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

[Jailan34]

I would much rather have Smart than have been the 8th seed. I'd love one more nice young prospect from this years draft but if we over achieve I can't say I'd be upset as long as we overachieve because of the right reasons. I think getting Towns or Okafor would solidify out teams young core and we can begin to focus on them growing together and the present more than the draft.

[BitterJim]

If we made the playoffs based on good play by our main (and young) guys, and not based off of the conference being bad, then I'd rather make the playoffs.

S, I'd rather have been a good enough team to make the playoffs than only good enough to win 25 games, but if we played like we did last year and barely snuck in based on the conference being week, I'd rather have Smart

[mgent]

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.

Because Tim's interpretation was actually reality, whereas the title insinuates two situations that come from mutually exclusive circumstances (basically trying to fool people into choosing the tanking POV) .  My mind, for one, went to the exact same place his did, which readers always enjoy to see, and for those that didn't pick up on it, maybe it gives them some insight on what the scenarios they're choosing from actually mean.

[Celtics4ever]

We need assets so I would take the picks over the playoffs.   Making playoffs and not winning them is the recipe for mediocrity when you can't draw marque free agents.   We will know next year if all the talk of Boston not being to draw free agents is true or not.   It should be interesting folks.

[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.

  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?

This is exactly how I took it too. Which is why my answer depends on the type of players that give us 14 more wins. If young guys produced 14 more wins I would be all for the playoffs, if it was veterans I would rather have Smart.

[oldtype]

Immediately after the draft I think I would have said "make the playoffs" because that would mean our current players are that much better than we thought.

But now that Smart is looking like an elite talent and potentially the best player in his class, I wouldn't trade him for anything. We lucked out.

[AngryAndIrritable]

The assets we would have had to give up to improve last year's team enough to make 8th seed would probably not have been worth it long term.

However, at the risk of sounding like Captain Obvious, you can't win a championship without being in the playoffs and you can't get your players playoff experience either. The season after this will be very interesting - depending on whether Rondo resigns or not it might be time to make a significant move for a major piece.

[vjcsmoke]

Would have, should have, could have = spilt milk

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

LOL, any NBA team could be 2 good players away from being a good team.
Let's accept the reality of today.  We are a bad team.
Our best effort was to lose in OT by a whisker.
And that was with our bench playing out of their heads.

We don't have the talent and/or experience right now to compete for a playoff spot.
We are where we are for a reason.
We're a bad team.

Can we turn it around?  Sure, but it takes time.  And I don't expect a playoff contender overnight.
We are very young.  We have a new coach.  And we have veteran players who are not quite elite, excepting Rondo who could be elite with the right supporting cast.  But we don't have that cast.

If, and it's a big if, Smart continues to blossom and look like that franchise 1-guard.  We might not have a choice but to move on from Rondo, because right now we can't give Rondo the cast that he needs to shine.  And believe me, I'm not a Rondo hater, I just don't see what Boston can give him in the here and now to be competing for hardware in the playoffs when we are going to be a bottom 10 team in the NBA yet again.

[wdleehi]

If the Celtics had the talent to be a playoff team, then the playoffs.

[BballTim]

Would have, should have, could have = spilt milk

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

LOL, any NBA team could be 2 good players away from being a good team.
Let's accept the reality of today.  We are a bad team.
Our best effort was to lose in OT by a whisker.
And that was with our bench playing out of their heads.

We don't have the talent and/or experience right now to compete for a playoff spot.
We are where we are for a reason.
We're a bad team.

  Why was our best effort the OT loss and not the win the game before?

  The season will play out, and the team might play better or worse, but as of now we've played the 3rd toughest schedule in the league and we're a game out of the playoffs. How good or bad we are remains to be seen.

[Fafnir]

Given our schedule and point differential we're on track to be the eight seed in the eastern playoffs this year. Of course that can all change pretty quickly depending on how we play going forward.

That fact is kind of terrifying from the stand point of how much talent we still need to add, but I like watching this team at least.

Edit: Holy crap the C's have the 6th best SRS in the east. Oh man....

[Celtics4ever]

This team fights, I find them easy to watch and root for.

[fairweatherfan]

Given our schedule and point differential we're on track to be the eight seed in the eastern playoffs this year. Of course that can all change pretty quickly depending on how we play going forward.

That fact is kind of terrifying from the stand point of how much talent we still need to add, but I like watching this team at least.

Edit: Holy crap the C's have the 6th best SRS in the east. Oh man....

6th-8th in the East honestly feels about right for our performance to this point.  Though that's as much because of the dumpster fires in Charlotte, Detroit, and NY as what we're doing.

[Quetzalcoatl]

Given our schedule and point differential we're on track to be the eight seed in the eastern playoffs this year. Of course that can all change pretty quickly depending on how we play going forward.

That fact is kind of terrifying from the stand point of how much talent we still need to add, but I like watching this team at least.

6th-8th in the East honestly feels about right for our performance to this point.  Though that's as much because of the dumpster fires in Charlotte, Detroit, and NY as what we're doing.

6th to 8th?  Toronto, Atlanta, Washington, Cleveland, Chicago and Miami are a clear 6 in front of us, so there is no way we'd be the 6th seed.  Then, Milwaukee is looking pretty consistent, I think they are going to stay ahead of us all season, so that is 7th seed looking extremely unlikely.  As for 8th, we have Brooklyn and Orlando ahead of us right now and teams like Indy and Charlotte could easily surpass us.  I think there is basically a 5% chance at most we are the 8th seed or even the 9th team.  We're probably finishing 4th worst in the East and 5th worst in the NBA, barring a major trade.

[fairweatherfan]

Given our schedule and point differential we're on track to be the eight seed in the eastern playoffs this year. Of course that can all change pretty quickly depending on how we play going forward.

That fact is kind of terrifying from the stand point of how much talent we still need to add, but I like watching this team at least.

Edit: Holy crap the C's have the 6th best SRS in the east. Oh man....

6th-8th in the East honestly feels about right for our performance to this point.  Though that's as much because of the dumpster fires in Charlotte, Detroit, and NY as what we're doing.

6th to 8th?  Toronto, Atlanta, Washington, Cleveland, Chicago and Miami are a clear 6 in front of us, so there is no way we'd be the 6th seed.  Then, Milwaukee is looking pretty consistent, I think they are going to stay ahead of us all season, so that is 7th seed looking extremely unlikely.  As for 8th, we have Brooklyn and Orlando ahead of us right now and teams like Indy and Charlotte could easily surpass us.  I think there is basically a 5% chance at most we are the 8th seed or even the 9th team.  We're probably finishing 4th worst in the East and 5th worst in the NBA, barring a major trade.

Well, I was talking about our performance so far, not our finish, and Faf's got specific metrics to support it that you tried to cut out, but yours sounds scientific too, there's a number in there and everything.