DA now owns one of the most coveted trade chips in the NBA.

[sinbad]

Our own #1 in the 2014 draft now has tremendous value. Its not just Wiggins. Its Parker, Randle, and Smart that teams are after in the 2014 draft. In a year if we have a top four pick, we could flip that for whatever star becomes available or of course keep it for ourselves.

The picks that we got in the Doc, KG, Pierce trades were just icing to make the trade arguably justified. DA wants to tank to have the chance at Wiggins/Parker/Randle/Smart. The true value of the trade is that our own draft pick moved up about 15 slots in the highly anticipated 2014 draft. DA would love to get the #1 overall but a top 4 pick would be good enough.

DA has all the trade chips he needs now to work some magic. He also could deal Rondo assuming he's shown that he's back to the player he was. Green now has trade value. Avery obviously has some value and Sully is a young prospect on a rookie contract. Do not overlook the value of Humphries expiring contract. Pair him up with a couple of our future first round picks to teams looking to cut salary and teams will bite.

I'm not too concerned with the Wallace contract. Nets got rid of him in one year. We would still have enough first round picks to pair with him to get decent player(s) in return.

1st round picks are gold to GMs and we have 9 in the next 5 years. I know right now it seems like the Clips and Nets picks are going to be low first rounders but who knows how they look in two or three years. Next year is going to be rough...very rough but I kind of see Danny's vision.

[Atzar]

I'm right there with you.  It's jarring to see the team altered this much in one night, but I think Ainge did very well.  Nothing lasts forever.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

DA is a coward if his idea to win in the future is to suck so we can land a superstar.

It is not even a sure thing. Chances are we might not even get a top 8 pick with the lineup we have right now. Theres a chance that these "coveted names" may come back to school and not declare.

We have cap space, our own picks, cap space and young assets that we can flip for another all star or near all star talent. Its all about trading smart, scouting smart and signing smart. We still could compete while slowlh rebuilding, instead we are hoping for a one big chance for a quick fix that may or may not work. Risking a chance of a franchise player or a decade of irrelevancy.

This 2014 pick is not by any chance a coveted trade chip. I hope youre right though because Danny has already taken the cowards way of building a chsmpionship team, with a slight chance of it blowing up in his face.

One more thing I want to add. If this draft is anticipated and those names that are mentioned are "franchise players", then what makes you think that teams in the top 5 eould just be willing to give them up for late 1st rounders and young assets? We'll have to give up our stars along with those "assets" for them. And If we do, great, we get our new franchise guy. But what hapens then? We gave up our stars to get him, whos going to help him after that?

[LGC88]

I'm right with you too.
We can be a serious contender by 2015.

[sinbad]

I get the backlash of what DA just did. I for one posted a couple of days ago, I'd rather see DA give this team one more shot.

My point is OKC traded James Harden for Toronto's #1 pick in this years draft that Houston owned and now it looks like they are the frontrunner for Dwight Howard. OKC made the miscalculation of thinking that Toronto would suck and they flinched and got burned. Teams looking at the Cs right now are thinking wow they blew it up and Rondo may not be back 100%. If those top four picks are as coveted as many seem to believe they are then DA could easily shop that pick for a quick fix. 

[Yoki_IsTheName]

I get the backlash of what DA just did. I for one posted a couple of days ago, I'd rather see DA give this team one more shot.

My point is OKC traded James Harden for Toronto's #1 pick in this years draft that Houston owned and now it looks like they are the frontrunner for Dwight Howard. OKC made the miscalculation of thinking that Toronto would suck and they flinched and got burned. Teams looking at the Cs right now are thinking wow they blew it up and Rondo may not be back 100%. If those top four picks are as coveted as many seem to believe they are then DA could easily shop that pick for a quick fix.

OKC traded Harden because they cannot afford to pay him and Ibaka without going over thelthell luxury tax line.

And while I agree that yes, if Rondo is not back then we may have a shot of having the worst record, what if he's a 100% healthy and competing as always? What if he have a 35 win season, no top 10 pick? What do we do then? Trade Rondo or Green and the picks for Wiggins or Parker? If so, whos going to help those guys win for us in the next three years?

Compare that to having KG and Paul for one more year. Have Olynyk be mentored by KG. Still be a playoff team and legitimately compete. Then come off season, Trade Bradley and Sullinger and our 2014 mid to late round and maybe acquire a top 10 pick, or trade Lee and Bass to acquire more picks and use our cap space to sign more help? We can still rebuild without the sucking. Losing is never a good thing.

[Yogi]

Celtics pick next year might be higher than it was this year.  The vets were great at winning in the post season, but they didn't do so well lately in the regular season.

Rondo, Bradley, Green, Wallace, Sullinger, Williams, Lee, Crawford, Bass, Olynyk, Bogans? Randolph, Melo, Iverson.  That's a playoff team in the East. 

[D.o.s.]

I get the backlash of what DA just did. I for one posted a couple of days ago, I'd rather see DA give this team one more shot.

My point is OKC traded James Harden for Toronto's #1 pick in this years draft that Houston owned and now it looks like they are the frontrunner for Dwight Howard. OKC made the miscalculation of thinking that Toronto would suck and they flinched and got burned. Teams looking at the Cs right now are thinking wow they blew it up and Rondo may not be back 100%. If those top four picks are as coveted as many seem to believe they are then DA could easily shop that pick for a quick fix.

