Tanking: Boston's Best Move

The thought of a team tanking is understandably egregious for diehard fans. Yet in the case of the Boston Celtics the complete devastation of their roster today with the end goal of building for a better team tomorrow.

In the sports world there is nothing worse than being mediocre and The Celtics find themselves in this precarious position. By trading Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Jason Terry for Kim Kardashian’s husband and his entourage, Danny Ainge has maneuvered his franchise deeper into mediocrity.

An opportunity to tank next season is staring Danny Ainge right in the eyes. All he has to do is get rid of one of the ten best point guards in the NBA and hope the ping pong balls bounce his way next summer.

The pro-tanking argument goes something like this. As presently constructed, the Celtics lack the star power to contend with the Miami Heat, the defensive prowess to slug it out with the Indiana Pacers, and the team unity to best the Chicago Bulls; so just blow it up, trade Rondo and rebuild a foundation on the ashes of your franchise.

Still while the Celtics will be bad next year, the franchises’ most infamous tanking endeavor still has Celtics fans feeling jilted.

Every basketball fan in the 1997 season knew going into the draft that Tim Duncan was the lock to be the number one overall pick; the Celtics ended up with the second worst record in the NBA that year in hopes of getting Duncan.

As we all know the Celtics didn’t get Duncan, or keep their first draft pick Chauncey Billups. Boston finished with a 36-46 record, finished 12^th in the Eastern Conference, and saw the 1997 season get filed under the ‘post Bird struggles’ paragraph on Wikipedia’s description of the C’s in 1993-1998.

Yet the Celtics tanking attempt faired much better in the new millennium, under Ainge.

The 2007 tank attempt gave Ainge his stripes as a general manager because he helped turn that ugly duckling into a gorgeous swan. The attempt to bomb the 2007 season and land either Greg Oden or Kevin Durant failed. However, the flipping of Jeff Green for Ray Allen helped lead Boston to a title the next year.

Yet the decision on whether or not to go into full blown tank mode depends on moving Rajon Rondo.

The last member of the Umbuntu Celtics is still in town and Rondo is the most alluring trade bait Boston will have for the foreseeable future.

Ainge may not pass on the chance to get rid of Rondo’s 24 million dollar contract in order to maneuver the team into a position to rebuild through the draft seems appealing, the Celtics would have to take the chance of trading their best player essentially for ping pong balls.

Keep in mind that Rondo is coming off of Achilles surgery, so if the Celtics are truly playing for the ping pong balls flipping Rondo for 40 cents on the dollar will enable the creative destruction to take full effect as soon as possible.

If the Celtics are in fact shooting for Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, or Marcus Smart trading Rondo would put them in the best position to get the highest draft pick. And trading Rondo will give the Celtics the first tool to begin the rebuilding process.