All these mediocre teams signing mediocre free agents=Celtics 2014 lottery gold.

[chambers]

RR is free now, no more slow possession offense.
He will be great and will make anyone on this team better.
This year will be JG and Sully year.
I'm sorry but I'll take this 3 against any other best 3 from Washington through Phily.
Looks like some people forgot how good was RR and how even better he can be now with this new coach.

That's great, and you're a very loyal fan. I admire that wholly. I do.
Firstly, Rondo unfortunately won't be 'free'. He'l attract the best defender and multiple double teams as soon as he tries to penetrate and they'll basically force him to shoot long- he has no three point shooters to pass to nor a big man that can finish around the rim. The only jumpshooter he has his Jeff Green. No KG, Pierce, Terry. Perhaps Bass if we don't trade him.

Secondly. I agree our wing rotation is pretty good. Maybe one All Star in Rondo and a nice back up combo guard in Avery who must start because we have no true SG. Green is a top 10 SF. Unfortunately this isn't the Redbull 3 on 3 competition. This is the NBA and you need big men. Oh and defense.
No one is questioning Rondo. He makes everyone better. He can't however, play defense on Al Jefferson, Dwight Howard, Marc Gasol, Blake Griffin, Marcin Gortat,Anthony Davis, Paul Millsap, Josh Smith, Al Horford, Alex Len, Kevin Garnett, Chris Bosh, Pau Gasol, Serge Ibaka, Tim Duncan, Carlos Boozer, Noah, LaMarcus Aldridge, DeMarcus Cousins, Amare Stoudemire, Roy Hibbert, David West, Kevin Love, Nikola Pekovic.
I could go on.
We can't even guard one decent big man. We'll have Sully, Melo, Olnyk and maybe Bass or Humphries.

Rondo and Green will score in transition and look great. They'll defend the wing dilligently, same with Avery Bradley. If they get layups on fast breaks, they'll score a decent amount of the time.

But they won't hit jumpshots- Green might shoot 35-40%?
They won't guard the paint against one decent big man. What about teams with two impact 7 footers or bigs?
Charlotte has Al Jefferson now. How do we stop him?
Gasol and Randolph?
In our Conference alone theres:

KG and Lopez
Roy Hibbert and David West
Noah and Boozer
Horford and Millsap
Tyson Chandler and Stoudemire.
Bosh and Lebron
Ilyasova and Sanders
Alonzo Gee and Verajao. Anthony Bennet and Clarke?
Vucevic and Big Baby?
Monroe and Drummond or Maxiell?
Nene and Seraphin or Okafur?

lol we have Jarred Sullinger and Kelly Olnyk with Fab Melo as their back up.
Who in the NBA has a worse big man tandem?
Basketball is about defense and then scoring.
We won't defend inside. In fact we'll be the worst paint protection team in the NBA. We won't score either. We'll probably have the least points in the paint in the NBA too. We can't shoot jumpshots except Green and maybe Sully/Olnyk. (who are supposed to be crashing boards).

Whats your magical solution? Let Rondo carry us?
Rondo scoring 30 ppg and 10 assists still doesn't get us to the playoffs. We can't stop them scoring 50 ppg in the paint if more.
I'm just being realistic. I'm glad because it's obviously Ainge's strategy to not look like we're tanking but with that big man rotation we obviously are. Is there a worse big man rotation in the NBA now?

[moiso]

RR is free now, no more slow possession offense.
He will be great and will make anyone on this team better.
This year will be JG and Sully year.
I'm sorry but I'll take this 3 against any other best 3 from Washington through Phily.
Looks like some people forgot how good was RR and how even better he can be now with this new coach.

Doc and Danny always wanted Rondo to play faster and more aggressively.  Rondo is the one who wanted to play slow and methodically.

[chambers]

Well we definitely aren't a bottom 3 team. And aspiring to be such is pathetic. That mentality is not going to breed you a chip within the next... 20 years.

Edit (to OP): The purpose of it all is not to "get worse," it's to get better by taking a few steps back. There's a big difference there, not just semantics. You encourage a team to suck, that team is going to suck... even next to a stud they play alongside the following season. And, again, you are not getting Wiggins. You may not get a perennial all-star, either; my guess is, the odds may be against you on that as well.

Take a few steps back to purposely get worse, and thus get better. We don't have to throw games or lose on purpose. We'll try and win every game. With our roster we won't wing games though- which increases our chances at a franchise player and winning a championship.

