Author Topic: 8 games left. I think we finish 5th worst with 29.2% chance of a top 3 pick.  (Read 59647 times)

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Offline PhoSita

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I agree that spots 4-8 in this draft seem pretty likely to yield similar results.

Who can really say who out of Exum, Randle, Smart, and Vonleh is going to be the best?

Being 4th or 5th is much better than 6-8 in terms of having a shot at a top 3 spot, though.
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Offline nickagneta

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The difference is I see Ainge in the best position to grab the guy he wants vs. being in a spot where he has to hope the player drops.  (or just take the best of the rest)

Can't argue that, wd but at what cost? Telling your coach to purposely coach the game to lose for the next 7 games? To hope your players don't find out that you wanted to purposely lose?

I know the next statement is that it didn't effect the 2007 Celtics or the 1998 Spurs that much if at all but those are the success stories. Given the abundance of teams that have tanked, drafted high, still sucked and then had to get rid of the coach or GM after a few seasons of being awful, maybe there's a lot of evidence that purposely tanking is actually a bad thing if the coach and players are asked to lose on purpose. Maybe.

Offline SHAQATTACK

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Business , and as adults you suck it up , as a coach or player , realize this and do what is the best long term for the team.   Feel good wins are just what they are ..

It's over ....Let the season go and position the team for getting a talented player .....surely the players want the best talent in the team possible .

Offline nickagneta

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Business , and as adults you suck it up , as a coach or player , realize this and do what is the best long term for the team.   Feel good wins are just what they are ..

It's over ....Let the season go and position the team for getting a talented player .....surely the players want the best talent in the team possible .
You really think that players would want to purposely lose to get a better player on the team for next year?

Really?

You think players think, on the business side of things, that they need to do something that is against everything they have ever been taught and coached so that the team can get a marginally better draft position to draft a player that, for all they now, might take their spot in the rotation or cost them minutes thereby costing them possible money in their next contract negotiation?

You really think players think, on the business side of things, that what's best for the team is best for them?

I have trouble believing that.

Offline Spicoli

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I don't have stats to back it up but Jeff Green seems to play better at home so i'm glad that five of these next eight are on the road.

Looking at the stats:

Home: 15.5ppg, 4.3rpg, 1.6apg, 39.6 FG%, 30.9 3P%
Road: 17.9ppg, 5.1rpg, 1.7apg, 42.4 FG%, 39.6 3P%

Weird. For some reason it feels like he always has better games at home. Well, he was terrible last night on the road so hopefully it continues for these last few games. The last thing i want to see is a pointless Jeff Green 30+ point eruption which results in a meaningless win.

Offline D.o.s.

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Business , and as adults you suck it up , as a coach or player , realize this and do what is the best long term for the team.   Feel good wins are just what they are ..

It's over ....Let the season go and position the team for getting a talented player .....surely the players want the best talent in the team possible .
You really think that players would want to purposely lose to get a better player on the team for next year?

Really?

You think players think, on the business side of things, that they need to do something that is against everything they have ever been taught and coached so that the team can get a marginally better draft position to draft a player that, for all they now, might take their spot in the rotation or cost them minutes thereby costing them possible money in their next contract negotiation?

You really think players think, on the business side of things, that what's best for the team is best for them?

I have trouble believing that.

Yeah I'm with Nick on this one. The players are trying to win, even if some bogus "eye test" says otherwise.
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Offline Fafnir

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I don't have stats to back it up but Jeff Green seems to play better at home so i'm glad that five of these next eight are on the road.

Looking at the stats:

Home: 15.5ppg, 4.3rpg, 1.6apg, 39.6 FG%, 30.9 3P%
Road: 17.9ppg, 5.1rpg, 1.7apg, 42.4 FG%, 39.6 3P%

Weird. For some reason it feels like he always has better games at home. Well, he was terrible last night on the road so hopefully it continues for these last few games. The last thing i want to see is a pointless Jeff Green 30+ point eruption which results in a meaningless win.
Jeff Green played well for the first 31 games (2013) this year. Since then he's been shooting and playing poorly overall. A big reason our record got truly dreadful around then I imagine.

