Say the c's struggle through January, Could Danny tank it?

[rondohondo]

I am not saying it will happen , but what if the c's are something like 5-10 games under 500 come late January .

Is there any chance Danny would be willing to trade off pieces and fall back into the lottery ?

The most likely pieces that could be moved

Lee ( expiring)
Sully(expiring)
Turner ( expiring)
Zeller(expiring)
Amir(opt out option)
Thomas(good contract for a contender)


In this scenario you probably hold onto
Smart
Bradley
Crowder
KO(still on rookie contract)
Rozier(rookie contract)
Hunter( rookie contract )
Mickey (Rookie contract )

I am not hoping for this because the Nets are our lottery ticket , but if we are really struggling and closer to a top 10 pick than the playoffs, do you think Danny would be willing to move in this direction .

Getting two top 10 picks this year could be really beneficial to our future .

Plus I don't think any of those players that would be traded away would be a selling point to any future free agents if we keep them .

Thoughts?

[furball]

He didn't last year and they didn't have Brooklyn's pick.  I think he will make moves that make the team better.  He always does.  Maybe an opportunity comes up for him to move some of these guys for future assets but I would be shocked if he moved them just to get into the lottery. 

[PhoSita]

What would "tanking it" really look like here, though?  Waiving all the veterans with expiring / non-guaranteed contracts and then signing a bunch of D-Leaguers to fill out the roster?

I doubt it.

It's not like Lee, Amir, Jerebko, Turner etc have a whole lot of trade value, especially if the team is doing as badly as you hypothesize.  The Celts don't need another fist-full of low-value draft picks.


I don't think there's any reason to believe the team is gonna start playing the rookies ahead of the veterans if the team is struggling, either.

For better or for worse the team is gonna stay all-in on making the playoffs again this year.  They'll give a lot of playing time to guys with no future here in the process, and the rookies won't get much opportunity to develop, but at least we can count on the Nets to tank for us.

[tarheelsxxiii]

It'd be nice to be a fly on the wall in Danny's office from day-to-day throughout this year. I wonder how many teams he is talking to, how aggressively he's looking to make moves, who his primary (and realistic targets) are, and which of are players are being discussed more than others.

We are limited to speculating a lot around here, which is fine and even fun sometimes ... but I'd be really interested to know what all is going on behind the scenes.

[sofutomygaha]

Yes.

[sofutomygaha]

I agree with pho, though, that these aren't very tank-y moves. If we are sub-500 and we move those front court guys, well, those guys weren't getting it done and it's hard to see that as a tank when you could just as easily call it time to try something else.

The exception would be trading Thomas. That's a great contract and he's our best scorer by far. If he got traded for draft assets, overseas assets, or Dante Exum or something (can't imagine so spitballing), that would be a tank-y thing I wouldn't be surprised to see happen.

[Evantime34]

I can't see us tanking.

Seeing if they can get anything for anyone on an expiring contract though is a possibility regardless of how well the team is playing imo.

I'd be shocked if the C's didn't have conversations about Turner, Sullinger, Lee, Zeller, Jerebko and Johnson at the deadline.

Short of moving any of those guys I don't see any tanking type moves that would make sense.

[SHAQATTACK]

Stevens is in the mold of ....the best coaches

They hate to loose any time and AlWAYs fight for every win , no matter how insignificant to us ......it means the world to a coach to get a "W"

Look ...CBS was hired to,WIN .....not fail.......he doesn't have a GIVE UP ...Tank bone in his body.

Anyway you can bet the house ....Danny promised him ...he would NEVER have to loose games outright to get draft picks,......CBS knew the condition of the team when he was mulling signing...he would never go to place like Philly and agree to that system .

They might SIT a few players near the end of the season ....that would be the MAX .....tank as you call it .

Danny will trade lots of players ......leave Stevens up the creek ....having to refocus new guys ....but nobody is tanking. Outright on Boston like Philly ......that's their game plan.   Not DA's

[Celtics18]

If we miss the playoffs, it won't be because we "tanked it."  It will be because we weren't good enough to get there.

Count on this team competing hard all year long whether they are successful or not. 

[Celtics4ever]

I also think CBS will try to win every game.   The last two games were against two better teams.   We still played hard.   We lost.   It happens, I do think folks have figured out some of CBS wizardry.   That happens, I fully expect him to adapt.  I do not see us tanking.