Look at the last 30 years of NBA champions. All had their own top 10 pick and some other top 10 help.
Only team that didn't is the Pistons.
So out of 30 years. One team managed to win a championship without a top 10 lottery pick of their own. They did have other lottery picks though- plenty of them. kinda reinforces the point.
Plenty of bums in the lottery throughout history- more often than not, everyone knows that's the risk.
But signing Paul Millsap or Josh Smith or Tyreke Evans isn't getting us banner 18. No free agents are.
You're saying there's a bigger chance of drafting a player worse than Green with a top 10 pick.
You know what else? There's a bigger chance of never winning a championship without one of those draft picks.
The math says you will not win a championship unless you draft a franchise player with a top 10 pick. The rule has been broken once in the last 40 years by the Pistons- even then they had 4 lottery picks in that starting 5. I haven't looked past that point. I'ts probably once, twice or three times ever.(if that)

Again, look at the last 30, even 50 years of NBA champions and tell me how many teams don't have a franchise player they drafted themselves. I've said Pistons. Tell me who else...

[D.o.s.]

1. Miami
2. Brooklyn
3. Indiana
4. Chicago
5. New York
6. Boston
7. Washington
8. Toronto
9. Cleveland
10. Atlanta
11. Milwaukee
12. Orlando
13. Detroit
14. Charlotte
15. Philadelphia

Put down the pipe man.

All the teams in bold got better significantly.
We got way worse and we finished 7th seed last season. how are we finishing higher? What big men do we have to protect the rim? What jumpshooters do we have?
Here's your list and who they got this offseason already. You can imagine anyone that signed a bigger free agent will try and get better. (ie Hawks will get Mo Williams, Bobcats will try to get someone else like Humphries off us to help Al Jeff inside).

Let's assume we move Wallace and Humphries.
Starting 5 of Rondo, Bradley, Green, Sully, Olnyk.
How do we beat any of the teams below in bold?

1. Miami
2. Brooklyn
3. Indiana
4. Chicago
5. New York
6. Boston
7. Washington
starting 5 this season:Wall, Beal, Webster, Seraphin, Nene with Okafur and Singleton off the bench. Not a chance.

8. Toronto- Rudy Gay, Kyle Lowry, Demar Derozan, Terrence Ross, Jonas Valancunas.
I'd say it's fair to call that a wash?
9. Cleveland- Anthony Bennett and one more year experience= they are better than us without KG and Pierce.
10. Atlanta= Millsap and Mo Williams (perhaps Teague too?) and Al Horfoard and Korver= arguably better than us with Millsap and Horford.
11. Milwaukee= Larry Sanders, Ilyasova, Jennings and Mayo + whoever else they get.
12. Orlando=added Oladipo. Still suck but they're a 50/50 against us with Vucevic in the paint and Harris, Harrison and their inside presence against our non existent rebounding presence.
13. Detroit=Monroe, Caldwell Pope, Brandon Knight, Maxiell, stuckey, Singler.  Trying to sign Josh Smith, so obviously wanting to get better. If Smith to Houston doesn't happen then they are front runner.
The above players even without Smith vs our starting 5? lol
14. Charlotte= new starting 5
Al Jefferson, Biyombo, Kidd Gilchrist, Henderson, Kemba Walker. That's if we don't send Humphries to them and make them even better.
15. Philadelphia still suck and will be worse than us. Probably the only ones with the Magic that we are slightly better.

In the West?
Suns?
The Pelicans just signed Tyreke Evans so they'll have:
Jrue Holiday, Eric Gordon, Tyreke Evans, Anthony Davis, Chris Anderson, Lopez...
you think our starting five can beat the Pelicans? You realise bookmakers will have us as clear underdogs right?

You're dreaming if you think we're making the playoffs lol.

Lopez is a trail blazer now.

[jayhovaone]

listen at the end of the day i just want a top 3 pick next year even a top 5 because that kid exum from australia looks like a monster also.  But next years draft is rediculously deep and thats why danny ainge is saying we wont tank its because we don't need to.

[chambers]

1. Miami
2. Brooklyn
3. Indiana
4. Chicago
5. New York
6. Boston
7. Washington
8. Toronto
9. Cleveland
10. Atlanta
11. Milwaukee
12. Orlando
13. Detroit
14. Charlotte
15. Philadelphia

Put down the pipe man.

All the teams in bold got better significantly.
We got way worse and we finished 7th seed last season. how are we finishing higher? What big men do we have to protect the rim? What jumpshooters do we have?
Here's your list and who they got this offseason already. You can imagine anyone that signed a bigger free agent will try and get better. (ie Hawks will get Mo Williams, Bobcats will try to get someone else like Humphries off us to help Al Jeff inside).

Let's assume we move Wallace and Humphries.
Starting 5 of Rondo, Bradley, Green, Sully, Olnyk.
How do we beat any of the teams below in bold?

