I Think I Am Aboard The Tank Train Now

[LatterDayCelticsfan]

I don't know if this question hasn't already been asked, but who would we be tanking for?

[Moranis]

AJ Dyantsa is the #1 guy. He is a Flagg level prospect (maybe even higher pro upside).  There are also several other highly rated players including Daryn Peterson (the consensus #2 right now), Carlos Boozer's kid, Cameron Boozer, Tyran Stokes, Chris Cernac, and Caleb Wilson.  Peterson is a 6'5" combo guard but the other 4 are all 6'8" or bigger.

It is a very good draft at the top.

[KG Living Legend]

Choo choo!

Dybantsa or Boozer here we come. Then build for 2027 and beyond with the Jays, White, PP and Dybantsa/Boozer. Hopefully another significant addition as well.

I think next year?s squad is a play-in at best now even with the East being weak in general.

There's a big difference between being a play-in team and being a Top 3 pick in the draft. Will be interesting what direction they go in.

 Hopefully Silver hooks us up with a sypathy top 5 pick, similar to the outright BS dallas got with Cooper Flag.

 This Cba is gross. We need a top 5 pick to stay relevant all of a sudden.

[Celtics4ever]

Hopefully Silver hooks us up with a sypathy top 5 pick, similar to the outright BS dallas got with Cooper Flag.

I wish but it seems to me the league hates Boston at times.

[slamtheking]

Hopefully Silver hooks us up with a sypathy top 5 pick, similar to the outright BS dallas got with Cooper Flag.

I wish but it seems to me the league hates Boston at times.

fixed it for you

[Vermont Green]

So far, nothing BOS has done constitutes Tanking.  They were forced into trading good players (Holiday and Porzingis) for less good players, in order to stay under the 2nd apron (or in some cases, signing cheaper players).  If the NBA didn't want teams trading away good players to save money, they shouldn't have made the tax and apron penalties so severe.

That is so far.  We will see how the season goes and what roster/personnel decisions that the team makes as the season progresses.  There is still plenty of opportunity to actually tank on the season.  BOS could shutdown Brown and White at some point due to fantom injuries (or actual injuries) and things like that.  That part is TBD.  But in terms of roster moves so far, that is not tanking by my definition of tanking.

[gift]

AJ Dyantsa is the #1 guy. He is a Flagg level prospect (maybe even higher pro upside).  There are also several other highly rated players including Daryn Peterson (the consensus #2 right now), Carlos Boozer's kid, Cameron Boozer, Tyran Stokes, Chris Cernac, and Caleb Wilson.  Peterson is a 6'5" combo guard but the other 4 are all 6'8" or bigger.

It is a very good draft at the top.

Dybantsa is the real deal. He's like what people were pretending Ace Bailey could be a couple years ago.

[Phantom255x]

Seeing a lot of prediction posts lately online, most have them around 34-40 wins.

That's probably right. If it's bad by January, just go full tank and keep Tatum out until 2026-27.

It's the right move anyways. Get a lottery pick, use it OR trade it in a package for a nice 4th option (ideally a center) to go behind White/Jaylen/Tatum beyond 2026. The schedule to open the season is also rough, the decision will likely be made soon anyways.

My hope this year is at least someone like Queta can emerge as a very good backup big and a few of the rookies or young guys can also become solid bench options. Take those strides. Kind of like how PP, Hauser, etc. did after 2021 and it helped a lot especially for setting up 2024.

[keevsnick]

I don't think the plan is to tank. The last two years the 6th worst record in the league had 26 and 25 wins. The Celtics are projected for something like 36-40. I the plan is to tank they're too good for that right now.

There would have to be a long-term injury to AT LEAST ONE of Brown/White, maybe both, for them to get down into that range. That may happen, but it's not something you can plan for.

[Vermont Green]

Yeah, what does "tanking" mean anyway.  If you sit all your starters for the last 10 games or something like that, that would be clearly tanking (DAL did this recently).  But I don't see shedding salary, in a season that your best player will miss the entire season (potentially), to avoid draconian penalties as tanking.

I see the moves as two tiers.  Horford and Kornet found greener pastures.  It made no sense to have Horford come back and play on a bad team and Kornet is still Kornet, a useful bench player who got paid.  This kind of turnover is normal off season stuff.

The other tier is of course Holiday and Porzingis.  Core players moved on from to get under the second apron.  Purely for financial reasons.  But is any of this "tanking"?  We got nothing for Porzingis, not surprising due to his injury history.  He may help ATL, he may not.  And Simons for Holiday is not bad.  Adding a young athletic player who can score a lot is not exactly tanking in my mind.

[Moranis]

Trading Porzingis wasn't a tanking trade on its own, it was adding the Nets, dumping salary by including a 1st that made it a tanking trade.  Had they kept Mann and 22, not a tank trade, but just dumping Mann with 22 tank trade.  They followed that up by dumping Niang and 2 2nd's for RJ Luis.  So combining those trades they essentially trade Porzingis and 2 2nd round picks for RJ Luis.  Those are clearly moves made to dump salary and tank. 

[keevsnick]

Yeah, what does "tanking" mean anyway.  If you sit all your starters for the last 10 games or something like that, that would be clearly tanking (DAL did this recently).  But I don't see shedding salary, in a season that your best player will miss the entire season (potentially), to avoid draconian penalties as tanking.

I see the moves as two tiers.  Horford and Kornet found greener pastures.  It made no sense to have Horford come back and play on a bad team and Kornet is still Kornet, a useful bench player who got paid.  This kind of turnover is normal off season stuff.

The other tier is of course Holiday and Porzingis.  Core players moved on from to get under the second apron.  Purely for financial reasons.  But is any of this "tanking"?  We got nothing for Porzingis, not surprising due to his injury history.  He may help ATL, he may not.  And Simons for Holiday is not bad.  Adding a young athletic player who can score a lot is not exactly tanking in my mind.

Ya, they shed salary to A) Avoid a massive tax bill, B) 2nd apron penalties and C) to add future flexibility. The obviously got worse as a result, but i don't think improving their draft pick was a huge factor. In that regard they aren't tanking, they're still too good.

That could change with more trades or injuries, but right now I expect they win 38-42 and are the 7th-10th seed range