DA will try to get us some assets though.  This could mean we get worse to get better at some point.

[chambers]

I've said this before, but I believe Ainge has structured the roster so that if he wants to pull the plug and rebuild around the Brooklyn picks with Smart+all our under 23 guys then he can easily do it.

I don't think we'll be that bad by January though, so I think a 'blow up' is more likely after this season if it's ever going to happen and would happen after we've selected in the top 3 with a Brooklyn pick.

Still pretty unlikely but he's 100% left himself the 'plan c' option of just dumping everyone over the age of 23-25 and going for draft picks while Lebron runs the East for the next few years. If Durant comes over and joins that Washington team then it's even more reason for him to do so.

[Ilikesports17]

I've said this before, but I believe Ainge has structured the roster so that if he wants to pull the plug and rebuild around the Brooklyn picks with Smart+all our under 23 guys then he can easily do it.

I don't think we'll be that bad by January though, so I think a 'blow up' is more likely after this season if it's ever going to happen and would happen after we've selected in the top 3 with a Brooklyn pick.

Still pretty unlikely but he's 100% left himself the 'plan c' option of just dumping everyone over the age of 23-25 and going for draft picks while Lebron runs the East for the next few years. If Durant comes over and joins that Washington team then it's even more reason for him to do so.

If Durant comes to Washington then they probably resign Beal too. You cant wait that out. I think it might be wise to try to time the rebuild so you peak in about 2 or three years where Lebron will probably have declined from dominant force to superstar

[Quetzalcoatl]

At the end of this season, we're losing Lee, Jae Crowder, Evan Turner, Perry Jones III and Zoran Dragic will come off our books.  We'll probably waive Jerebko, as well.  That's almost $35 million.  In the meantime, we're going to be getting a likely very good pick from Brooklyn and an okay pick from Dallas.  I can't imagine Ainge does anything other than try to get rid of the bad/redundant players this season and then hope we can add a big name FA with the money and a good prospect with the picks.

Also, coaches don't tank, front offices do.  Stevens will have basically no input on this and will be allowed to try to win every game.  It's just that Ainge might not help him by acquiring anybody worth having.

[Ilikesports17]

At the end of this season, we're losing Lee, Jae Crowder, Evan Turner, Perry Jones III and Zoran Dragic will come off our books.  We'll probably waive Jerebko, as well.  That's almost $35 million.  In the meantime, we're going to be getting a likely very good pick from Brooklyn and an okay pick from Dallas.  I can't imagine Ainge does anything other than try to get rid of the bad/redundant players this season and then hope we can add a big name FA with the money and a good prospect with the picks.

Also, coaches don't tank, front offices do.  Stevens will have basically no input on this and will be allowed to try to win every game.  It's just that Ainge might not help him by acquiring anybody worth having.

Everyone has huge cap space, I think Ainge will try to get a star midseason, but the cap rise really minimizes the effectiveness of the Celtics cap work.

Luckily they made some great moves this offseason.

they can resign Jerebko and Amir to one year deals and then let Sully Zeller Turner Lee all walk and have another year of development and then let the Jerebko Amir contracts expire and head into the next years FA with whatever they got from '16 draft with potentially 3 top 14 picks with a year of experience. you will also have Smart heading into his prime, you still have AB and IT under contract if you want and you have Rozier Hunter Mickey and Young all entering years where you will start to see them becoming the players they will be at their primes. If they have made the strides they are expected to Danny will have some 7-9 really nice young players which can either develop into stars or be traded to get one. On top of this they will have huge cap space in a year where the FA pool is less diluted then this year.

[MJohnnyboy]

At the end of this season, we're losing Lee, Jae Crowder, Evan Turner, Perry Jones III and Zoran Dragic will come off our books.  We'll probably waive Jerebko, as well.  That's almost $35 million.  In the meantime, we're going to be getting a likely very good pick from Brooklyn and an okay pick from Dallas.  I can't imagine Ainge does anything other than try to get rid of the bad/redundant players this season and then hope we can add a big name FA with the money and a good prospect with the picks.

Also, coaches don't tank, front offices do.  Stevens will have basically no input on this and will be allowed to try to win every game.  It's just that Ainge might not help him by acquiring anybody worth having.

Crowder's not coming off the books. We got him for 4 more years after this.