The next 10 games will obliterate our lottery chances.

[mmmmm]

I just want some team, any team, to successfully rebuild without a top five pick, especially in this draft, so that people can point to that team as an example of why teams have a choice other than tanking.  I would be ecstatic if that team was the Celtics.

Going all in on the Pacers, then?

Did you expect me to root for the Heat?

Touche.

I agree with you--I think that the pro-tanking buzz has turned into noise. Lots of people spouting lots of Hemmingway-style sentences about things that require a relatively high level of nuance.

On the other hand, I look at someone like Tim Duncan's career, and I can't help but be intoxicated by the idea that we, too, could land a player that would bridge the gap between our contending days with the Big Three and 15-20 years of realistic Finals optimism.

Dwade, of course, was a #5 pick on the part of the Heat.

But asking Danny to fill Larry's shoes is always asking a bit too much.

I love Larry, and I would be happy for him to win it this year, but the fact of the matter is, of the trio of Celtic-greats-turned-executive: McHale, Bird and Ainge - only Ainge has constructed a team that has won a title.

So far, of course.

AInge wears his own shoes.

[celts10]

I see some of the details of that Ray/KG trade summer have been lost over time.

The Ray trade was great and got KG here for two reasons. It gave Boston another piece that could convert them into a winner and, possibly more important, it got rid of Wally Szczerbiak from the Boston roster.

Looking back I've always pondered how a core of Pierce/Jefferson/Allen would have fared..

[j804]

We have to have guys look decent if they are to be traded tankers and that might mean winning a couple games, sheesh. lol

[AidaCelt]

Too often I read in these forums about teams tanking. Let me tell you all something, Bucks are not tanking. They're just no good. They built their offense around OJ Mayo... OJ MAYO!!! And apart from some players with potential, they have nothing. The Magic are not tanking. They're just no good. Same with the C's. Same with Sixers.

People, just because a team is near the bottom of the standings it DOES NOT mean they're tanking. Some teams are just plain no good!!!

[clover]

Too often I read in these forums about teams tanking. Let me tell you all something, Bucks are not tanking. They're just no good. They built their offense around OJ Mayo... OJ MAYO!!! And apart from some players with potential, they have nothing. The Magic are not tanking. They're just no good. Same with the C's. Same with Sixers.

People, just because a team is near the bottom of the standings it DOES NOT mean they're tanking. Some teams are just plain no good!!!

Some observers are capable of looking behind the team standings as to how and why the teams are composed as they are. The Celtics and Sixers are two good cases in point.

[pokeKingCurtis]

Too often I read in these forums about teams tanking. Let me tell you all something, Bucks are not tanking. They're just no good. They built their offense around OJ Mayo... OJ MAYO!!! And apart from some players with potential, they have nothing. The Magic are not tanking. They're just no good. Same with the C's. Same with Sixers.

People, just because a team is near the bottom of the standings it DOES NOT mean they're tanking. Some teams are just plain no good!!!

Some observers are capable of looking behind the team standings as to how and why the teams are composed as they are. The Celtics and Sixers are two good cases in point.

It's pretty nice some people have the inside scoop.

Too bad I'm just a peasant without insider access 

[slamtheking]

Too often I read in these forums about teams tanking. Let me tell you all something, Bucks are not tanking. They're just no good. They built their offense around OJ Mayo... OJ MAYO!!! And apart from some players with potential, they have nothing. The Magic are not tanking. They're just no good. Same with the C's. Same with Sixers.

People, just because a team is near the bottom of the standings it DOES NOT mean they're tanking. Some teams are just plain no good!!!

Some observers are capable of looking behind the team standings as to how and why the teams are composed as they are. The Celtics and Sixers are two good cases in point.

It's pretty nice some people have the inside scoop.

Too bad I'm just a peasant without insider access 

in the cases of the C's and Sixers, they gave away better players than they brought back and actually focussed their return on draft picks rather than current talent.  that's not much of a mystery.

have to say though that I did expect the Bucks and Orlando to be better than they are right now.  Bucks have had some injuries but there's enough talent on that roster that I think they should be 5-6 wins better than their current record.  Orlando's youth movement just isn't progressing as hoped.  harkless and Nicholson should be showing better games by now.  (at least that was what was hoped for/expected)

[LilRip]

Too often I read in these forums about teams tanking. Let me tell you all something, Bucks are not tanking. They're just no good. They built their offense around OJ Mayo... OJ MAYO!!! And apart from some players with potential, they have nothing. The Magic are not tanking. They're just no good. Same with the C's. Same with Sixers.

People, just because a team is near the bottom of the standings it DOES NOT mean they're tanking. Some teams are just plain no good!!!

Some observers are capable of looking behind the team standings as to how and why the teams are composed as they are. The Celtics and Sixers are two good cases in point.

It's pretty nice some people have the inside scoop.

Too bad I'm just a peasant without insider access 

in the cases of the C's and Sixers, they gave away better players than they brought back and actually focussed their return on draft picks rather than current talent.  that's not much of a mystery.

have to say though that I did expect the Bucks and Orlando to be better than they are right now.  Bucks have had some injuries but there's enough talent on that roster that I think they should be 5-6 wins better than their current record.  Orlando's youth movement just isn't progressing as hoped.  harkless and Nicholson should be showing better games by now.  (at least that was what was hoped for/expected)

and like has been said many times, it's neither the players nor the coaches who tank. it's management who tanks.

[pokeKingCurtis]

Too often I read in these forums about teams tanking. Let me tell you all something, Bucks are not tanking. They're just no good. They built their offense around OJ Mayo... OJ MAYO!!! And apart from some players with potential, they have nothing. The Magic are not tanking. They're just no good. Same with the C's. Same with Sixers.

