Would you have rather made the playoffs last year, or drafted Marcus Smart?

[chambers]

Just a question to think about.
I think this season and last season are quite different in terms of direction and you can very easily argue that last year was a much better year to focus on the draft.

I've read a few threads with the pro-playoff vs pro- draft debate lately.
I'm still in the pro-draft pool until we attain a top 10 NBA player or at least multiple guys that have top 15-20 potential.

To be clear: This isn't a question about supporting tanking or not. It's about whether you'd rather finish with a playoff berth last season, or you're 100% happy we grabbed Smart and ended up finishing bottom 5.

How do you feel about this season? Do you feel any differently or are you on the same page this season.

Personally I'd rather get another top 5-10 pick than make the playoffs- but I understand why others think it would be better for the teams development.

[gpap]

Kind of an apples and oranges question.

The main goal of any team should be to get in the playoffs and win a championship.

But that wasn't the case last year, so the Celts got the draft pick out of it.

[playdream]

I say Tank if that means you get Towns level caliber
Just trade away Bass/Green/Rondo if the price is acceptable
I am not satisfied for a Captain that you can't put in the end game mins and can have monster games but only once for 15 games

[BleedGreen1989]

If that's your direction that's fine.

I just LOL when I hear "we should tank for a top-5 pick and the sign free agent x". Like a free agent is going to come to a bottom 5 team.

I get both sides of it. Young players are nice but I don't think you become attractive at all to FA's when your consistently picking in the lottery (unless you overpay).

[BballTim]

Just a question to think about.
I think this season and last season are quite different in terms of direction and you can very easily argue that last year was a much better year to focus on the draft.

I've read a few threads with the pro-playoff vs pro- draft debate lately.
I'm still in the pro-draft pool until we attain a top 10 NBA player or at least multiple guys that have top 15-20 potential.

To be clear: This isn't a question about supporting tanking or not. It's about whether you'd rather finish with a playoff berth last season, or you're 100% happy we grabbed Smart and ended up finishing bottom 5.

How do you feel about this season? Do you feel any differently or are you on the same page this season.

Personally I'd rather get another top 5-10 pick than make the playoffs- but I understand why others think it would be better for the teams development.

  I think a better way of phrasing it, from a non-tanking point of view, is that we missed the playoffs by about 14 games last year. So would it be better to go into this year with enough talent to have won about 40 games last year instead of 25 and someone other than Smart, or enough talent to have won 25 games and Smart?

[chambers]

If that's your direction that's fine.

I just LOL when I hear "we should tank for a top-5 pick and the sign free agent x". Like a free agent is going to come to a bottom 5 team.

I get both sides of it. Young players are nice but I don't think you become attractive at all to FA's when your consistently picking in the lottery (unless you overpay).

But if we'd gotten Kevin Love with the Marcus Smart pick+Olynyk then what would you say?
Draft position/picks isn't just about drafting players.

And by 'attaining a top 10 player' I mean by either the draft or via a trade.

[chambers]

Just a question to think about.
I think this season and last season are quite different in terms of direction and you can very easily argue that last year was a much better year to focus on the draft.

I've read a few threads with the pro-playoff vs pro- draft debate lately.
I'm still in the pro-draft pool until we attain a top 10 NBA player or at least multiple guys that have top 15-20 potential.

To be clear: This isn't a question about supporting tanking or not. It's about whether you'd rather finish with a playoff berth last season, or you're 100% happy we grabbed Smart and ended up finishing bottom 5.

How do you feel about this season? Do you feel any differently or are you on the same page this season.

Personally I'd rather get another top 5-10 pick than make the playoffs- but I understand why others think it would be better for the teams development.

  I think a better way of phrasing it, from a non-tanking point of view, is that we missed the playoffs by about 14 games last year. So would it be better to go into this year with enough talent to have won about 40 games last year instead of 25 and someone other than Smart, or enough talent to have won 25 games and Smart?

Good wording. TP.
So what do you think Tim?

[greece66]

The thread topic looks like a very careful wording of 'would you rather draft a rim protector this year or get in the playoffs?' 

[Celtics4ever]

Would have, should have, could have = spilt milk

We are two players away from a decent to good team.

[Evantime34]

Just a question to think about.
I think this season and last season are quite different in terms of direction and you can very easily argue that last year was a much better year to focus on the draft.

I've read a few threads with the pro-playoff vs pro- draft debate lately.
I'm still in the pro-draft pool until we attain a top 10 NBA player or at least multiple guys that have top 15-20 potential.

To be clear: This isn't a question about supporting tanking or not. It's about whether you'd rather finish with a playoff berth last season, or you're 100% happy we grabbed Smart and ended up finishing bottom 5.

How do you feel about this season? Do you feel any differently or are you on the same page this season.

Personally I'd rather get another top 5-10 pick than make the playoffs- but I understand why others think it would be better for the teams development.

To answer the question in the thread title, it depends.

For us to have made the playoffs last year, we would have needed much better production from throughout the lineup. So if we made the playoffs because our young players like Sullinger and Olynyk made the leap then I would have been fine making the playoffs because that would have added long term value to the team. If we made the playoffs because Bass, Humphries, Bayless and Green all had career years then I don't think it would have been worth it, since the value of our young cost controlled assets didn't increase.

In the end it comes down to whether the total value of this team's assets increased or decreased.

Last season was fun before the all star break, then the games became hard to watch. So far this year all the games have been entertaining so I prefer this year to last

[Kuberski33]

I don't count 'making the playoffs' as getting the #8 seed and getting swept, so I'd rather miss and hopefully get a better player.  If Smart's the player in question, it's a no brainer.

[Celtics17]

I dont understand why when someone writes a thread like this everyone has to give their personal interpretation of what they think the OP is 'really' asking? Personally, I am very excited about Smart and had we been in the playoffs we would not have drafted him.

[Fafnir]

I dont understand why when someone writes a thread like this everyone has to give their personal interpretation of what they think the OP is 'really' asking?

Because people bring their own perspective to the hypothetical and are explaining their own opinion. That's pretty much the point of a discussion board after all.

[BballTim]

I dont understand why when someone writes a thread like this everyone has to give their personal interpretation of what they think the OP is 'really' asking?

  Because what he's asking can affect the answer.

[jambr380]

This is a tough question to answer, but I think BballTim put it correctly. If we had made the playoffs, we would have had considerably more talent and may have been happy drafting Young and Capela (for example).

I think any team that doesn't go to at least the conference finals has to wonder whether they would have been better off grabbing a top 6 pick in a very good draft rather than simply winning a playoff series without obvious room for improvement. But that is why you play the games - because you hope your team has enough talent to compete and get further than many project.