Would you still follow the Celtics if they decided to tank?

[CelticG1]

Whether they are tanking or just bad I would certainly watch less.

Those crappy teams I grew up watching kind of sucked. I mean, it wasn't as bad then cause I was young and naive and thouhht ecery year would be different.

Now that I know better it would be pretty easy to miss seceral games due to anything else going on in my life.

Of course I'd still go to some games and watch whenever I'm not doing naything.

Its just hard to get excited about games when you are hoping to either lose, get one of your few wins for the season, have relatively false hope in young players etc

[csfansince60s]

Hey, wait a minute.  Rebuilding and tanking are two different things.  Tanking is losing purposefully, in order to get a high draft pick.  I am totally against tanking!

I watched some pretty bad teams faithfully.  That was not tanking.  The team tanked in order to get Tim Duncan...it didn't work.  I will not watch every game if the team is set for failure.

This is a really good point.

Why bother spending my time watching, if I already know the team is "trying" to lose.  That's lame.

my feelings exactly.  I'll glady watch a team that's trying to win games even if they're not very good (pre-KG for example) but I will follow the team less avidly if they're not putting in the effort to win night in and night out -- the current team since the Sheed season.  there's just too many nights the past 3 years where these guys just mail it in.  spent a lot of hard-earned money watching them get their butts kicked at home to the likes of the bottom-feeding Nets, Knicks, Bobcats, Raptors, etc of this league.

The "night in and night out thing" I agree with. I think that there is a distinction between the organization not having the best pieces in the world (e.g prior to KG)intentionally so they're not stuck in that barely out of the lottery, no man's land one and done in the playoffs mediocrity and the players not trying hard "night in and night out".

As long as the players are playing their butts off, I don't care if we suck for a year or two to get better. Call that tanking if you want. Often marginal players WILL work their ass off to fight for their jobs.

[The Rondo Show]

Honestly, if they head into next season finally looking to start the rebuilding process and move on from this era, I think I'd follow the team with much more interest than if they bring the gang back and the 2013-2014 season is just a year of watching reruns.

I agree with this

[PhoSita]

Hey, wait a minute.  Rebuilding and tanking are two different things.  Tanking is losing purposefully, in order to get a high draft pick.  I am totally against tanking!

I watched some pretty bad teams faithfully.  That was not tanking.  The team tanked in order to get Tim Duncan...it didn't work.  I will not watch every game if the team is set for failure.

This is a really good point.

Why bother spending my time watching, if I already know the team is "trying" to lose.  That's lame.

my feelings exactly.  I'll glady watch a team that's trying to win games even if they're not very good (pre-KG for example) but I will follow the team less avidly if they're not putting in the effort to win night in and night out -- the current team since the Sheed season.  there's just too many nights the past 3 years where these guys just mail it in.  spent a lot of hard-earned money watching them get their butts kicked at home to the likes of the bottom-feeding Nets, Knicks, Bobcats, Raptors, etc of this league.

The "night in and night out thing" I agree with. I think that there is a distinction between the organization not having the best pieces in the world (e.g prior to KG)intentionally so they're not stuck in that barely out of the lottery, no man's land one and done in the playoffs mediocrity and the players not trying hard "night in and night out".

As long as the players are playing their butts off, I don't care if we suck for a year or two to get better. Call that tanking if you want. Often marginal players WILL work their ass off to fight for their jobs.

Yeah, I'd be more interested in seeing a team of Rondo-Bradly-Green-Sullinger-Rookie Center TRYING really hard to win each night and falling short more often then not, as opposed to watching the second iteration of the group we had this season and seeing them have an up and down season that resulted in 40-45 wins and another first round playoff exit.

[thirstyboots18]

Hey, wait a minute.  Rebuilding and tanking are two different things.  Tanking is losing purposefully, in order to get a high draft pick.  I am totally against tanking!

I watched some pretty bad teams faithfully.  That was not tanking.  The team tanked in order to get Tim Duncan...it didn't work.  I will not watch every game if the team is set for failure.

This is a really good point.

Why bother spending my time watching, if I already know the team is "trying" to lose.  That's lame.

my feelings exactly.  I'll glady watch a team that's trying to win games even if they're not very good (pre-KG for example) but I will follow the team less avidly if they're not putting in the effort to win night in and night out -- the current team since the Sheed season.  there's just too many nights the past 3 years where these guys just mail it in.  spent a lot of hard-earned money watching them get their butts kicked at home to the likes of the bottom-feeding Nets, Knicks, Bobcats, Raptors, etc of this league.

The "night in and night out thing" I agree with. I think that there is a distinction between the organization not having the best pieces in the world (e.g prior to KG)intentionally so they're not stuck in that barely out of the lottery, no man's land one and done in the playoffs mediocrity and the players not trying hard "night in and night out".

As long as the players are playing their butts off, I don't care if we suck for a year or two to get better. Call that tanking if you want. Often marginal players WILL work their ass off to fight for their jobs.

Yeah, I'd be more interested in seeing a team of Rondo-Bradly-Green-Sullinger-Rookie Center TRYING really hard to win each night and falling short more often then not, as opposed to watching the second iteration of the group we had this season and seeing them have an up and down season that resulted in 40-45 wins and another first round playoff exit.