People, just because a team is near the bottom of the standings it DOES NOT mean they're tanking. Some teams are just plain no good!!!

Some observers are capable of looking behind the team standings as to how and why the teams are composed as they are. The Celtics and Sixers are two good cases in point.

It's pretty nice some people have the inside scoop.

Too bad I'm just a peasant without insider access 

in the cases of the C's and Sixers, they gave away better players than they brought back and actually focussed their return on draft picks rather than current talent.  that's not much of a mystery.

have to say though that I did expect the Bucks and Orlando to be better than they are right now.  Bucks have had some injuries but there's enough talent on that roster that I think they should be 5-6 wins better than their current record.  Orlando's youth movement just isn't progressing as hoped.  harkless and Nicholson should be showing better games by now.  (at least that was what was hoped for/expected)

and like has been said many times, it's neither the players nor the coaches who tank. it's management who tanks.

Who said that?

[BballTim]

Too often I read in these forums about teams tanking. Let me tell you all something, Bucks are not tanking. They're just no good. They built their offense around OJ Mayo... OJ MAYO!!! And apart from some players with potential, they have nothing. The Magic are not tanking. They're just no good. Same with the C's. Same with Sixers.

People, just because a team is near the bottom of the standings it DOES NOT mean they're tanking. Some teams are just plain no good!!!

Some observers are capable of looking behind the team standings as to how and why the teams are composed as they are. The Celtics and Sixers are two good cases in point.

It's pretty nice some people have the inside scoop.

Too bad I'm just a peasant without insider access 

in the cases of the C's and Sixers, they gave away better players than they brought back and actually focussed their return on draft picks rather than current talent.  that's not much of a mystery.

  The Celts traded Lee for future financial flexibility. They traded Crawford to avoid the headache that they'd be dealing with as Crawford lost his minutes to Rondo, the same way the Wizards did the year before.

[D.o.s.]

Too often I read in these forums about teams tanking. Let me tell you all something, Bucks are not tanking. They're just no good. They built their offense around OJ Mayo... OJ MAYO!!! And apart from some players with potential, they have nothing. The Magic are not tanking. They're just no good. Same with the C's. Same with Sixers.

People, just because a team is near the bottom of the standings it DOES NOT mean they're tanking. Some teams are just plain no good!!!

Some observers are capable of looking behind the team standings as to how and why the teams are composed as they are. The Celtics and Sixers are two good cases in point.

It's pretty nice some people have the inside scoop.

Too bad I'm just a peasant without insider access 

in the cases of the C's and Sixers, they gave away better players than they brought back and actually focussed their return on draft picks rather than current talent.  that's not much of a mystery.

  The Celts traded Lee for future financial flexibility. They traded Crawford to avoid the headache that they'd be dealing with as Crawford lost his minutes to Rondo, the same way the Wizards did the year before.

Total speculation on the second part. Dude doesn't seem to be causing any problems in Golden State.

Too often I read in these forums about teams tanking. Let me tell you all something, Bucks are not tanking. They're just no good. They built their offense around OJ Mayo... OJ MAYO!!! And apart from some players with potential, they have nothing. The Magic are not tanking. They're just no good. Same with the C's. Same with Sixers.

People, just because a team is near the bottom of the standings it DOES NOT mean they're tanking. Some teams are just plain no good!!!

Some observers are capable of looking behind the team standings as to how and why the teams are composed as they are. The Celtics and Sixers are two good cases in point.

It's pretty nice some people have the inside scoop.

Too bad I'm just a peasant without insider access 

Here's an easy signifier: Any time a team struggles to reach the salary floor, they're probably being built to lose, whether that's to tank or to relocate (Hi, Maloofs!) or whatever else.

[Fafnir]

Total speculation on the second part. Dude doesn't seem to be causing any problems in Golden State.

He threw an absolute fit in Washington when being bench for John Wall who was returning from injury on a bad team. It was bad enough that they gave him away for nothing but an expiring deal.

I don't blame the C's from avoiding the situation where he'd be benched for a returning Rondo coming off and injury playing for a bad C's team.

In GS he's on a winning team and given a backup role in a contract year. Easier to imagine controlling yourself there.

[manl_lui]

Total speculation on the second part. Dude doesn't seem to be causing any problems in Golden State.

He threw an absolute fit in Washington when being bench for John Wall who was returning from injury on a bad team. It was bad enough that they gave him away for nothing but an expiring deal.

I don't blame the C's from avoiding the situation where he'd be benched for a returning Rondo coming off and injury playing for a bad C's team.

In GS he's on a winning team and given a backup role in a contract year. Easier to imagine controlling yourself there.

the more I look at it, the better I think of the deal. You're right, he probably wouldn't like it to play behind Rondo after the things he's done while starting. Say he does throw a fit, we probably would not have gotten that kind of deal. A potential first rounder for Crawford if the 76ers make the playoffs either this year or the next? That sounds good to me.

[D.o.s.]

Total speculation on the second part. Dude doesn't seem to be causing any problems in Golden State.

He threw an absolute fit in Washington when being bench for John Wall who was returning from injury on a bad team. It was bad enough that they gave him away for nothing but an expiring deal.

I don't blame the C's from avoiding the situation where he'd be benched for a returning Rondo coming off and injury playing for a bad C's team.

In GS he's on a winning team and given a backup role in a contract year. Easier to imagine controlling yourself there.

Agreed.

[Mr October]

I just checked the standings. It is amazing how a 1-2 game win run, can swing a team from 3rd or 4th worst to 8th worst in the next few games. We have a couple of big tankapalooza nights coming up this week:

Wed, February 5th

16 win celtics visit 15 win sixers
16 win lakers visit 16 win cavs

Friday, February 7th

16 win kings visit 16 win celtics
16 win lakers visit 15 win sixers

Someone has to win a game or two!