I truly believe that if Ainge holds onto the 2 first rounders from this year that the Celtics may just be worse next year than this year. And they won't have to tank. They will just suck.
I find that unrealistically pessimistic. What valuable player are they losing to free agency? Humphries? Bayless? It's not like those guys have won us all that many games. A full year of a healthy Rondo, plus improvement from guys like Sully and KO aren't going to make this team worse. Will those draft picks be of instant help? Probably not for the full year, depending on who's picked, but as KO has shown, it's possible for those picks to impact the team more as they year goes on.
Do I think that we're making the playoffs with nothing but adding some draft picks and players at the periphery? It's pretty unlikely unless a healthy Rondo truly is a Hall of Famer, or one of those picks is way more NBA ready than expected. But I see no reason to think this team will be any worse next year, considering we're losing no one of real consequence.
everyone in the east is getting better. the bobcats are a 6th seed, the wiz are in the playoffs, the knicks which are better than us still barely missed the playoffs. philly and orlando might both get a top pick.
Philly stinks. They're not getting better. They're not trying to get better. And heck, if a miracle happens for them and they make the playoffs, we get a 1st-round pick, so that's a fine consolation prize.
Milwaukee stinks.
Detroit stinks, and might not have Monroe next year.
Cleveland stinks and could lose Deng.
Orlando hasn't been any better than us this year, and have about the same likelihood as we have to improve (some young players in major roles, two draft picks in 2014), minus having Rondo.
The best New York can do is hope to stay the same by keeping Melo. They can't add any free agents and have no draft picks, and no one to trade. If they lose Melo, it's an even further plummet downhill. They're old, brittle, and have no flexibility in payroll.
Atlanta's best player has had the same season-ending injury twice. With Horford, they might bounce back quite nicely, but unfortunately for Horford (who's one of my favorite players), he can't be counted upon at this point. They've had a .400 winning percentage in the 3.5 months they've been without him. That's not a team that's anything special.
Charlotte, Washington -- whatever. They're mediocre teams who might make the playoffs again, but their ability to do that doesn't mean that the Celtics will have in any measure gotten worse. Maybe it means they haven't gotten better enough, but that's not the same as the hyperbolic statement nick made.
Topic: Will the Celtics be tanking in 2015? (Read 15850 times)