We should tank for the 15th pick

[heitingas]

Standings from last season if it was a 66 game season

western conference
Spurs 49-17
Lakers 46-20
Mavericks 46-20
OKC 44-22
nuggets 40-26
blazers 39-27
hornets 37-29
grizzlies 37-29

rockets 35-31
suns 32-34
jazz 31-35
warriors 29-37
clippers 26-40
kings 19-47
twolves 14-52


eastern conference
bulls 50-16
heat 47-19
celtics 45-21
magic 42-24
hawks 35-31
knicks 34-32
sixers 33-33
pacers 30-36

bucks 28-38
bobcats 27-39
pistons 24-42
nets 19-47
wizards 18-48
raptors 18-48
cavs 15-51

Western conference is too deep, the teams that are underlined are going to be competing for the final two playoff positions. Teams in bold likely to improve this season.

East is not deep and I knew the Bucks would suck, not only because they lost yesterday.
If we want the 15th pick we shouldn't win more than 32-34 games and could have a tiebreaker with the Rockets,Jazz,Sixers and Celtics, teams that could reach above 30 wins are plenty. Hornets,Kings,Clippers,Twolves.

I think the Clippers could also miss the playoffs by getting 9th or 10th in the West, it's still alot stronger than the East.
Losing to teams like the Hornets,Kings,Twolves and Rockets, maybe even Suns and Jazz could be a smart thing.

But we would have to win the tougher teams, it's a risk but as long as we're in the East we shouldn't worry about going to the playoffs, I think 7th should be our position in the playoff seed, we could still be ahead of the 8th seed in the East in terms of draft pick since several teams could tie.

[bfrombleacher]

We'd be playing against the Bulls or the Heat in the very first round and then the other one in the next.

[heitingas]

We'd be playing against the Bulls or the Heat in the very first round and then the other one in the next.

Not if we're 7th, I think we play the Bulls in the first round then the Knicks in the 2nd.
This year is a really deep draft and if we have some luck the Clippers slightly misses the playoffs.

[chambers]

nah bro

[Kiorrik]

We should compete for a championship.

[PosImpos]

if you tank, you tank for #1, or you don't bother.

[heitingas]

if you tank, you tank for #1, or you don't bother.

That would be too obvious.

There is a huge difference between 15th and 25th pick, and finishing 3rd in the east is our ceiling anyway,good enough for HCA in the 1st round, then it's the bulls and heat that awaits anyways...just prolonges our postseason until we face them..

[bfrombleacher]

We can trade our way up even then. Plenty of cap space to play with.

[Tgro]

This isn't "Suck for Luck" we're talking here. It's not like we'd be getting a Blake Griffin by doing this. I honestly hate the "tank" mentality. You owe it to your fans and your team to try and win every game possible. Otherwise, you're just a fraud. And that's just not the Celtics. We're going to be alright in the future no matter where we finish, so might as well finish going for it and leave the tanking to the chumps.  

[Moranis]

Frankly I don't think there is a whole lot of difference between a guy like Terrence Jones and a guy like Tim Hardaway Jr., which is what NBAdraft.net has as the 15th and 25th players in the upcoming draft. 

[celtics2]

Tanking is a an old but good and usable idea. The rest of the League is cutting deals way to fast for the Celtic Organization to comprehend.

This aura being a Celtic and better than everyone else has soured long long ago. Fact: few want to come here. With the exception of Ainge pulling off the KG and Allen deals we'd still be missing playoffs. From managers up to the Front Office have sucked big time for a long time. The owner Wyc has been game but should clean house now including present starters for draft choices and trades.  All we have now is a facade with nothing behind it. It's a fake season. If it were an 82 games schedule we'd likely miss the playoffs. We are putting off the inevitable. Many teams already have outsmarted us and are a couple years ahead of us in development.

Tonite, 0-2. Then watch Doc try to coach the rest of the season knowing his Big 3 are smoke instead of substance.

If this were Microsoft or McDonald's the cold sword would cut to the quick. Celtics need another Belichick and Company. My RX: look to move any of the top 4 starters for trades or draft picks. Until then play 500 ball saving starters for the playoffs and give them one more run at it. Running Rondo over 40 minutes opening day is about as bad as it gets.

[Snakehead]

What a ridiculous proposition, especially in a draft with little difference between the 15th and 20th picks.

[heitingas]

We're on our way, 0-3 to start the season,the word "tanking" makes some of you nervous so i'm going to use the word "coasting" towards the 15th pick ...

[Eja117]

Ok.  Noooowwwww we're going nuts.  That's enough.  We have passed the limit. Took us a day or so.  Here we are. Let's go back.  Let's just pretend this never happened.

[CFAN38]

just play to win, this and every draft comes down to player evaluation out side of the top 10 picks the talent is relatively even. Pick 21 can pan out better then 11 just have to pick wisely.