IMP, the team you listed would not be a tanking team, and would not take the Celtics to the lottery.  I would watch that team, too. 

[gpap]

If the Celts decided to tank, then no I would not follow them.

I have no reason to follow a team when I know they're not going to have a successful season.

Now, would I follow a "rebuilding" team which may not make the playoffs but would fight hard for every loose ball? Absolutely.

If "rebuilding" means no more of this flip the switch bull and plays hard every game and shows signs of promise, then I will gladly support the team.

[CelticG1]

Honestly, if they head into next season finally looking to start the rebuilding process and move on from this era, I think I'd follow the team with much more interest than if they bring the gang back and the 2013-2014 season is just a year of watching reruns.

I agree with this

For me its still a lot more gratifyig watching pierce drop 40 on the cavs or KG continue to do work on guys like blake griffin kevin love etc etc.

I honestly don't get what's exciting about the rebuilding process. At least after like 15 games when you'll be like "holy moly this is the most brutal team" "We'll never won with any of these guys"

[CFAN38]

I did it once and ill do it again. Lets just bring back Marty Conlon and get it started.

[gpap]

Honestly, if they head into next season finally looking to start the rebuilding process and move on from this era, I think I'd follow the team with much more interest than if they bring the gang back and the 2013-2014 season is just a year of watching reruns.

I agree with this

For me its still a lot more gratifyig watching pierce drop 40 on the cavs or KG continue to do work on guys like blake griffin kevin love etc etc.

I honestly don't get what's exciting about the rebuilding process. At least after like 15 games when you'll be like "holy moly this is the most brutal team" "We'll never won with any of these guys"

I agree in the sense that losing is not fun. Actually, I think losing really sucks.

But having said that, the product with KG/Pierce/Rondo the last couple years has really suffered.

It's obvious they don't try to win every game to save energy for the playoffs and it just turns some people off.

I think some would rather watch a hard-working team with a chance of not making the playoffs than a team that feels entitled to be in the playoffs without having to play hard every night.

[D.o.s.]

Absolutely, you can't just root for a team when it's winning.

Erm, well, you can, but that's not a "good" reason to do it.

[thirstyboots18]

The point is, the team is already rebuilding.  KG and PP, if they come back, will help the team solidify its identity.  Doc really really can not use them at major minutes, though...they must step back a little and go after the championship as a Team, and not as PP, KG and the rest of the guys.  I still believe they have enough in the tank (if they want it) to be competitive  for another ring.  Sully and JG got invaluable experience last year and as always, health is the key...for KG, PP, and now add Rondo and Sully and Wilcox to that as they are rehabbing still.  But injuries happen to anyone. 

[gpap]

One other thing to consider here.

I don't know if this has factored into the Celtics thinking, but if they decided to tank, it would be a REALLY bad idea.

Local interest in the team is dwindling and it doesn't help that all 3 Pats, Bruins and Sox are currently on an up-swing.

If that continues and the Celts decide to fall in the other direction for a couple years, they're risking losing a lot of fans. Sure, the niche crowd will always be there, but the Garden will certainly have a lot of empty seats.

That's why I think the best route for the Celts is to sorta rebuild on the fly, aka add new players but still try to compete.

[LGC88]

Boston cannot tank for the only purpose to lose games. It has to be young talented players that will fighf and learn their way to win games. Kind of what okc did. It's very nice to witness how a team establish themselves. I will closely watch that, winning is not the only beauty of this game.
We all apreciated the growing of Green and Sully this season. Watching an entire team growing is like being part of their story.
To tank trade the big 3 and aquire tyreke evans and picks.
Garanty < 30 wins with entertaining basketball.

[PhoSita]

IMP, the team you listed would not be a tanking team, and would not take the Celtics to the lottery.  I would watch that team, too.

I think that team would be better than the worst 4-5 teams in the league, but they wouldn't win a lot of games.  You have to take into consideration that Rondo and Sullinger will spend the first few months of the season getting back to where they were pre-injury / surgery.

For me its still a lot more gratifyig watching pierce drop 40 on the cavs or KG continue to do work on guys like blake griffin kevin love etc etc.

I honestly don't get what's exciting about the rebuilding process. At least after like 15 games when you'll be like "holy moly this is the most brutal team" "We'll never won with any of these guys"

I find that in these discussions using the metaphor of television shows / movies is really useful.

So for me, bringing the gang back would be like watching Season 7 of Lost, or making another Star Wars trilogy that is set after the first three movies (oops!).

At some point it's better to just let a good thing lie and be what it has been.  I don't really want to watch more of the same thing, especially when it's only sporadically as good as it used to be and is frequently painful.

Whereas a new, exciting show with an unproven cast that has the potential to come together to make something special holds more intrigue and episode to episode excitement for me, even if it won't necessarily reach the same heights as what came before.

Still, there's a good chance that what we get next with the Celtics will be about as satisfying as "The Event" or "Flash Forward" were as replacements for Lost.  But we won't get the next Battlestar Galactica until we take that plunge!

[celtics2]

uuuummmm, didn't follow the Celts much playing pathetically this past season, let alone if they are going to tank. Have better things to do than watch losers.