Offline Fafnir

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Business , and as adults you suck it up , as a coach or player , realize this and do what is the best long term for the team.   Feel good wins are just what they are ..

It's over ....Let the season go and position the team for getting a talented player .....surely the players want the best talent in the team possible .
You really think that players would want to purposely lose to get a better player on the team for next year?

Really?

You think players think, on the business side of things, that they need to do something that is against everything they have ever been taught and coached so that the team can get a marginally better draft position to draft a player that, for all they now, might take their spot in the rotation or cost them minutes thereby costing them possible money in their next contract negotiation?

You really think players think, on the business side of things, that what's best for the team is best for them?

I have trouble believing that.

Yeah I'm with Nick on this one. The players are trying to win, even if some bogus "eye test" says otherwise.
They're trying to win, but they're not mentally checked in like you need to be for the entire game. Just fewer extra efforts and a lot less fight to overcome a series of bad possessions.

Not a surprise, I'm sure the entire team is looking forward to the offseason at this point.

Offline wdleehi

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The difference is I see Ainge in the best position to grab the guy he wants vs. being in a spot where he has to hope the player drops.  (or just take the best of the rest)

Can't argue that, wd but at what cost? Telling your coach to purposely coach the game to lose for the next 7 games? To hope your players don't find out that you wanted to purposely lose?

I know the next statement is that it didn't effect the 2007 Celtics or the 1998 Spurs that much if at all but those are the success stories. Given the abundance of teams that have tanked, drafted high, still sucked and then had to get rid of the coach or GM after a few seasons of being awful, maybe there's a lot of evidence that purposely tanking is actually a bad thing if the coach and players are asked to lose on purpose. Maybe.


Of course you do not tell the coach to go out and try to lose. 



But 8 games left is the perfect time to see what some of the younger players who may not have gotten so many minutes so far the chance to show with extended time.  I am not talking huge minutes, maybe 15 to 20 minutes. 


It fall completely under the idea of rebuilding.  It is the chance to see if the players may or may not be in a longer term team plan. 



Just no last game of random big man jacking up 3 point shot after 3 point shot.

Offline slamtheking

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Business , and as adults you suck it up , as a coach or player , realize this and do what is the best long term for the team.   Feel good wins are just what they are ..

It's over ....Let the season go and position the team for getting a talented player .....surely the players want the best talent in the team possible .
You really think that players would want to purposely lose to get a better player on the team for next year?

Really?

You think players think, on the business side of things, that they need to do something that is against everything they have ever been taught and coached so that the team can get a marginally better draft position to draft a player that, for all they now, might take their spot in the rotation or cost them minutes thereby costing them possible money in their next contract negotiation?

You really think players think, on the business side of things, that what's best for the team is best for them?

I have trouble believing that.

Yeah I'm with Nick on this one. The players are trying to win, even if some bogus "eye test" says otherwise.
They're trying to win, but they're not mentally checked in like you need to be for the entire game. Just fewer extra efforts and a lot less fight to overcome a series of bad possessions.

Not a surprise, I'm sure the entire team is looking forward to the offseason at this point.
agree with Nick and also agree that I don't think the players are completely checked in mentally for the final games.

Not sure the entire team is looking forward to the offseason though. 
- AB's hitting free agency after a less-than-stellar year
- Hump has to worry about finding a team that will assuredly pay him much less next season
- Bass could end up traded elsewhere as could Green depending on who we draft
- Bogans won't be back or quite possibly even have a contract with any team for next year.
- Johnson and Babb don't have guarantees for next year and are likely trade bait or quite possibly cut after the next camp.
- Fav has to figure out if the NBA is worth sitting through a lot of DNP-CDs or if he should push to get back to Euro ball for next season.
- Bayless doesn't have a deal for next season and hasn't really shown he's that much better than some other bench-quality scrubs out there.
- Sully has had a lot of trade rumors swirling about him as a major trade piece to bring in an all-star.  those rumors will most likely persist well after the draft.

Not to quibble, but I really only see 4 players that are probably looking forward to the offseason - Rondo, Wallace, Anthony and KO since they're under contract for another year and not terribly likely to be traded at this point.

