Franchise408 116 Report post Posted February 12, 2017 http://www.espn.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/40780/when-tankers-tell-the-truth Given that, it’s worth noting that tanking has been confessed to dozens of times off the record and a surprising number of times on the record: 2006-07 Boston Celtics In 2007, with Greg Oden and Kevin Durant as the big lottery prizes, several teams were openly questioned about apparent tanking, including the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks and Memphis Grizzlies, the three teams that ended up with the best chance of drafting Oden or Durant. In one notorious game late in the season, the Celtics, playing at home, led the woeful Bobcats 69-51 late in the third quarter -- and managed to lose the game by eight points, enhancing their draft positioning. Of course, Celtics coach Doc Rivers denied tanking charges. As Steve Bulpett reported in the Boston Herald: “Rivers insisted there was nothing sinister about leaving Paul Pierce (game-high 23 points) on the bench for the fourth quarter and letting the quintet of Sebastian Telfair, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Allan Ray and Leon Powe stay on the parquet as the lead -- still at 10 with nine minutes left in the game -- disappeared.” In the final week of the season, the Celtics and Bucks, both maneuvering for the best possible draft position, played each other and gave DNPs to high scorers Paul Pierce, Al Jefferson, Wally Szczerbiak, Michael Redd and Mo Williams. After the game, the Associated Press reported: Ryan Gomes had 13 through three quarters, but watched from the bench in the fourth as Boston clinched the worst record in the Eastern Conference and second worst in the league. "I probably (would have played), but since we were in the hunt for a high draft pick, of course things are different," Gomes said. "I understand that. Hopefully things get better. Now that we clinched at least having the second-most balls in the lottery, the last three games we'll see what happens. We'll see if we can go out and finish some games." So they tanked, the plan failed, and then they had to resort to non-tanking tactics, which succeeded. How does that disprove my point again? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fultz4thewin 2,464 Report post Posted February 13, 2017 So they tanked, the plan failed, and then they had to resort to non-tanking tactics, which succeeded. How does that disprove my point again? They used the pick they tanked for to get an all star. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tough Break There 96 Report post Posted February 13, 2017 Not clear how this is even an argument at this point. Henny had his chance, time to bring in someone new for Rebuild 2.0. And to me tanking only makes sense when there's a real obvious blue chip in play. Otherwise you risk becoming a long-term small market losing team, such as we have. Don't forget, tanking is a good job security concept for a front office too. If you can convince people to have zero expectations, that's all you need to deliver. Henny still has a job basically on a concept. Anyone on this board could have built the team we currently have. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Magicman28 295 Report post Posted February 13, 2017 Not clear how this is even an argument at this point. Henny had his chance, time to bring in someone new for Rebuild 2.0. And to me tanking only makes sense when there's a real obvious blue chip in play. Otherwise you risk becoming a long-term small market losing team, such as we have. Don't forget, tanking is a good job security concept for a front office too. If you can convince people to have zero expectations, that's all you need to deliver. Henny still has a job basically on a concept. Anyone on this board could have built the team we currently have. I dunno man. A lot of people here wanted McLemore, Exum and Winslow in those drafts. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fultz4thewin 2,464 Report post Posted February 13, 2017 I dunno man. A lot of people here wanted McLemore, Exum and Winslow in those drafts. Yeah. We'd have exum-oladipo-hezonja- Adrian Payne-? If i was drafting Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Magicman28 295 Report post Posted February 13, 2017 Yeah. We'd have exum-oladipo-hezonja- Adrian Payne-? If i was drafting Smart/Dipo/Hezonja was mine. I didn't know wth to do with that 10th pick. Think I wanted to use the two picks to move up to get Wiggins, option B to use it to get an all star caliber player or C was Marcus Smart. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Diplo 12 Report post Posted February 13, 2017 Noel, Exum, Hezonja were my 3. With the #12 pick in the 14 draft, I was hoping for Stauskas, but Vivek. Payton was actually high on my list, but I had us taking Exum. I guess it wouldve been either Saric or Payne. Anyway, guess I wouldn't make such a good GM after all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HeHateMe 697 Report post Posted February 13, 2017 Noel, Exum, Hezonja were my 3. With the #12 pick in the 14 draft, I was hoping for Stauskas, but Vivek. Payton was actually high on my list, but I had us taking Exum. I guess it wouldve been either Saric or Payne. Anyway, guess I wouldn't make such a good GM after all. That's fine. You, nor any of us, are earning the hefty salary Rob is to make these choices. We're fans. We don't have access to 95% of the intel on these prospects our GM and scouts do. The vast majority of us never even see these prospects play in person. The private workouts, interviews, practices,. Etc etc. For the most part we base our opinions on prospects off of YouTube videos and mock draft websites. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tough Break There 96 Report post Posted February 13, 2017 We all would have gone about it different ways, but I'm pretty confident anyone on this board could have built a 20-36 eastern conference team with 5 years and money to spend on free agents. It's hard to do a whole lot worse than the current product really. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Justin Jaudon 221 Report post Posted February 13, 2017 I think I would have been either McLemore or Otto Porter, Marcus Smart, Rodney Hood, and Myles Turner, if I remember correctly. I still don't understand why Smart is such a bad shooter. I was happy about Mario - and now I'm not - but Turner was my favorite from that draft (of the guys we could have reached). I don't know what I would have done this past draft. I think I liked Tyler Ulis and Malik Beasley. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Years of Tragic and Magic 13 Report post Posted February 14, 2017 Strapped in for Chris Paul. He could give Payton a breather and run the second unit. ;p Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Franchero MVP 391 Report post Posted February 14, 2017 I think Rob can evaluate talent -- and that's pretty much it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites