The Boston Celtics Didn't Tank

[rollie mass]

 and be proud of it-to betray a coach and team that put so much into this season by criticizing them as saboteurs of celtics draft position,the celtics since all star break through turnover and the injury's  have earned this time,there are celtics getting ready for war ,-as long as the celtics play as hard as they can-

[celticsclay]

I was very happy they didn't tank all season, but to be honest was a little disappointed they won last night. They were risking injuries to some players that have had injuries recently (IT, Smart) or have been injury prone at times in their career (Bradley). That risk, coupled with the argument you can make that playing Atlanta would be preferable and it seemed kind of short sighted to play those guys major minutes last night. Glad nobody got hurt though

[Donoghus]

Which, sadly, disappoints about 25% of Celticsblog.   

[rollie mass]

i got yah, atlanta would be a better match up-but crowder deserved that shot to go for all the effort he puts out-he will have his hands full with lebron,maybe that shot will carry him through the  times when lebron just seems imposible  to stop-brad states one game at a time to the best of your ability

[DesertDweller]

Which, sadly, disappoints about 25% of Celticsblog.   

More like 50%.  this board doesn't seem to get excited unless we're slipping in the slime at the bottom of the barrel.

[the_Bird]

I was very happy they didn't tank all season, but to be honest was a little disappointed they won last night. They were risking injuries to some players that have had injuries recently (IT, Smart) or have been injury prone at times in their career (Bradley). That risk, coupled with the argument you can make that playing Atlanta would be preferable and it seemed kind of short sighted to play those guys major minutes last night. Glad nobody got hurt though

You know what, though?  Give full effort to the home crowd.  I expect big minutes for Young, Pressy, and the rest of the bench in the last game, but I'm glad they went all-out last night.  That's why you play the game, you know?

[Quetzalcoatl]

Which, sadly, disappoints about 25% of Celticsblog.   

More like 50%.  this board doesn't seem to get excited unless we're slipping in the slime at the bottom of the barrel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_marshmallow_experiment

Delaying gratification is a good thing.  The Pacers are likely going to give the Hawks a series and could even potentially win it.  The 12th best team will most likely get a better player in the draft than we will and they even have a shot at a top 3 pick.  We are most likely going to get swept.  I'm not saying any of those things will happen, but I mean...

Don't get me wrong, I love watching this team and they're very entertaining, I just hope that we get something out of this season.  I imagine half our team are going to walk at the end and I really doubt any free agents sign here on their own.

[LarBrd33]

Which, sadly, disappoints about 25% of Celticsblog.   

More like 50%.  this board doesn't seem to get excited unless we're slipping in the slime at the bottom of the barrel.

I did a poll a couple weeks ago about whether fans would prefer ending up with the 9th best draft odds or making the playoffs and ending up picking 15th/16...  70% preferred missing the playoffs.

Said it in another thread, but the Charlotte Hornets were in the thick of this playoff race up until a couple weeks ago.   Arguably a better team than the Celtics.  Better players and better trade chips.   They are going to end up with the 9th best draft odds this summer.  Meanwhile, Boston will pick 16th.   

I voted for making the playoffs, though.  It'll be fun.  The last time we made the playoffs with a below .500 record was a ton of fun.   Well... it was fun until the series actually started and we got blown out by double digits 4 straight games by a vastly superior Pacers team. 

[Chris22]

The thing I hate about us making the playoffs is having to watch the refs mollycoddling Lebron James.

[jonaslopes]

Which, sadly, disappoints about 25% of Celticsblog.   

25%??? LOL

[MBunge]

Which, sadly, disappoints about 25% of Celticsblog.   

More like 50%.  this board doesn't seem to get excited unless we're slipping in the slime at the bottom of the barrel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_marshmallow_experiment

Delaying gratification is a good thing. 

A bad thing, however, is sitting around and never doing anything because you're waiting for everything to be just perfect.

Tell the Minnesota Timberwolves, who haven't been in the playoffs for 10 years, about "delaying gratification."  Or the Sacramento Kings.

Heck, in a league where over half the teams make the playoffs, four teams currently have a playoff drought of 5 years of more.

Mike

[TheFlex]

Which, sadly, disappoints about 25% of Celticsblog.   

More like 50%.  this board doesn't seem to get excited unless we're slipping in the slime at the bottom of the barrel.

I did a poll a couple weeks ago about whether fans would prefer ending up with the 9th best draft odds or making the playoffs and ending up picking 15th/16...  70% preferred missing the playoffs.

Said it in another thread, but the Charlotte Hornets were in the thick of this playoff race up until a couple weeks ago.   Arguably a better team than the Celtics.  Better players and better trade chips.   They are going to end up with the 9th best draft odds this summer.  Meanwhile, Boston will pick 16th.   

I voted for making the playoffs, though.  It'll be fun.  The last time we made the playoffs with a below .500 record was a ton of fun.   Well... it was fun until the series actually started and we got blown out by double digits 4 straight games by a vastly superior Pacers team.

The Hornets don't have Brad Stevens, or any coach worth promoting during a nationally televised playoff run for that matter.

[indeedproceed]

In 2015 the Celtics traded away their best player, their second best player, the most highly regarded player they got back in the Rondo deal, and managed in a historically bad conference to win less than 50% of their games?

The Celtics sure shot for the moon on that one.

I don't understand why people can accept that a team can swing for the fences, miss, and miss badly, and wind up in the lottery and that's alright, but nobody can accept that a team might be trying to tank at a management level, but through luck and unforeseen outcomes, they manage to make the playoffs. In one situation, its "oh hey, you tried and failed, but you tried, and that's obvious" while on the other side its "Oh you intentionally put out a mediocre team (in terms of talent/experience) in a terrible conference but somehow you managed to take your losing record and still make it into the playoffs? MEANT TO DO IT."

[Roy H.]

Let's not get too high and mighty. This franchise, and this GM, have tanked before.

[PhoSita]

Meh.  Who cares?

Can we get past the tanking / not-tanking thing?

It's a value-neutral thing. 

Tanking, as has been discussed BEYOND AD NAUSEUM around here, happens at the management level, not at the coach / players level.  It is just one strategy that teams employ to try and improve the talent level on their roster and build a winner.  It is also often very difficult to distinguish from simply prioritizing long-term player development over winning in the present.

Five years from now, none of us will feel better about whether or not the Celtics tanked if the team is still winning 25-40 games every season.  All that will matter is whether or not the franchise successfully built its way back to competing beyond the first round of the playoffs.