Enjoy the quick fix. Danny set this franchise back.

[KeepRondo]

The sky is falling.

So your solution Tank and more Tank and then lose Tim Duncan to the Spurs bc the ping pong balls do not fall for us?

Sorry, this team is on the road to being a playoff team every season. 

Nobody in this draft is Anthony Davis of Bron Bron so lets stop and be happy that Danny turned nothing into Tyler Zeller, Isiah Thomas, Jerebko and Jae Crowder.

Draft is a crap shoot at best and playoff experience is gold.

Danny set this franchise back, I mean I guess I respect you have your own opinion but explain to me how a team that was in the bottom 5 draft picks at the start of the season and now in the 7th spot in the playoffs is a set back?

I would normally agree with you that NBA drafts are crap shoots but last years and this one does not seem to be. And this one may possibly be deeper. Say what you want about playoff experience, but have some perspective on the actual draft classes instead of labeling them all as crap shoots.

Every draft is a crapshoot, just some drafts more so than others.

Are they're better classes and worse classes? Of course. Is their a level of predictability in those draft classes before they get drafted so you can have a reasonable expectation of the depth and quality of the players in that class? Sure. But in the greatest draft class in recent history, 2003, Darko Milicic was selected #2 overall.  Even in the best classes, at least one or two players in the top 8 bust, and a few guys from the 15-30 range become all-stars.

That's why when it comes to trading up, I'm sure Ainge won't make a deal unless he feels like the player(s) he's picking is worth more than the assets he's giving up. So I trust him to make a good deal. The only trade I've disliked in recent memory, the Rondo deal, ended up with us as huge victors. If we can move up, great. If we can't, well Ainge has done a pretty good job with mid-late 1st round picks. Maybe he even trades back if the deal is right. Got no reason to not trust him .

I don't agree. There are drafts when you have certain can't misses and I think there are a few of them who are predicted to go between the 5th and 9th pick.

[JBcat]

Our current players may have a ceiling of s lower seed playoff team, but the young players are still improving, we will have cap space and flexibility, and we may not have a lottety pick this year but for the next 4 years we have potential lottery picks (Memphis in 2019) from other teams.

[Boris Badenov]

Danny: "Over the next two years I'm going to completely turn over the roster, getting rid of every declining veteran and filling the roster with a bunch of 26-and-under prospects. I'm also going to accumulate the biggest stockpile of first round picks in the league. And, I'll do all that while getting us back into the playoffs by the end of that second year."

Fans: "Meh."

[Birdsmoke]

This franchise could have had an easy path to success. You people bash me for comparing the situation to Philly but let's take the homer glasses off and be honest with ourselves. Is there anyone on our current roster you would rather have than Noel or Embiid? Absolutely the answer is no. How did the Sixers get there? A strong number of tank trades and tank moves. Bass had no business staying. They had no business getting IT. They had no business making most of the moves they did. Crowder is going to be an overpaid bum next year and we will probably pay him since the Green Teamers will cry after making the playoffs.

The "best" part of making the playoffs? We now get to see what value combining the 15th and 25th picks in a trade would have!!! Awesome! They'll never fire the guy just like the Bruins would never fire Sinden but this is awful for the franchise that desperately needs top picks because they'll never be a top free agent destination.

Wow, I disagree with just about every opinion you've expressed.

[jonaslopes]

This franchise could have had an easy path to success. You people bash me for comparing the situation to Philly but let's take the homer glasses off and be honest with ourselves.

Don't be shy. Hinkie is waiting for you. Good luck.

[GratefulCs]

Danny: "Over the next two years I'm going to completely turn over the roster, getting rid of every declining veteran and filling the roster with a bunch of 26-and-under prospects. I'm also going to accumulate the biggest stockpile of first round picks in the league. And, I'll do all that while getting us back into the playoffs by the end of that second year."

Fans: "Meh."

TP

[LarBrd33]

Danny: "Over the next two years I'm going to completely turn over the roster, getting rid of every declining veteran and filling the roster with a bunch of 26-and-under prospects. I'm also going to accumulate the biggest stockpile of first round picks in the league. And, I'll do all that while getting us back into the playoffs by the end of that second year."

Fans: "Meh."

Reality is that Danny didn't want this outcome.  If you listened to any interview he gave over the past couple years, he's been pretty straight-forward in his desire to land an impact player or two through the draft.   We got rid of Pierce/KG with hopes of bottoming out in 2013-14.  We waited extra long to bring back Rondo and then found excuses not to play in him back-to-backs (ironically, we were worse in games Rondo played).   We really wanted someone like Wiggins or Parker.   Got unlucky and got the consolation prize of Marcus Smart.

