don't think Smart will be a star. I think he'll be solid. I think there's a bunch of solid young talent on this team.
As for the future assets, there's a lottery pick this year. That's a given. It maybe 6-10, it may be top 5 after this trade (and I'm expecting trades for Bass and Jeff Green too). It may be #1. There's the Clippers pick in the high 20s and the handful of 2s.
There's a host of picks next year, with 2 likely being lottery picks (NJ and BOS) while the Dallas pick may be in the teens or 20s (I don't think Dallas will be able to keep up in the West). The Cleveland pick is high 20s.
There's also a massively valuable (this is underrated) $13m trade exception that will be like gold to trading partners. There's also an abundance of (this is overrated) cap space for potential FAs.
Do we have great cards at the table? Nope. But we do have a lot of shots at the jackpot and enough cards to play even if we don't hit that jackpot.
I'm expecting 2-3 more deals before the deadline by the Celtics. I'm not sure we can evaluate any of them until the dust settles.