Let's wait instead of drawing conclusions. We don't know what Danny is doing.

[badshar]

I initially planned to post this as a reply to another thread, but I felt it needed its own thread.

The following are the quotes that Danny Ainge gave to Gary Washburn, Scott Souza and A. Sherrod Blakely:

We are not tanking. Thats ridiculous. This is the Boston Celtics.

we will spend this summer paring down roster, will not pursue any high-profile.

"too many players on our roster and need to "clean that up" before focusing on Free agency."

He said he isn't trying to get BIG free agents, but he isn't tanking either. He is trying to CLEAN the roster, before he makes any moves.

Isn't that extremely similar to 2007 off-season Danny Ainge too? Not looking to sign big name free agents, but not trying to tank and looking to clean the roster?

What happened later that off-season?
He cleaned his roster by taking them and turning them for a superstar player.
After he cleaned his roster, the moves he made was sign very good free agents. They weren't superstars, but good role players.

6 years later, we are at the exact same stage. We have an a star in his prime asking to get him help (The way Danny said that Rondo wants the team to get free agents and wants help).

Danny knows now that almost no big-name free agent wants to come to Boston at will and knew this in 2007 too.

Al Jefferson was the biggest trade chip for us and he was finally showing his true value towards the end of the previous season, putting up all-star numbers. Similarly, Jeff Green is one of our biggest trade chip and he finally showed his true value towards the end of last year.

In many ways, we are in the same situation as that year. I am not saying we must Jeff Green, but I am trying to show that we are in the same boat yet again with an almost exact same situation.

We don't know what is going on in Danny's mind. Its not like Danny is only doing what's being reported. Everything is NOT being reported. We don't know if Danny is currently in midst of a phone call talking about a deal that may actually take place and land us very good talent. We don't know what Danny is doing right now. Just because a report by Adrian Wojnarowski hasn't reported a trade doesn't mean Danny isn't discussing it with another team.

Its not even been 24 hours since free agency began, so I think we should definitely wait and see what happens. July just began and don't forget that the trade that brought KG here took place on July 31st.

Let's wait and see...

[LarBrd33]

It's pretty obvious what they are doing.  They are building around youth and draft picks.  They aren't going to come out and say they are tanking, because it wouldn't sell tickets and it would cause controversy.  But make no mistake... They hope to get a top 5 pick in the 2014 draft. Draw your own conclusions on what that entails....

[Sketch5]

Of course DA isn't going to say what he's going to be doing. Remember he wasn't going to make any big moves on Draft night?

He doesn't want to say who he's looking at so no one under cuts him. 

He doesn't want to say he's going to tank, for one, so he doesn't get nailed will calls for key guys to get for penny's on the dollar. And two, you just don't say that, you just let people assume thats happening.

I think DA is looking. I don't think tanking is 100% guaranteed. And any time we do we either get 5 or 9th pic. Might be better to be projected for pics 7-10, maybe get lucky like Cleveland. We also have gotten some nice players in the middle of the draft, or late lotto.

So I think he will be looking and if it goes south, focus on developing the young players and loose a little in the process.

I think its also why a coach hasn't been hired yet, they don't want a vet coach with a young loosing team, but don't want a newbie with a team that could contend...

So I am drawing conclusions, its just that DA going to have some options and things have to fall in place for certain things to work..

[BballTim]

It's pretty obvious what they are doing.  They are building around youth and draft picks.  They aren't going to come out and say they are tanking, because it wouldn't sell tickets and it would cause controversy.  But make no mistake... They hope to get a top 5 pick in the 2014 draft. Draw your own conclusions on what that entails....

  That's obviously a possibility, clearly there are others.

[soap07]

  That's obviously a possibility, clearly there are others.

Give this man a talk show.

[LooseCannon]

Let's not evaluate the trade until we know exactly how much those draft picks end up being worth. 

[D Dub]

It's pretty obvious what they are doing.  They are building around youth and draft picks.  They aren't going to come out and say they are tanking, because it wouldn't sell tickets and it would cause controversy.  But make no mistake... They hope to get a top 5 pick in the 2014 draft. Draw your own conclusions on what that entails....

That's one option, but doesn't mean its the only option.

here's another:
We could also s/t for Milsap (Humphries + picks)
then move Green/Bradley & three 1st's for Lamarcus Aldride

or Josh Smith and OJ May s/t's
or Al Jefferson s/t's

I really don't think its a foregone conclusion to tank.  My guess is its like plan C or D for Danny, which frankly isn't a bad fall back position to have.

Celts seem well positioned, all things considered.

[Evantime34]

It's pretty obvious what they are doing.  They are building around youth and draft picks.  They aren't going to come out and say they are tanking, because it wouldn't sell tickets and it would cause controversy.  But make no mistake... They hope to get a top 5 pick in the 2014 draft. Draw your own conclusions on what that entails....

Most importantly if Ainge came out and publicly said they were tanking, they would get fined, and fined huge.

On this general topic, I refuse to believe they decided to tank until they hire a coach. I still think if a good trade to improve the team with young talent now, came around they would make the deal, then hire a legit coach to lead the team. If they tank I expect the cheapest coach possible, but until they make a decision I will hold out hope that we aren't just tanking