Poll: Anybody feel differently about making/not making playoffs?

[SHAQATTACK]

Unless Da spends some assets

Does his job and finds talent

I not sure this team has enough talent to reach the playoffs .......the games are getting worse ......they lost to Lakers , Nets .....the dregs of the NBA

No fun watching a team that is suppose to make the playoffs look like they are high school basketball team.....

They look like they don't care if they win to me .

If that's the case .....no point in watching.

I'd rather have another good pick and develop our current rookies than have another first round beat down.

That maybe the result .....if no major talent is injected .......other teams are getting better and the Celtics have fell off a cliff .......

It appears the team is going to tank us ....anyway.

So .......I'm alright with a better draft pick ......maybe we need somebody else to do the picking

[jpotter33]

I don't have any regrets about last year, because ultimately there wasn't that much we would've changed given that everybody was tanking and so bad.

However, we can do something RIGHT NOW about this year, and it's as simple as trading IT and Bradley to the highest bidder, waiving ET and AJ, and playing our young guys major minutes. Smart is never going to reach his full potential until we actually give him the reins.

and what do you think we could get for them that would improve the team? i dont think a low first round pick would come our way. such picks belong to bad teams. IT or bradley would not turn a bad team around so such teams are unlikely to trade their picks for them.

good teams that would want IT or bradley to push them to the next level have only mid to high first round picks.

not sure how trading them improves the team since the return is likely to be worse talent.

The way IT is playing right now, I think we can get an unprotected first for him. I think New York would bite on him for one of their future firsts. Bradley is someone that a ton of teams could use, e.g. Houston, OKC, SAC, etc. Perhaps Bradley could be moved in a bigger deal, not sure what exactly he'd catch on the open market.

It's more about opening up playing time for our younger guys. Young, RJ, Rozier, and Mickey don't have a spot on this team, and giving the reins to the offense to Smart will prove once and for all what he can do.

[LilRip]

I didn't feel strongly about making the playoffs last year, but figured it would be a good learning experience for our young guys, even if we were trounced in the first round. However, after seeing Winslow drop to 10th or 9th, I wish we hadn't made it.

After the offseason, I didn't think we were a good enough team to make the playoffs this year. I thought we'd be close though (9th or 10th seed in the East) but with Miami and Indy returning to strength, it would be enough to bump us off. We shall see how accurate this prediction is by year-end but I won't be feeling down if we miss the playoffs. Hopefully we can do something productive with a couple of good picks or cash in some of our assets.

[obnoxiousmime]

The NBA system is flawed because it assumes that your record is a reflection of your talent level. It also allows too many teams that don't have a chance to win a title to make the playoffs, penalizing the teams that make it because they aren't actually much better than the teams that miss it. It also rewards teams that are better than their record indicates because they happen to have significant injuries one season.

Since the NBA is a talent-driven sport, it doesn't make sense to be in the middle (unless your superstars are already in place). The NBA wants to be like other leagues with their 30 teams and 30 revenue sources and with a good amount of parity but it just doesn't work that way in basketball. Unless you are absolutely amazing at drafting and also extremely lucky, there's simply no way to draft a superstar in the mid-teens or later. People want to point at Draymond Green, but that was an extremely rare occurrence. If you look at all the players who were taken outside the lottery, just getting someone who MIGHT make an all-star game is really difficult, and getting a superstar is almost impossible.

Like Zach Lowe says all the time, yes, tanking is not a foolproof option to get a star because you could always draft a bust there too. However, it's simply the best option out of a bunch of bad options.

[slamtheking]

need another voting option: on the fence at the time but not regretting it now

[csfansince60s]

From a purely theoretical standpoint it was terrible that we made the playoffs and missed out on Winslow or Turner, but I don't know what Danny could have done to make the team worse without completely destroying the good vibes around the organization and losing the players' trust.

It would have been nice to tank, but there was no way to do it.

Danny was pretty clear that he didn't want us in the playoffs unless we could win a series.....we couldn't.

Stevens and Wyc wanted us to make the playoffs. Stevens had an excuse to rest both IT and Smart with their injuries and force-feed Young minutes. He chose not to do that. If he had, we wouldn't have made the playoffs. It was that close.

Brad's job is to win games, not lose on purpose

Immediate gratification to forsake long term gains.....I get it.

