The bonus for making the playoffs; "It will help recruit quality FA's, that wouldn't normally give the Celt's the time of day"
only if we make the playoffs with a winning record. At our current pace we can sneak into the playoffs with the 8th seed while a handful of better teams in the western conference will have lotto picks. With playoff reform potentially coming, making the playoffs with a below .500 record puts you in a worse position to lure free agents than finishing the season bottom 5 and having an impact rookie coming on board.
We're not a bottom five team however. The only way we could be is if we TRIED to be. Not the tradition that the Celtics have embraced so far in their existence.
Making the playoffs tells any potential FA that the Celts are improving, determined to building a consistently good team for years to come, and have the resources to do it.
The question is do they want to be on the band wagon...or languish in NY like Anthony. Money fills a wallet, but doesn't do a heck of a lot for the feeling of being on a winner.
Rak