I got my popcorn and I'm enjoying the loses

[PhoSita]

  The irony of all the bellyaching about tanking in 1997 is that the player we DID end up drafting with the #3 pick went on to be a 5 time NBA All-Star, an NBA champion and Finals MVP.   Granted, we ended up giving him away way too soon, but a future 5-time allstar aint a bad consolation prize for missing out on a 1 player draft.

This is a great point, and gets at what I've always said in response to the people who say that the lottery is not guaranteed -- that tanking doesn't necessarily result in a top 3 pick.

Tanking is not guaranteed to get you a superstar in any given year.  And even getting a superstar in the draft isn't guaranteed to result in a title.

But tanking is guaranteed to get you a high pick in the draft, and if your franchise is well managed that high pick will be put to good use.

[Onslaught]

Enjoy your popcorn.

If Kevin McHale wasn't the Timberwolves GM in 2007, I wonder if people would still be throwing rose petals at Danny Ainge's feet for the 2008 championship.

In the alternate universe where KG isn't traded to the Celtics, I can basically guarantee that KG ends up with the Lakers and Boston ends up with Pau Gasol.  It's a lock.  Ainge collected assets... we had more than enough to land Gasol.  WE would have been fine.

Our D wouldn't be as good. Garnet made Gasol look like a little girl in the finals. It wasn't until after that smack down that he developed a pair and played like a man.

Interesting line of inquiry -- would the Celtics perhaps have given up less to get Gasol than they had to give up to get Garnett?  Might they have had even more talent on that team?

Also, would an Allen - Pierce - Gasol trio have been as effective?  Would they have won any titles?  Might they have won more titles because Gasol was healthy during the 2009 playoffs?

I agree that defense would be the biggest question mark with that group.  On the other hand, Gasol would have given the Celtics more of an inside scoring presence than Garnett did, and Gasol is an even better passer than Garnett is, which is saying something.  Gasol might have made the Celtics so deadly offensively that it would have made up for the defense. 

Gasol has always been an underrated defender, in any case.  He was taken advantage of by the Celtics because he was forced to play at center so often with Bynum injured.

I think they 08 team had a special chemistry. KG and Perk just worked well together. They had this edge together that I've not see in a long time at those positions. I'm not sure that you could get that from Gasol. And I say this as someone who's not a very big KG fan.

[LarBrd33]

  The irony of all the bellyaching about tanking in 1997 is that the player we DID end up drafting with the #3 pick went on to be a 5 time NBA All-Star, an NBA champion and Finals MVP.   Granted, we ended up giving him away way too soon, but a future 5-time allstar aint a bad consolation prize for missing out on a 1 player draft.

This is a great point, and gets at what I've always said in response to the people who say that the lottery is not guaranteed -- that tanking doesn't necessarily result in a top 3 pick.

Tanking is not guaranteed to get you a superstar in any given year.  And even getting a superstar in the draft isn't guaranteed to result in a title.

But tanking is guaranteed to get you a high pick in the draft, and if your franchise is well managed that high pick will be put to good use.

And even as brutally mismanaged as that 1997 Celtic team was and even as horrible of a GM Rick Pitino was... we ended up trading Billups for a 27 year old All-star PG.  Yes, Kenny Anderson was a bit of a disappointment once he arrived and that trade was awful in retrospect... but the point remains that you generally don't just get all-stars for free.   It's absolutely accurate to say that tanking in 1997 netted us an all-star player.  Tanking in 2007 netted us 32 year old allstar.

I'd be pretty comfortable with a Top 8 pick in this draft.  I'd be comfortable with getting a 27 year old all-star as well.

[Kiorrik]

The way I see it, the only power I wield in the world of the Boston Celtics, is to annoy the crap out of some of the fanbase by occasionally flinging warnings at them or swinging the big ole' ban-hammer at their faces. And I care for neither.

My point being; I've stopped thinking I know better than DA, and started giving more about seeing a squad of young'uns progress in the game of basketball. The beautiful game of basketball has always been my one, first love. The Celtics get second place.

This attitude helps me greatly in appreciating the game that's being played on the court, without being frustrated by everything that's happening around it.

(I wish I could do the same with the NBA's crummy reffing.)

I'm not saying that this is the one and only way to think about the Celtics, or that it's the way "a real fan of the game" would think about it, or whatever else. I'm just saying that it's helped *me* enjoy the game again.

Go Klynyk!