OKC traded Harden because they cannot afford to pay him and Ibaka without going over thelthell luxury tax line.

And while I agree that yes, if Rondo is not back then we may have a shot of having the worst record, what if he's a 100% healthy and competing as always? What if he have a 35 win season, no top 10 pick? What do we do then? Trade Rondo or Green and the picks for Wiggins or Parker? If so, whos going to help those guys win for us in the next three years?

Compare that to having KG and Paul for one more year. Have Olynyk be mentored by KG. Still be a playoff team and legitimately compete. Then come off season, Trade Bradley and Sullinger and our 2014 mid to late round and maybe acquire a top 10 pick, or trade Lee and Bass to acquire more picks and use our cap space to sign more help? We can still rebuild without the sucking. Losing is never a good thing.

That's a little misleading--the Thunder could've held on to Harden for another season to try for the title and then orchestrated a sign-and-trade this summer. I'm sure someone would've given them a similar haul.

[sinbad]

The only way a team wins a title is if they have a MVP caliber player.

LeBron, Dirk, KG, Kobe, Duncan, Wade, Shaq, MJ, Hakeem, Bird, Magic, Moses...

Only way to get these players (in most cases) is through

1-picking high enough in the draft
2-Hoarding assets to trade to a team willing to trade a star player for whatever reason (Harden, Howard, Carmelo, Paul, Shaq, KG). The most coveted trade chip in the NBA are first round draft picks.
3-Free Agency

In one swift move, DA has positioned himself for options 1 & 2. I myself prefer that we kept KG and Pierce but all I'm saying is I see DA's method to his madness.

I'm willing to bet that when a star player suddenly becomes available, DA will be one of the first GMs that will be called because of those picks. As of right now are the Celtics own picks

[vjcsmoke]

DA is a coward if his idea to win in the future is to suck so we can land a superstar.

Really?  Were the Cavs cowards to land Lebron?  Or how about the Bulls to land Derrick Rose?  PP and KG have maybe 1-2 more decent seasons between them before they retire.  Not to mention Doc wanted out after becoming sick with Rondo and almost getting into a fistfight with his 'team leader'.


The writing was on the wall and DA chose to blow it up and take his chances rather than hang on to his 'big three' too long.  I don't see it as cowardly, but smart as a long term team-building strategy.  Maybe you can argue he could have gotten more or a better deal, but the overall reasoning behind the moves appears sound.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

DA is a coward if his idea to win in the future is to suck so we can land a superstar.

Really?  Were the Cavs cowards to land Lebron?  Or how about the Bulls to land Derrick Rose?  PP and KG have maybe 1-2 more decent seasons between them before they retire.  Not to mention Doc wanted out after becoming sick with Rondo and almost getting into a fistfight with his 'team leader'.


The writing was on the wall and DA chose to blow it up and take his chances rather than hang on to his 'big three' too long.  I don't see it as cowardly, but smart as a long term team-building strategy.  Maybe you can argue he could have gotten more or a better deal, but the overall reasoning behind the moves appears sound.

That Bulls and Cavs team did not give up a chance to compete to land their respective #1 picks, we did. That's the difference. They we're bad teams to begin with, we are not with KG, Paul, Green and a healthy Rondo.

Danny is building a team that cannot compete for the Championship right now so it can compete in the future. I agree it's smart, but it's cowardly.

It's cowardly for him for not trusting what he can do with what he have. His best idea to win in the future is to suck now. What a great GM.

[vinnie]

I'm right with you too.
We can be a serious contender by 2015.

Let's really be serious. We are looking at 2017-18 for any kind of serious contention.

[celticinorlando]

I'm right with you too.
We can be a serious contender by 2015.

Let's really be serious. We are looking at 2017-18 for any kind of serious contention.

Yep...esp if the lottery goes south.

[boscel33]

I watched on a draft special that the 2014 draft is so deep, any one of 6-8 players could go #1.  The analysts were very high on Julius Randle from Kentucky.

[rondohondo]

DA is a coward if his idea to win in the future is to suck so we can land a superstar.

Really?  Were the Cavs cowards to land Lebron?  Or how about the Bulls to land Derrick Rose?  PP and KG have maybe 1-2 more decent seasons between them before they retire.  Not to mention Doc wanted out after becoming sick with Rondo and almost getting into a fistfight with his 'team leader'.


The writing was on the wall and DA chose to blow it up and take his chances rather than hang on to his 'big three' too long.  I don't see it as cowardly, but smart as a long term team-building strategy.  Maybe you can argue he could have gotten more or a better deal, but the overall reasoning behind the moves appears sound.

That Bulls and Cavs team did not give up a chance to compete to land their respective #1 picks, we did. That's the difference. They we're bad teams to begin with, we are not with KG, Paul, Green and a healthy Rondo.

Danny is building a team that cannot compete for the Championship right now so it can compete in the future. I agree it's smart, but it's cowardly.

It's cowardly for him for not trusting what he can do with what he have. His best idea to win in the future is to suck now. What a great GM.

What exactly would we have been competing for? the 6th-8th seed? a 2nd rd exit?

We would have had to rebuild next year with no draft pick, still capped out even with pp and kg gone, no assets for trades.

awesome!