Why do we have to go through this every season?! Talking about forsaking long-term plans as opposed to what? Taking the path the kings took? Bobcats, Jazz, Kings, Raptors, NOP, Bucks etc took? You may look at all those teams and say, "they have more talent than we do, I'm jealous." Now, name one of them who have done anything in years worth mentioning... what do you want us to do long term, lose like those teams??


Yeah, long term losing is SOOOO much better than immediate gratification (of competing for wins and being WATCHABLE)! It's no secret that when we lose (like now) not many will watch it. The same people who want the team to tank are the same ones who don't watch the losing! Not saying they aren't fans but I see/hear a lot of people calling other people bandwagon fans but are the first to stop cheering while we "tank" then come back for the winning.

There is a very strong, not even close to subtle distinction between wanting your team to fight like crazy and miss the playoffs FOR PART OF ONE SEASON as opposed to wanting them to tank for a whole season or multiple seasons like many of the other teams that you mention.

We did it in '07 when Pierce was injured. That got us #5 and banner 17. The Spurs had an injured Admiral. They did it that year and that got them how many banners? I'm sure that there have been and will be many more examples like this.

That's what I'm talking about regarding immediate gratification forsaken for short-term gain.

Wyc wanted the excitement of the playoffs and to sit in his little baseline seats and to sell out the Garden TWO times...for what...to get our butts kicked by james and the cavs at the cost of Winslow/Turner, or whatever they could have been or could be turned into.

That's foolish immediate gratification forsaking long term gain.

Danny was outvoted. Wyc and Stevens got their way. They made the playoffs. Smart and IT played while injured. That too was another example of wanting immediate gratification with the risk of them being further injured.

[csfansince60s]

need another voting option: on the fence at the time but not regretting it now

You got it!

[obnoxiousmime]

From a purely theoretical standpoint it was terrible that we made the playoffs and missed out on Winslow or Turner, but I don't know what Danny could have done to make the team worse without completely destroying the good vibes around the organization and losing the players' trust.

It would have been nice to tank, but there was no way to do it.

Danny was pretty clear that he didn't want us in the playoffs unless we could win a series.....we couldn't.

Stevens and Wyc wanted us to make the playoffs. Stevens had an excuse to rest both IT and Smart with their injuries and force-feed Young minutes. He chose not to do that. If he had, we wouldn't have made the playoffs. It was that close.

Brad's job is to win games, not lose on purpose

Immediate gratification to forsake long term gains.....I get it.

Why do we have to go through this every season?! Talking about forsaking long-term plans as opposed to what? Taking the path the kings took? Bobcats, Jazz, Kings, Raptors, NOP, Bucks etc took? You may look at all those teams and say, "they have more talent than we do, I'm jealous." Now, name one of them who have done anything in years worth mentioning... what do you want us to do long term, lose like those teams??


Yeah, long term losing is SOOOO much better than immediate gratification (of competing for wins and being WATCHABLE)! It's no secret that when we lose (like now) not many will watch it. The same people who want the team to tank are the same ones who don't watch the losing! Not saying they aren't fans but I see/hear a lot of people calling other people bandwagon fans but are the first to stop cheering while we "tank" then come back for the winning.

There is a very strong, not even close to subtle distinction between wanting your team to fight like crazy and miss the playoffs FOR PART OF ONE SEASON as opposed to wanting them to tank for a whole season or multiple seasons like many of the other teams that you mention.

We did it in '07 when Pierce was injured. That got us #5 and banner 17. The Spurs had an injured Admiral. They did it that year and that got them how many banners? I'm sure that there have been and will be many more examples like this.

That's what I'm talking about regarding immediate gratification forsaken for short-term gain.

Wyc wanted the excitement of the playoffs and to sit in his little baseline seats and to sell out the Garden TWO times...for what...to get our butts kicked by james and the cavs at the cost of Winslow/Turner, or whatever they could have been or could be turned into.

That's foolish immediate gratification forsaking long term gain.

Danny was outvoted. Wyc and Stevens got their way. They made the playoffs. Smart and IT played while injured. That too was another example of wanting immediate gratification with the risk of them being further injured.

I've heard people state this on the board but I never actually read any report on the matter. Is this confirmed? Is there a news story you could link to?

[csfansince60s]

From a purely theoretical standpoint it was terrible that we made the playoffs and missed out on Winslow or Turner, but I don't know what Danny could have done to make the team worse without completely destroying the good vibes around the organization and losing the players' trust.