Tried again this year where there were some ideal big men prospects at the top of the draft (Okafor, Townes, etc).   Traded everyone who supposedly was keeping this team mediocre.  Goodbye Rondo.  Goodbye Green.   Took back nothing substantial short-term.   Goal was obviously to bottom out.   Ainge publicly admitted that he saw no purpose in making the playoffs with a below .500 record and then getting thrashed.   Thanks to Brad Stevens and some addition by subtraction, the team greatly overachieved.   That wasn't Danny's intention at all.  He did everything he possibly could to set up a bottom 3 team.  This team is comprised of role players.  There might not be a single player on this roster who would start for a contender.   The plan was to be horrible. 

The only thing you can maybe fault him for is the Thomas trade, but I think that was a big picture trade.  He saw that Thomas could have more trade value than what he gave up... so he jumped at an opportunity to buy low. 

The way this season has played out is going to make Danny's job much harder.  I'm sure he's not thrilled about it.  Maybe he can leverage a playoff appearance into a free agent sales pitch, but who knows.  I'm certain Ainge would have preferred to land a top 4 pick this year.

Ainge didn't do anything dramatically different than Philly.  Philly just had the nerve to draft injured players, fill out the roster with d-leaguers and embrace a losing culture for a couple seasons.   I think Brad Stevens was a great hire for us long-term, but I think it had the short-term effect of causing a bit of conflicting agendas.   Stevens wants to win.  Ainge wants to keep Stevens happy.  Ainge wants to lose short-term.  That's a hard thing to balance.  Didn't want to scare off Stevens or create a negative environment.   Philly's managed to keep spirits up in spite of the losses, because they run that team like a basketball camp for developing kids.  The players know that short-term success is irrelevant.  They just need to work on their areas of focus and continue to improve.  That wasn't going to be a role that fit Stevens.   

[celticsclay]

This franchise could have had an easy path to success. You people bash me for comparing the situation to Philly but let's take the homer glasses off and be honest with ourselves. Is there anyone on our current roster you would rather have than Noel or Embiid? Absolutely the answer is no. How did the Sixers get there? A strong number of tank trades and tank moves. Bass had no business staying. They had no business getting IT. They had no business making most of the moves they did. Crowder is going to be an overpaid bum next year and we will probably pay him since the Green Teamers will cry after making the playoffs.

The "best" part of making the playoffs? We now get to see what value combining the 15th and 25th picks in a trade would have!!! Awesome! They'll never fire the guy just like the Bruins would never fire Sinden but this is awful for the franchise that desperately needs top picks because they'll never be a top free agent destination.

Wow, I disagree with just about every opinion you've expressed.

Same here. It honestly is pretty hard for me to realize what is actually going on in the heads of fan's that are super mad and disappointed with the year. I could understand more if we were riding Green, Prince, Humphries, Thornton and Jason Terry to the 8th spot and this year was our only first round pick.

We are playing a real lot of young guys (KO, Sullinger, Smart, Zeller, Crowder and IT) and have a ton of future first round picks with a chance at least one of them turns into a lottery pick.

I forget which poster said this, but someone described the situation as going into a restaurant with the idea it is going to be horrible and then nitpicking over the beer list because the food is excellent. That's how I think of being unhappy with this team right now. The players and coach are a lot better than we thought they were and are all developing really nicely. Lets enjoy it and not try to nitpick the few warts we can focus on.

[Mencius]

Reality is that Danny didn't want this outcome.  If you listened to any interview he gave over the past couple years, he's been pretty straight-forward in his desire to land an impact player or two through the draft.   We got rid of Pierce/KG with hopes of bottoming out in 2013-14.  We waited extra long to bring back Rondo and then found excuses not to play in him back-to-backs (ironically, we were worse in games Rondo played).   We really wanted someone like Wiggins or Parker.   Got unlucky and got the consolation prize of Marcus Smart.

Tried again this year where there were some ideal big men prospects at the top of the draft (Okafor, Townes, etc).   Traded everyone who supposedly was keeping this team mediocre.  Goodbye Rondo.  Goodbye Green.   Took back nothing substantial short-term.   Goal was obviously to bottom out.   Ainge publicly admitted that he saw no purpose in making the playoffs with a below .500 record and then getting thrashed.   Thanks to Brad Stevens and some addition by subtraction, the team greatly overachieved.   That wasn't Danny's intention at all.  He did everything he possibly could to set up a bottom 3 team.  This team is comprised of role players.  There might not be a single player on this roster who would start for a contender.   The plan was to be horrible. 