Offline hpantazo

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The difference is I see Ainge in the best position to grab the guy he wants vs. being in a spot where he has to hope the player drops.  (or just take the best of the rest)

Can't argue that, wd but at what cost? Telling your coach to purposely coach the game to lose for the next 7 games? To hope your players don't find out that you wanted to purposely lose?

I know the next statement is that it didn't effect the 2007 Celtics or the 1998 Spurs that much if at all but those are the success stories. Given the abundance of teams that have tanked, drafted high, still sucked and then had to get rid of the coach or GM after a few seasons of being awful, maybe there's a lot of evidence that purposely tanking is actually a bad thing if the coach and players are asked to lose on purpose. Maybe.

No one has to be asked to purposefully lose. As a GM , you tell your coach I want to see more of these players in meaningful situations to evaluate if we should keep them past this season: Johnson, Babb, etc. I want to see Bradley play the point to determine if we should resign him and for how much. I want to see Olynyk play center for long stretches to see if he should be a keeper or trade chip this summer. The results will follow from there.

The vets with long term deals have already mentally checked out, they will not complain about the coach evaluating the young guys down the stretch run.

Offline nickagneta

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The difference is I see Ainge in the best position to grab the guy he wants vs. being in a spot where he has to hope the player drops.  (or just take the best of the rest)

Can't argue that, wd but at what cost? Telling your coach to purposely coach the game to lose for the next 7 games? To hope your players don't find out that you wanted to purposely lose?

I know the next statement is that it didn't effect the 2007 Celtics or the 1998 Spurs that much if at all but those are the success stories. Given the abundance of teams that have tanked, drafted high, still sucked and then had to get rid of the coach or GM after a few seasons of being awful, maybe there's a lot of evidence that purposely tanking is actually a bad thing if the coach and players are asked to lose on purpose. Maybe.

No one has to be asked to purposefully lose. As a GM , you tell your coach I want to see more of these players in meaningful situations to evaluate if we should keep them past this season: Johnson, Babb, etc. I want to see Bradley play the point to determine if we should resign him and for how much. I want to see Olynyk play center for long stretches to see if he should be a keeper or trade chip this summer. The results will follow from there.

The vets with long term deals have already mentally checked out, they will not complain about the coach evaluating the young guys down the stretch run.
Here's the thing though. If the management doesn't already know what these young players can and can not do, if they really need to evaluate them in the last seven games because they haven't been evaluating them in every practice, shoot around and game, then they aren't doing their jobs. Plain and simple.

Stevens knows Ainge is well aware of the strengths and weaknesses of his young players. Stevens knows Ainge doesn't need 7 games of garbage game film to have a firm handle of what these players can do. Stevens isn't stupid. If Ainge came to him telling him to play the young guys because he needs to evaluate them, he also knows what Ainge means is lose on purpose because I want a higher draft slot.


Offline j804

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^doubt it think I recall Stevens actually saying I want to get joel out there more so we can see what we have in him he's a legit center, Stevens isn't dumb hell he probably wants a better draft pick too lol
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Offline KGs Knee

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^doubt it think I recall Stevens actually saying I want to get joel out there more so we can see what we have in him he's a legit center, Stevens isn't dumb hell he probably wants a better draft pick too lol

I seriously doubt an NBA head coach would want a higher lottery chance at the expense of winning basketball games. That isn't how competitors think.


Offline D.o.s.

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^doubt it think I recall Stevens actually saying I want to get joel out there more so we can see what we have in him he's a legit center, Stevens isn't dumb hell he probably wants a better draft pick too lol

I seriously doubt an NBA head coach would want a higher lottery chance at the expense of winning basketball games. That isn't how competitors think.



No, but he doesn't want to get fired, either. We already have ML Carr going on the record saying that he was hired to take one for the team and draft Tim Duncan.

Stevens didn't come into this season expecting to make the playoffs and contend for a championship. He came in to "develop".
At least a goldfish with a Lincoln Log on its back goin' across your floor to your sock drawer has a miraculous connotation to it.