Ya, I mean I dont the preoccupation with the Sixes a lot of Celtics fans have. I think given where they are right now with two all-nba levels players on their team its safe to say their plan worked. They tanked, got stars, and are now set up to compete. People like to point out they wiff on noel and Okafor, that's true, but its also sort of factored into Hinkie's plan. You still for a long time and pile up assets to get multiple shots, because you wont hit every time. Anti-hinkies also like to say that you cant develop a winning culture in that environment, but the 76ers just went form 27 to 50 wins this season and they seem to have developed a strong defensive culture even while losing, so I'm not sure that argument holds water either.
Now, in the Celtics case is it fair to ask whether our way of rebuilding was better? Sure. Winning allowed us to sign two all star free agents, trade for a top 15 NBA player and build a culture with a great coach. We are as well set as the 76ers to compete for years, But we often ignore that it was a once in a lifetime rebuild due to the Nets picks. Most NBA teams dont have a steady stream of outsourced lottery picks to do their tanking for them. If we didn't have those picks what exactly would our team look like? No Brown, No Tatum, No Kyrie with a big three of Hayward, Thomas and Horford. Assuming those guys still sign with us.
So while those losing years suck for 76ers fans, I dont see how you make a real argument that it wasn't the right call. For all we like to rag on the 76ers for their losing the pass couple of years I think its fir to point out that we have won exactly 2 more playoff series then them during the rebuild. Now we get to watch these two teams battle in the east for years to come. Its gonna be fun.