It would have been nice to tank, but there was no way to do it.

Danny was pretty clear that he didn't want us in the playoffs unless we could win a series.....we couldn't.

Stevens and Wyc wanted us to make the playoffs. Stevens had an excuse to rest both IT and Smart with their injuries and force-feed Young minutes. He chose not to do that. If he had, we wouldn't have made the playoffs. It was that close.

Brad's job is to win games, not lose on purpose

Immediate gratification to forsake long term gains.....I get it.

Why do we have to go through this every season?! Talking about forsaking long-term plans as opposed to what? Taking the path the kings took? Bobcats, Jazz, Kings, Raptors, NOP, Bucks etc took? You may look at all those teams and say, "they have more talent than we do, I'm jealous." Now, name one of them who have done anything in years worth mentioning... what do you want us to do long term, lose like those teams??


Yeah, long term losing is SOOOO much better than immediate gratification (of competing for wins and being WATCHABLE)! It's no secret that when we lose (like now) not many will watch it. The same people who want the team to tank are the same ones who don't watch the losing! Not saying they aren't fans but I see/hear a lot of people calling other people bandwagon fans but are the first to stop cheering while we "tank" then come back for the winning.

There is a very strong, not even close to subtle distinction between wanting your team to fight like crazy and miss the playoffs FOR PART OF ONE SEASON as opposed to wanting them to tank for a whole season or multiple seasons like many of the other teams that you mention.

We did it in '07 when Pierce was injured. That got us #5 and banner 17. The Spurs had an injured Admiral. They did it that year and that got them how many banners? I'm sure that there have been and will be many more examples like this.

That's what I'm talking about regarding immediate gratification forsaken for short-term gain.

Wyc wanted the excitement of the playoffs and to sit in his little baseline seats and to sell out the Garden TWO times...for what...to get our butts kicked by james and the cavs at the cost of Winslow/Turner, or whatever they could have been or could be turned into.

That's foolish immediate gratification forsaking long term gain.

Danny was outvoted. Wyc and Stevens got their way. They made the playoffs. Smart and IT played while injured. That too was another example of wanting immediate gratification with the risk of them being further injured.

I've heard people state this on the board but I never actually read any report on the matter. Is this confirmed? Is there a news story you could link to?

I've never seen a news story, per se, on it as I don't think that any of Danny, Wyc or Stevens would ever even intimate that they differed in their opinions to anyone, although reading between the lines, especially in some of Ainges direct quotes give the strong impression that he didn't want to make the playoffs.

Here's one from one of Sherrods CSSNE articles:

So I asked him if he would like to see the Celtics in the playoffs this year?

“That depends,” Ainge, Boston’s president of basketball operations, told CSNNE.com. “I would love to see our team in the playoffs, but I don’t want to see us back into the playoffs with a really bad record and not even have a fighting chance......

http://www.csnne.com/boston-celtics/if-cs-keep-improving-ainge-would-love-make-playoffs

We didn't have a fighting chance, we didn't have ANY chance, and Ainge and everyone else knew it.
If he meant what he said, he didn't want to make the playoffs.

I will try to find something more substantive, but the inferences and allusions to Danny's inclinations and state of mind regarding making the playoffs are in many articles.

[LilRip]

From a purely theoretical standpoint it was terrible that we made the playoffs and missed out on Winslow or Turner, but I don't know what Danny could have done to make the team worse without completely destroying the good vibes around the organization and losing the players' trust.

It would have been nice to tank, but there was no way to do it.

Danny was pretty clear that he didn't want us in the playoffs unless we could win a series.....we couldn't.

Stevens and Wyc wanted us to make the playoffs. Stevens had an excuse to rest both IT and Smart with their injuries and force-feed Young minutes. He chose not to do that. If he had, we wouldn't have made the playoffs. It was that close.

Brad's job is to win games, not lose on purpose

Immediate gratification to forsake long term gains.....I get it.

Why do we have to go through this every season?! Talking about forsaking long-term plans as opposed to what? Taking the path the kings took? Bobcats, Jazz, Kings, Raptors, NOP, Bucks etc took? You may look at all those teams and say, "they have more talent than we do, I'm jealous." Now, name one of them who have done anything in years worth mentioning... what do you want us to do long term, lose like those teams??


