Re: ESPN's Page 2 The Sports Guy's take on the C's from his most recent collumEnduring one of my least favorite days in recent memory: A trip to the Staples Center for the annual Clips-Celtics contest (on Dec. 27). It's usually a fun night because of all the Boston transplants out here; we always manage to turn it into a "home game away from home." Not this year. Playing without Paul Pierce, the Celts were annihilated and looked like a Division II college team -- which made perfect sense because we have a team comprised of mostly under-23 guys and a coach who should be leading a team like Appalachian State.Maybe the low point was when a Boston fan sitting 10 rows behind me snapped and started screaming at Doc Rivers (who's been patiently waiting to get fired for the past two months so he can sign a TV deal, only the Celtics won't fire him because they don't want to pay two coaches to coach the same lousy team, so now Doc shows up for every game with the positive energy of someone about to undergo their first chemo treatment) to remove Brian Scalabrine from the game, yelling over and over again in a dead-quiet Staples Center, "Get Scalabrine out of there, Doc, he's terrible, get him out of there!" And Scalabrine stood there pretending not to hear while everyone else sat there feeling exceptionally awkward (especially the other players). Meanwhile, the Celtics were losing by 20 and running an offense that had precisely two plays. Short of the Bias/Lewis deaths, I can't remember a more depressing and hopeless night that involved my favorite basketball team. (Two mitigating factors: First, Red Auerbach picked the perfect year to leave. I couldn't be more delighted that he's missing this crappy season. Thank God he's not here -- that would make this ongoing debacle 10 times worse. And second, I just added every men's hoop game involving Ohio State and Texas to my TiVo so I could start following Kevin Durant and Greg Oden. That's right, I've officially entered "Root against the C's for a high lottery pick" mode! It's always fun to turn against your own team for a few months. All right, maybe not. But since they insisted on tanking the season by keeping Doc, then I'm tanking the season as a fan. So there.)and that.. pretty much sums up how I feel about the C's this year...The C's should openly tank the year, develop the young talent and see what kind of draft pick they are going to get.package some of the young talent and draft one of the stud's coming out this year.they're in the worst division in the league and winning the division and making the playoffs only means no shot at the #1 pick and a 1st round exit...
Re: ESPN's Page 2 The Sports Guy's take on the C's No. Never tank. I mean if there are 5 or 6 games left in the season and it could make a difference between the 3rd and 6th pick, then sure, play the kids. But when you are 32 games into the regular season, only a couple games back from the division leader, you NEVER tank. I don't see any good reasoning for that. There is still a chance we win the division. And even if their wasn't a chance that we win the division or make the playoffs, you still play your hardest every night with every healthy player. Tanking, especially this early in the season, is a TERRIBLE example to set for the young players on this team. I know Paul Pierce would never accept this, I know Doc Rivers wouldn't accept losing on purpose, and I don't think Danny Ainge is a guy to encourage that either. I remember when we tanked it in '96. We got the worst record, but we didn't do well in the lottery, and we still didn't end up with the top pick. And this year, we don't even know who is coming out and who isn't. Everyone loves the depth of this draft class, as do I, but let's face it - most of the guys who are supposed to be the top picks are FRESHMAN. But screw who's in this draft as of right now, we'll deal with that when the time comes. As of right now, with a young team like this in a town like Boston, you always try and win as many games as possible. You aren't a true fan if you encourage the team to lose games.
Re: ESPN's Page 2 The Sports Guy's take on the C's I agree with CB, no use in losing, especially with a young team. You want to get them a winners mentality as soon as you possibly can, because once they develop into better players, the winning will become easier, as opposed to more of a struggle.
Re: ESPN's Page 2 The Sports Guy's take on the C's sooooooooooo being a middle of the road team that may squeak into the playoffs, or just miss, get a pick in the mid teens and roll the dice on another role player level player is the way to go??
Re: ESPN's Page 2 The Sports Guy's take on the C's <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CelticFan @ Jan 6 2007, 01:30 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>sooooooooooo being a middle of the road team that may squeak into the playoffs, or just miss, get a pick in the mid teens and roll the dice on another role player level player is the way to go??</div> Who knows? But are you telling me that tanking, making Pierce unhappy for purposely losing, and teaching these 21-22 year old kids that losing is OK is the way to go?
Re: ESPN's Page 2 The Sports Guy's take on the C's you don't openly tank this early.you do it subtley.let the young guys play and learn.bench wally in favor of Green, Let Paul win some games for them and if need be showcase a few young players to trade for some experienced guys over the summer to have a strong team and draft pick for next year.face it, some of these young promising guys are NOT going to realise all of their talent and will never be much better than they currently are.Some may improve only by changing teams. It happens all the time.Maybe Green will never improve his basketball IQ and will be another maddeningly talented athlete who never gets the nuances of the game ( darius miles, Tyson Chandler anyone??) He'll be a contributor but never an all-star. If they got a shot at a sure thing like Oden, then this would be the year to go for it. Chances are Oden won't talk long to start making an impact.I understand it's important to try every game and get a winning attitude.. but they've been doing that for 32 games and they're 12-20.. what kind of attitude does 24-40 create?The C's either have to decide they have what it takes to make a serious run in the playoffs and get rid of Doc ASAP or they need to keep Doc, get a great draft pick and get a coach for next year.
Re: ESPN's Page 2 The Sports Guy's take on the C's <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CelticFan @ Jan 5 2007, 06:20 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>(Two mitigating factors: First, Red Auerbach picked the perfect year to leave. I couldn't be more delighted that he's missing this crappy season.</div>I can't believe this guys said that. That is so disrespectful. He was a person too. This writer is an idiot.
Re: ESPN's Page 2 The Sports Guy's take on the C's Wow, DRob, I didn't even notice that. I officially have ZERO respect for this guy, what a loser.