The only thing you can maybe fault him for is the Thomas trade, but I think that was a big picture trade.  He saw that Thomas could have more trade value than what he gave up... so he jumped at an opportunity to buy low. 

The way this season has played out is going to make Danny's job much harder.  I'm sure he's not thrilled about it.  Maybe he can leverage a playoff appearance into a free agent sales pitch, but who knows.  I'm certain Ainge would have preferred to land a top 4 pick this year.

Ainge didn't do anything dramatically different than Philly.  Philly just had the nerve to trade for injured players, fill out the roster with d-leaguers and embrace a losing culture for a couple seasons.   I think Brad Stevens was a great hire for us long-term, but I think it had the short-term effect of causing a bit of conflicting agendas.   Stevens wants to win.  Ainge wants to keep Stevens happy.  Ainge wants to lose short-term.  That's a hard thing to balance.  Didn't want to scare off Stevens or create a negative environment.   Philly's managed to keep spirits up in spite of the losses, because they run that team like a basketball camp for developing kids.  The players know that short-term success is irrelevant.  They just need to work on their areas of focus and continue to improve.  That wasn't going to be a role that fit Stevens.

Spot on.

[sahara]

I'm just amazed by the Sixers business plan.  'Pay NBA prices to watch a minor league quality team for 3 years but trust us, we know what we're doing....'
Even more amazed that people would commit to season tickets with that as mindset....in Philly of all places.

I´m happy for the D-Leaguers collecting NBA-paychecks

[celticsclay]

Danny: "Over the next two years I'm going to completely turn over the roster, getting rid of every declining veteran and filling the roster with a bunch of 26-and-under prospects. I'm also going to accumulate the biggest stockpile of first round picks in the league. And, I'll do all that while getting us back into the playoffs by the end of that second year."

Fans: "Meh."

Reality is that Danny didn't want this outcome.  If you listened to any interview he gave over the past couple years, he's been pretty straight-forward in his desire to land an impact player or two through the draft.   We got rid of Pierce/KG with hopes of bottoming out in 2013-14.  We waited extra long to bring back Rondo and then found excuses not to play in him back-to-backs (ironically, we were worse in games Rondo played).   We really wanted someone like Wiggins or Parker.   Got unlucky and got the consolation prize of Marcus Smart.

Tried again this year where there were some ideal big men prospects at the top of the draft (Okafor, Townes, etc).   Traded everyone who supposedly was keeping this team mediocre.  Goodbye Rondo.  Goodbye Green.   Took back nothing substantial short-term.   Goal was obviously to bottom out.   Ainge publicly admitted that he saw no purpose in making the playoffs with a below .500 record and then getting thrashed.   Thanks to Brad Stevens and some addition by subtraction, the team greatly overachieved.   That wasn't Danny's intention at all.  He did everything he possibly could to set up a bottom 3 team.  This team is comprised of role players.  There might not be a single player on this roster who would start for a contender.   The plan was to be horrible. 

The only thing you can maybe fault him for is the Thomas trade, but I think that was a big picture trade.  He saw that Thomas could have more trade value than what he gave up... so he jumped at an opportunity to buy low. 

The way this season has played out is going to make Danny's job much harder. I'm sure he's not thrilled about it.  Maybe he can leverage a playoff appearance into a free agent sales pitch, but who knows.  I'm certain Ainge would have preferred to land a top 4 pick this year.

If you are going to say things like Danny is not thrilled about this season, you should probably have some quotes from him to support that. Otherwise you are really just voicing your opinions and pretending they are Danny Ainge's. Now I am not naïve enough to expect Danny Ainge to come out and say making the playoff sucks, but he has actually said their is some value in the playoff push himself:

"It’s very important,” Ainge said. “We always hear about playoff experience. If you haven’t been there and you haven’t gone through this, you have to go through it at some point. It’s critical."

Ainge added, “I love the fact that our guys are preparing. They have something to really go out and play for every night. These last couple of months, you could see in the players. That’s their goal. Nobody thought they could do it. Everybody thought they were a really bad, bad team. They’ve played a lot better the last couple of months. I’ve enjoyed watching the team play. They play with great passion. Brad has done a masterful job of using a lot of players of getting us to where we are where we have a chance.”

