No, tank you!

This thread is meant just to heat Sam up for that long swim from the Cape to the game against Larry's Pacers. With Lee gone and most of his former teammates wearing price tags, talk of the Celtics being in tank formation is on the rise. But what is tanking? Throwing games to improve one's chances at succeeding in the draft?
Sounds unprofessional, dishonest, and I don't believe the Celtics are guilty.
I do think Danny must be delighted at the current losing streak however. It moves us closer to a higher pick. And I think that trading Lee for Bayless may lose us a game or two this year. But as long as the trade appears to be in our long-term interest, I'm all for it. Like it or not, the draft rewards losing, so each time we lose this year, I remember that silver lining.
But is that tanking? I don't think so. I don't think a GM can tank. That job, should anyone want it, is reserved for the coach and players. The coach is charged with doing the best he can with the players he has, and this, Brad Stevens does very well. And the players are working their butts off most of the time, making up for lack of collective talent, for no center and no true point guard, with guts and effort. We're really getting the best of both worlds this year, a GM who's looking at the big picture, the bottom line. A coach who's trying to wring as much as he can out of a makeshift lineup. And players, from Lee to Bass to Bradley, who are making the most of their minutes on the court to show what they can do. In the process, they're raising their trade value, helping the Celtics of the future, whether or not they're in green then to enjoy it. (No, I don't want to trade Bradley)
We knew we weren't going anywhere this campaign. Still with Danny trading away some of the present for the future, that future looks bright to me and I don't call it tanking. I call it smart moves to avoid the NBA wasteland of long-term mediocrity, a trap that's easy to fall in to when you're not looking far enough ahead. Hawk

Hawk (and others),

Aside from the collusive absurdity of the "T" word, purposely going in the dumper as a team would almost automatically rub off on individual players, who would submit less than their best performances thereby making them less attractive trading chips.

I did a practice swim in the Atlantic Ocean this morning, when the water temperature was probably about 35º. I had to pull out after 11 miles. My friends accused me of tanking because I didn't wear a wet suit. Rondo passed me on mile 4, dragging the Celtics weight guy behind him as he continued his rehab designed to camouflage his tanking intent.

Sam

Nice post!

I think there is a difference between tanking and rebuilding. Boston is in the process of rebuilding, we were a good team that was slipping out of contendership (new word I think) and Danny is restructuring the team to once again get back at that contender level once more.

When a team is "tanking" the players and organization's front office sort of need to be in cahoots to a degree. The issue with that is no coach wants more losses on his record. Likewise no player wants to lose a game- there's still enough guys who look at the game through the eyes of someone whose devoted their life to reaching the leval of being an NBA player- to say they suddenly don't care that they are losing so next year the team can get a better pick- whether or not the player whose stuck it out and helped loose will even be on the team is restacked.

Our Coach is certainly not interested in going home each night and notching another loss on his gunbelt.

Our players have shown they are not going to just sit down and take a loss, they f'n play to win, just like you've said.

So this begs the question, is Danny's goal for this season to manipulate the teams roster so as to lose as many games as possible?

I think that the answer to that question is Losing a lot of games this season isn't going to cost Danny any sleep. But is losing a lot of games his main goal? In Others words is he tanking?

Danny Im sure had multiple agenda's going into this season, since they wern't going to be competing for a title, and in view of the new CBA is was important to get the salary under the hard cap.

Danny would be looking at acquiring multiple bargaining chips for down the road- this means looking at whatever the current roster might be and saying- whose not going to be here in 1,2 or three years- and what sort of deals can I get for them that will give me future bargaining chips?

Danny would also have to consider player devolopement, This I think includes Green, can Green be helped to get to the next level? What About Bradley's can he be helped to improve his all around game? Same for K.O and Sully.

What about creating cap space- this goes along with the whole CBA issue, what can be done to reduce future spendings now to help us be able to afford a star down the road?

Danny's Job as a GM of a rebuilding team is to work on multiple goals that will overlap one another and additionally will likely cost the team additional losses as the process continues. While a earlier draft pick might not be something the team is intentionally losing games so as to procure, the fact that the team's win/loss record is likely to help land a better player in the draft than say one we might be able to snatch where our record resembling more of a playoff teams draft selection certainly doesn't hurt the teams long term plans.

So we're moving players this year, so far we've gained multiple first round draft picks (4) from other teams, we've made sure we wont become repeat offenders on the leagues heavy taxes for teams over the hard cap, we've cleared away additional long term salary and we're developing several young players, Bradley and Sully have progressed quite nicely this season, K.O. is showing he needs work but his potential is there, and we're seeing mebbe Green is just what he is. For the moment is also looks as if our draft position could be very earlier as well.

All this works to make the team better down the road, and by that, we all expect it to me another extended run at winning more titles.

But it's not tanking.

Go Celtics!

I said once before that tanking does not make a team look attractive.

Who the heck cares if a team that should be competing for championships drafts an unproven "phenom?" You need a winning culture. If Boston shows themselves to be a team that isn't concerned with winning, why expect stars to want to play there?




KJ

Matty,

I agree completely. Well said.

This obsession with tanking is mostly a media-driven thing, and it's overblown.

Outside wrote:Matty,

I agree completely. Well said.

This obsession with tanking is mostly a media-driven thing, and it's overblown.

The same can be said for "Trade Rondo" headlines.



KJ