1. Miami
2. Brooklyn
3. Indiana
4. Chicago
5. New York
6. Boston
7. Washington
starting 5 this season:Wall, Beal, Webster, Seraphin, Nene with Okafur and Singleton off the bench. Not a chance.

8. Toronto- Rudy Gay, Kyle Lowry, Demar Derozan, Terrence Ross, Jonas Valancunas.
I'd say it's fair to call that a wash?
9. Cleveland- Anthony Bennett and one more year experience= they are better than us without KG and Pierce.
10. Atlanta= Millsap and Mo Williams (perhaps Teague too?) and Al Horfoard and Korver= arguably better than us with Millsap and Horford.
11. Milwaukee= Larry Sanders, Ilyasova, Jennings and Mayo + whoever else they get.
12. Orlando=added Oladipo. Still suck but they're a 50/50 against us with Vucevic in the paint and Harris, Harrison and their inside presence against our non existent rebounding presence.
13. Detroit=Monroe, Caldwell Pope, Brandon Knight, Maxiell, stuckey, Singler.  Trying to sign Josh Smith, so obviously wanting to get better. If Smith to Houston doesn't happen then they are front runner.
The above players even without Smith vs our starting 5? lol
14. Charlotte= new starting 5
Al Jefferson, Biyombo, Kidd Gilchrist, Henderson, Kemba Walker. That's if we don't send Humphries to them and make them even better.
15. Philadelphia still suck and will be worse than us. Probably the only ones with the Magic that we are slightly better.

In the West?
Suns?
The Pelicans just signed Tyreke Evans so they'll have:
Jrue Holiday, Eric Gordon, Tyreke Evans, Anthony Davis, Chris Anderson, Lopez...
you think our starting five can beat the Pelicans? You realise bookmakers will have us as clear underdogs right?

You're dreaming if you think we're making the playoffs lol.

Lopez is a trail blazer now.

[ ] Changes everything

[Evantime34]

I think that is a good list. With our current team I think our ceiling is the six seed, but we could potentially be worse than every team in our conference except for the sixers and bobcats (who have a ton of young players that could make improvements causing them to be a surprise team.

[chambers]

I think that is a good list. With our current team I think our ceiling is the six seed, but we could potentially be worse than every team in our conference except for the sixers and bobcats (who have a ton of young players that could make improvements causing them to be a surprise team.

That's right.
I actually think Those 3 wing players with a free agent like Millsap would be a playoff team. Maybe a 6th seed if we were lucky.

But Millsap ain't walking through that door. We aren't 100% tanking. We are just going to let our bigs (Melo,Sully,Olnyk) develop slowly by playing hard time against the elite bigs of the NBA.

Team has been built to look okay on offense through the guards in transition. But there's nothing that can save us defensively to become a top 6 team in the east. Even with Humphries and Wallace we aren't making the playoffs. We just can't stop interior scoring. We can't shoot over interior defense either.
At this point to me it's between these teams for the top 5 picks

76ers
Suns
Magic
Kings Bobcats
Celtics

Wizards are a class above this and teams like Cleveland and New Orleans are playoff teams now with teams like the Mavs and Detroit competing too, particularly with some more signings to come.

[Snakehead]

I agree in some ways with the OP's premise, but at the same time we are looking at maybe 5 teams clearly tanking this year, which has to be a record I'd say?

[Chris.J]

[/quote) Have you seen what we've looked like with KG off the floor? Yeah, it's going to be like that for 82 games next year.
[/quote]

lol

[cltc5]

some people need to stop living in a pipe dream

[PAOBoston]

There is no way the C's are a 6 seed next season. They'll be bottom 5 at least, and possibly worse (bottom 3) if they decide to trade Humphries/Wallace/Rondo during the season as well.

This team has no legitimate bigs and no shooters. They are gonna struggleon both offensively and defensively (especially now w/out KG). It's gonna be a long season next year.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Celtics will not be in the lottery next season.  They are a 6th seed at worst as it stands now.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

RR is free now, no more slow possession offense.
He will be great and will make anyone on this team better.
This year will be JG and Sully year.
I'm sorry but I'll take this 3 against any other best 3 from Washington through Phily.
Looks like some people forgot how good was RR and how even better he can be now with this new coach.

Doc and Danny always wanted Rondo to play faster and more aggressively.  Rondo is the one who wanted to play slow and methodically.

LINK??

[BballTim]

RR is free now, no more slow possession offense.
He will be great and will make anyone on this team better.
This year will be JG and Sully year.
I'm sorry but I'll take this 3 against any other best 3 from Washington through Phily.
Looks like some people forgot how good was RR and how even better he can be now with this new coach.

Doc and Danny always wanted Rondo to play faster and more aggressively.  Rondo is the one who wanted to play slow and methodically.

LINK??

  He probably read it on celticsblog.