Are we tanking this year?

[Jesus Shuttlesworth #20]

Whenever Kelly Olynyk is the starting center on your NBA team it is a tanking year.

[Adelaide Celt]

We are tanking Cleveland Cavaliers style. Where the team gets in a bunch of OK players and meanders it's way to a 10-12th finish with 30-35 wins. Then, to the fury of everyone else, somehow ends up with the #1 pick despite having only a 1.05% chance of doing so. You know it makes sense.

[greece66]

We are tanking Cleveland Cavaliers style. Where the team gets in a bunch of OK players and meanders it's way to a 10-12th finish with 30-35 wins. Then, to the fury of everyone else, somehow ends up with the #1 pick despite having only a 1.05% chance of doing so. You know it makes sense.

So, you actually know the guy who fixes these ping pong balls 

[pokeKingCurtis]

We are tanking Cleveland Cavaliers style. Where the team gets in a bunch of OK players and meanders it's way to a 10-12th finish with 30-35 wins. Then, to the fury of everyone else, somehow ends up with the #1 pick despite having only a 1.05% chance of doing so. You know it makes sense.

So, you actually know the guy who fixes these ping pong balls 

(S)he knows a guy who knows a guy.

[greece66]

We are tanking Cleveland Cavaliers style. Where the team gets in a bunch of OK players and meanders it's way to a 10-12th finish with 30-35 wins. Then, to the fury of everyone else, somehow ends up with the #1 pick despite having only a 1.05% chance of doing so. You know it makes sense.

So, you actually know the guy who fixes these ping pong balls 

(S)he knows a guy who knows a guy.

Gender is irrelevant here. It's only a matter of balls after all. 

[Adelaide Celt]

We are tanking Cleveland Cavaliers style. Where the team gets in a bunch of OK players and meanders it's way to a 10-12th finish with 30-35 wins. Then, to the fury of everyone else, somehow ends up with the #1 pick despite having only a 1.05% chance of doing so. You know it makes sense.

So, you actually know the guy who fixes these ping pong balls 

(S)he knows a guy who knows a guy.

Uh yeah my gender is clearly stated in my profile.

We are tanking Cleveland Cavaliers style. Where the team gets in a bunch of OK players and meanders it's way to a 10-12th finish with 30-35 wins. Then, to the fury of everyone else, somehow ends up with the #1 pick despite having only a 1.05% chance of doing so. You know it makes sense.

So, you actually know the guy who fixes these ping pong balls 

But that would mean some aspects of the NBA are crooked and David Stern always assured us this wasn't the case and I see absolutely no reason not to believe him.

[greece66]

Coming back to the same old question after having watched 13 games, the answer is........

[SHAQATTACK]

Wow ...another loss today

Looks like head on meeting with the Lottery committee .


We ll trade Rondo ....for the First pick ..thank you.

[PAOBoston]

Coming back to the same old question after having watched 13 games, the answer is........

I don't think they are losing on purpose. I just think they suck and aren't that good. And they also cant defend. And they really need a good center. It's about what I expected it to be.

[Chris22]

Rondo + Bass + fourth quarter = Losing

[greece66]

Coming back to the same old question after having watched 13 games, the answer is........

I don't think they are losing on purpose. I just think they suck and aren't that good. And they also cant defend. And they really need a good center. It's about what I expected it to be.

Philly is not losing on purpose. I am sure the players do the best they can.

[greece66]

OH, YES WE ARE

[greece66]

Maybe I should lock voting now.
Something tells me the % are gonna change very quickly

[colincb]

This year? How about the next 2-3 years? 5 years plus to contend.

In the interim, lots of fodder for the fantasy freaks here with their 4 team trades that cannot work under the CBA.

[greece66]

AHEM

'We are not tanking' but...
-we focus on developing young talent.
-we let Lee, J.Crawford, Humphries and Bayless go and get Zeller, Thornton and ET
-Stevens will work his magic on ET and he will become consistent offensively (just like Green last year I suppose)
-Same magic will transform Zeller into a good rim protector
-We have a very little chance of entering playoffs (rephrase: Everyone else except Boston fans thinks we have a very ...)
-If we really wanted to make it in the playoffs, the trade with the Nets is simply absurd.
-Signing Brad Stevens for 6 years only makes sense if you want to focus on developing talent.
-There is a trade off between developing talent and winning. (Unless you think Doc was an idiot for playing the veterans)
-If you get so many draft picks, logic says you plan to use at least some of them.
- Given the change in the lottery system it makes huge sense to be among the worst six teams of the League.
-Yes, we could not get K.Love but we could have got some of the other (less good but solid) players available in the market. That we did not even try suggests something.
-Ainge is a smart and a calculating person. He does not give a sh__ for the playoffs. He wants to rebuild a contender through draft picks and trades. This will take time.
-Trades like the one that got us KG do not happen everyday. (and guess what? we used a draft pick to get him)
- And yes the draft works- this is how the Bulls got Jordan, OKC Durant, Milwaukee J. Parker. (And we got a certain Larry Bird- maybe you' ve heard of him).

In short, lots of wishful thinking + ignoring the obvious= we are going for 35+ wins this year, and we can make it to the playoffs.

Time to face reality.

OK, so we might not call this tanking bcs it is a bad word and in any case we do not go to the extremes that Philadelphia does. Let's just call it 'rebuilding' same way we might call a really fat person 'well fed'.
And sure I do not think Brad or Danny gives the players phone calls and tells them 'Guys, we really have to lose this game'.
It is way more subtle than this. But this roster is built to be among the worst six of the League this year. And it will be.