Officially Wiggins or Bust

[LarBrd33]

I have three problems with the news of the last few hours:

1. Danny Ainge is blowing it up, gathering draft picks like crazy, and wants the fans to trust his ability to judge talent andhe is going to build through the draft. But then he goes out and trades UP in this draft to get the guy with possibly the least upside and biggest bust potential in this draft. That's after picking Melo last year, JuJuan Johnson the year before and JR Giddens another year.

2. His vision is to build through the draft but he has handicapped this team over the next two years with contracts like Wallace's, Bass', and Lee's to add to the contracts of Green and Rondo that come to over $20 million a year. He has no cap flexibility while having a bad team that will have to add a couple a players a year for the next three years.

3. Gambling on winning the lottery has screwed this team twice before. The chances of landing that guy are not good. The chances of replicating what OKC has done, is not good. Talent with experience will beat talent with very little experience, almost all the time in the NBA. Even the elitest of talent takes years to develop enough experience to lead a team to a title and many times, its not with the team that drafted them. So there is the very real chance you could lose then before they get good enough to win you a title.

Thank you NICK!

I don't see the problem of just keeping them if the only value we get is what we got?

Olynyk could benefit great with KG as a mentor. The young guys have leaders to look up too. We are competing, we are instilling a winning attitude to the young guys. We clear cap space next year anyway, sure we don't get the top 5 pick but we'd have some guys buying in into a certain team identity and having a winning attitude.

We get the top 5 pick, but what happens if the locker room is in disarray, no leaders, no identity? We are risking our team to be the Sacramento Kings, full of talent, no team identity and no winning culture. If this is all Danny could get, he should have just ran it one more time. Instead, we get Crash, who not only kill some of our cap, but will take PT from Green. 1st round picks that are late rounds and a bunch of talented guys in a team that has NO chemistry and winning attitude.

Great.

Again... the "tanking in 1997 and 2007 was a bust" is a myth.  See above.   1997 we ended up with the 3rd pick and took a future 5 time all-star and Finals MVP.   In 2007, tanking directly lead to a championship THE VERY NEXT YEAR.

Ya'll really gotta stop acting like tanking doesn't work when it actually HAS worked very well for Ainge.  A 100% success rate.

Yeah, like that happens every year. You're telling me that all those draft picks that Danny acquired will be another KG and Ray Allen?

We already have young assets in Bradley, Sullinger, Green and Olynyk. Bass and Lee has value as well. Those assets along with our OWN picks can be flipped to acquire very good talent that can be part of a very good core. Or the young guys could have developed better under Paul and Kevin's leadership. We have cap space next year. Danny has drafted well. We don't have to SUCK to build a team who can contend in the future.

KG and PIerce might be out of the league next year.  Our existing "young assets" are late 1st rounders whose value is overblown on this board.  Olynyk is probably our best trade asset of any of them. Lol.  Dude is a legitimate lotto pick... he was taken in the lotto.  :-P

Ainge has done a good job to land assets.  A nice little tanking is just what this team needs.  3-5 years we might be relevant again.

[LarBrd33]

That's why they have a lottery, because even the worst team in the league (which we likely won't be) has a lower than 50% chance of landing the top pick in the draft.

The worst team in the league has a better chance of picking fourth ($35.7%) than it does of picking first (25%).

oh my gosh...thank you...someone that finally gets it...

The #5 pick in 2014 will be a better asset than ANYTHING we currently have on our team including Rondo and his busted ACL.

Fact

[Yoki_IsTheName]

To me this draft is 5 deep with all star talent, getting Wiggins would be great but I think Parker, Randle, Gordon. So as long as we get in the top 4 or 5 I think we will get an all star.

To get there we need to give up some of our assets. We're still too good to have a top 5 pick in the draft.

If we do so, then we acquire a superstar potential talent, but no surrounding cast, so basically, we are stuck to what we are this year.

[rondoallaturca]

Ainge has done a good job to land assets.  A nice little tanking is just what this team needs.  3-5 years we might be relevant again.

If we played it right, it could've been 2-3. I don't understand why you continue to tell people to open their eyes when you're so narrowed in on this 3-5 year rebuilding project as the only way.

[Celtics18]

That's why they have a lottery, because even the worst team in the league (which we likely won't be) has a lower than 50% chance of landing the top pick in the draft.

The worst team in the league has a better chance of picking fourth ($35.7%) than it does of picking first (25%).

oh my gosh...thank you...someone that finally gets it...

The #5 pick in 2014 will be a better asset than ANYTHING we currently have on our team including Rondo and his busted ACL.

Fact

Fact:  Someone doesn't understand what the word fact means.

[rondoallaturca]

The #5 pick in 2014 will be a better asset than ANYTHING we currently have on our team including Rondo and his busted ACL.

Fact

Lol 

[freshinthehouse]

Bottom line:   This is the smart move.  It's the best move.  It's not for sentimental folks.  Danny Ainge is a cold-hearted beast of a GM and we're lucky to have him calling the shots.  I wouldn't have been able to pull the trigger on this, but I'm sure as heck glad we have a GM who IS willing to.   KG and Pierce get to keep being relevant, Boston gets assets for the future... and we have hope at buiding a real dynasty.  Some people lack perspective so this is going to be really hard to wrap your mind around... but a year from now the hardcore Celtic fans will be overflowing with hope and optimism.   I have tons of trust in Ainge.  Dude couldn't have gotten a better package than this.

TP+  If things fall right this is could be our Herschel Walker trade.

[D.o.s.]

That's why they have a lottery, because even the worst team in the league (which we likely won't be) has a lower than 50% chance of landing the top pick in the draft.

The worst team in the league has a better chance of picking fourth ($35.7%) than it does of picking first (25%).

oh my gosh...thank you...someone that finally gets it...

The #5 pick in 2014 will be a better asset than ANYTHING we currently have on our team including Rondo and his busted ACL.

Fact

For the record, dude's not saying the #5 pick will be a better player, he's saying that he'll be a better asset.

And he's right. Top five pick leads to a long-term rookie deal--the best value in the NBA. That's either the guy you build around, or the guy you trade for the guy you build around.

[lightspeed5]

even if we pick like 8th next year, that could be James Young or Julius Randle or Aaron Harrison or Andrew Harrison or Dakari Johnson or....

[freshinthehouse]

Ainge has done a good job to land assets.  A nice little tanking is just what this team needs.  3-5 years we might be relevant again.

If we played it right, it could've been 2-3. I don't understand why you continue to tell people to open their eyes when you're so narrowed in on this 3-5 year rebuilding project as the only way.

You keep saying we could rebuild in a couple years.  Explain this a bit if you don't mind.

[rutzan]

That's why they have a lottery, because even the worst team in the league (which we likely won't be) has a lower than 50% chance of landing the top pick in the draft.

The worst team in the league has a better chance of picking fourth ($35.7%) than it does of picking first (25%).

oh my gosh...thank you...someone that finally gets it...

The #5 pick in 2014 will be a better asset than ANYTHING we currently have on our team including Rondo and his busted ACL.

Fact

is the swami from johnny carson back...lol...

[rutzan]

That's why they have a lottery, because even the worst team in the league (which we likely won't be) has a lower than 50% chance of landing the top pick in the draft.

The worst team in the league has a better chance of picking fourth ($35.7%) than it does of picking first (25%).

oh my gosh...thank you...someone that finally gets it...

The #5 pick in 2014 will be a better asset than ANYTHING we currently have on our team including Rondo and his busted ACL.

Fact

Fact:  Someone doesn't understand what the word fact means.

lol..."It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."

[Celtics18]

That's why they have a lottery, because even the worst team in the league (which we likely won't be) has a lower than 50% chance of landing the top pick in the draft.

The worst team in the league has a better chance of picking fourth ($35.7%) than it does of picking first (25%).

oh my gosh...thank you...someone that finally gets it...

The #5 pick in 2014 will be a better asset than ANYTHING we currently have on our team including Rondo and his busted ACL.

Fact

For the record, dude's not saying the #5 pick will be a better player, he's saying that he'll be a better asset.

And he's right. Top five pick leads to a long-term rookie deal--the best value in the NBA. That's either the guy you build around, or the guy you trade for the guy you build around.

I'm sorry, but that's not necessarily true.  Having a perennial all-star, superstar player at $11 million per year is a fairly strong asset.  There's absolutely no guarantee that a kid on a rookie contract can be anywhere near as valuable as either an asset or, more importantly, as a player than Rajon Rondo.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

even if we pick like 8th next year, that could be James Young or Julius Randle or Aaron Harrison or Andrew Harrison or Dakari Johnson or....

The sad part is if these guys decided to stay for one more year in school, then what?

Because that's a possibility.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Bottom line:   This is the smart move.  It's the best move.  It's not for sentimental folks.  Danny Ainge is a cold-hearted beast of a GM and we're lucky to have him calling the shots.  I wouldn't have been able to pull the trigger on this, but I'm sure as heck glad we have a GM who IS willing to.   KG and Pierce get to keep being relevant, Boston gets assets for the future... and we have hope at buiding a real dynasty.  Some people lack perspective so this is going to be really hard to wrap your mind around... but a year from now the hardcore Celtic fans will be overflowing with hope and optimism.   I have tons of trust in Ainge.  Dude couldn't have gotten a better package than this.

TP+  If things fall right this is could be our Herschel Walker trade.

Emphasis on the word if.

Now if things don't fall the way they are supposed to be, with now a locker room with no leaders and no identity, what happens?