Yeah, long term losing is SOOOO much better than immediate gratification (of competing for wins and being WATCHABLE)! It's no secret that when we lose (like now) not many will watch it. The same people who want the team to tank are the same ones who don't watch the losing! Not saying they aren't fans but I see/hear a lot of people calling other people bandwagon fans but are the first to stop cheering while we "tank" then come back for the winning.

There is a very strong, not even close to subtle distinction between wanting your team to fight like crazy and miss the playoffs FOR PART OF ONE SEASON as opposed to wanting them to tank for a whole season or multiple seasons like many of the other teams that you mention.

We did it in '07 when Pierce was injured. That got us #5 and banner 17. The Spurs had an injured Admiral. They did it that year and that got them how many banners? I'm sure that there have been and will be many more examples like this.

That's what I'm talking about regarding immediate gratification forsaken for short-term gain.

Wyc wanted the excitement of the playoffs and to sit in his little baseline seats and to sell out the Garden TWO times...for what...to get our butts kicked by james and the cavs at the cost of Winslow/Turner, or whatever they could have been or could be turned into.

That's foolish immediate gratification forsaking long term gain.

Danny was outvoted. Wyc and Stevens got their way. They made the playoffs. Smart and IT played while injured. That too was another example of wanting immediate gratification with the risk of them being further injured.

I've heard people state this on the board but I never actually read any report on the matter. Is this confirmed? Is there a news story you could link to?

I've never seen a news story, per se, on it as I don't think that any of Danny, Wyc or Stevens would ever even intimate that they differed in their opinions to anyone, although reading between the lines, especially in some of Ainges direct quotes give the strong impression that he didn't want to make the playoffs.

Here's one from one of Sherrods CSSNE articles:

So I asked him if he would like to see the Celtics in the playoffs this year?

“That depends,” Ainge, Boston’s president of basketball operations, told CSNNE.com. “I would love to see our team in the playoffs, but I don’t want to see us back into the playoffs with a really bad record and not even have a fighting chance......

http://www.csnne.com/boston-celtics/if-cs-keep-improving-ainge-would-love-make-playoffs

We didn't have a fighting chance, we didn't have ANY chance, and Ainge and everyone else knew it.
If he meant what he said, he didn't want to make the playoffs.

I will try to find something more substantive, but the inferences and allusions to Danny's inclinations and state of mind regarding making the playoffs are in many articles.

I also had the same impression that DA didn't really want to make the playoffs and his original plan was for the team to be bad for it to be eventually good, but I don't have any proof. Maybe that feeling I got was just a result accumulated from reading all his interviews. Subliminal messaging! :-o

But yeah, TP for finding that article. Looking forward to whatever else you can dig up

[PhoSita]

I don't think there was much value at all to making the playoffs last year.  I think it's very likely it set the rebuild back, on the whole, though I guess we don't know yet what player the Celts would've gotten, or whether that player would've been anything more than another decent role player.

There are some players on this team right now whose value is probably as high as it'll ever be while they are on the Celtics.  I don't think this team is likely to end up doing anything more this year than they did last year.  So, I hope Danny makes some trades at the deadline.

Player development should be the #1 priority.  The Celts are still a long distance away from being relevant.

[csfansince60s]

I agree.

In addition to slowing our rebuild, I think that making the playoffs last year gave a lot of fans false expectations. 50 wins for this year was the sentiment of a lot of people on here.

We were 13-26 last year vs winning teams last year.

[Casperian]

need another voting option: on the fence at the time but not regretting it now

or: didn't care whether we made the playoffs or not, either option was fine

I maintain that the rebuild battle isn't won by getting slightly better lottery odds, or building a "winning culture" with good-not-great players, but by putting ourselves in a position to strike when the opportunity to get a real star player arises.

[wdleehi]

I never like making the playoffs as a team that is under 500. 



It means the team is only in the playoffs because all the other bad teams took a bigger step back in line, not because the team played up to that level.






Luckily, the team still has plenty of assets out there that can help them build into the strong playoff team.

[slamtheking]

need another voting option: on the fence at the time but not regretting it now

or: didn't care whether we made the playoffs or not, either option was fine

I maintain that the rebuild battle isn't won by getting slightly better lottery odds, or building a "winning culture" with good-not-great players, but by putting ourselves in a position to strike when the opportunity to get a real star player arises.

that would work for me too