I personally was going to be annoyed if we made the playoffs with 32 wins and kept Rondo, Green and Thornton. However, now that we are making it with our young guys leading the way I am very happy. I don't have any reason to believe Danny Ainge does or doesn't have a different sentiment, so I'm not going to pretend I do. Say what you think and feel, but it seem very disingenuous to pretend you know what Danny Ainge feels or thinks especially because his only recent comments air on the side of him being pretty happy.

[sahara]

My prediction is that Philly doesn't reach the Conference Finals within the next ten years.

This is what probably will happen. One of those philly prospects will become a star in the NBA, but he won´t be playing for the sixers by his all-star appearance.

[hwangjini_1]

I agree with your basic premise, OP, that the team would be much better served by missing the playoffs and getting the 10th or so pick vs making the playoffs, getting our aces handed to us in 4 more ultimately meaningless games and getting the 15th or 16th pick for our troubles.

It's a cute story that the little team that could actually made a playoff push and likely made it, but it's an obviously pyhrric victory all day long.  It's like offering a little kid a quarter today vs offering him a dollar tomorrow.  One is obviously the smarter move, but the kid just doesn't care.  He wants what he wants and he wants it now.

The thing is, I think Danny was completely on board with tanking this year, and something changed to make him make the IT trade.  I think the Rondo and Green moves were clearly with an eye toward the future that Danny expected to result in more losses.

This is pure speculation, but I think the thing that changed was Stevens, and whether he was willing to go along for another tanking year.  All the trades pre-trade deadline this year were with an eye toward accepting a lottery year this year.  None of them had to do with improving *this* year.  The IT trade was about improving this year and beyond, and it was a gamble.  I doubt Danny thought that the IT trade would result in as dramatic an improvement as it has.  I think he thought IT would be a good piece (consistent with a constantly upgrading your assets philosophy), but that he would not be good enough to actually get us out of the lottery this year.  He reckoned wrong.

But I'm with you about knowing that a better pick would have put us closer to our next championship more than four more meaningless games.  That's just plain obvious.  That's the quarter to the dollar analogy.  Short term, ultimately meaningless gratification vs having a better asset going forward.

As to Philly, there's no way to judge the success of their strategy right now.  One thing I do respect is that they had/have a strategy, and they went all in on it and didn't half ace it.  Whether their strategy is successful or not remains to be seen, but you need stars to be a real championship contender in this league, and the draft is one way to get them.  There are no guarantees with any given strategy.

tp for using the word pyhrric correctly in a cb post. 

[GreenWarrior]

This franchise could have had an easy path to success. You people bash me for comparing the situation to Philly but let's take the homer glasses off and be honest with ourselves. Is there anyone on our current roster you would rather have than Noel or Embiid? Absolutely the answer is no. How did the Sixers get there? A strong number of tank trades and tank moves. Bass had no business staying. They had no business getting IT. They had no business making most of the moves they did. Crowder is going to be an overpaid bum next year and we will probably pay him since the Green Teamers will cry after making the playoffs.

The "best" part of making the playoffs? We now get to see what value combining the 15th and 25th picks in a trade would have!!! Awesome! They'll never fire the guy just like the Bruins would never fire Sinden but this is awful for the franchise that desperately needs top picks because they'll never be a top free agent destination.

Embiid? the dude has yet to play a game and from the sounds of it he has as good a chance of being a flop as he does being a stud. let's wait n' see.

and Ainge has even said when they traded Green and Rondo he thought their chances of making the playoffs were all but gone. imo that means he tried to not make the playoffs, or "tank" if you read between the lines.

what would you like him to do? spike Stevens' lemonade? pull a Denver and rest healthy players?

it's mostly the state of the East and the fact that we have a bunch of guys that have a lot of character that we're even talking playoffs.

and I'd also be surprised if half this team is even here next yr. so this isn't a quick fix, this is still a work in progress.

[viulo]

It's a cute story that the little team that could actually made a playoff push and likely made it, but it's an obviously pyhrric victory all day long.  It's like offering a little kid a quarter today vs offering him a dollar tomorrow.  One is obviously the smarter move, but the kid just doesn't care.  He wants what he wants and he wants it now.

Actually, it's like offering a kid a quarter today vs telling him tomorrow it might be somewhere between 10 and 50 cents. If he's smart, he'll take the quarter today and by tomorrow he might have turned it into a dollar.