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Anonymous GM Admits to Tanking Plan: Masai.. is that you?

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  • #16
    white men can't jump wrote: View Post
    It's not Philly....since the GM makes direct reference to them in the last paragraph.

    PHX, Utah and Boston are all possibilities.

    To Axel, Boston has quite a bit of "young" talent. You say just Olynyk and Sullinger....but what about Avery Bradley, Jordan Crawford, Phil Pressey, Vitor Faverani, MarShon Brooks. Not exactly stacked with future all-stars, but a lot of young players who they won't mind evaluating to see if any are worth keeping on even as role players.
    Bradley is going to his 4th year with the team, I don't think a GM who has had that player for 4 years would make that comment, it sounds like a new GM to me.

    Crawford, 5th year.

    I dunno, the whole thing sounds like a new GM to me. Ainge has a better handle on who is on the team, since he acquired them all. Sounds more like someone coming in and evaluating previously acquired "youngsters"
    Heir, Prince of Cambridge

    If you see KeonClark in the wasteland, please share your food and water with him.

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    • #17
      90% sure that this is Phoenix.

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      • #18
        Fully wrote: View Post
        90% sure that this is Phoenix.
        Speaking of Phoenix and collecting young assets, I wonder why they gave up on Marshall so quickly. I remember just a year ago, there was an article on the main page discussing Lillard and Marshall (pre-draft) as if both could become great NBA players.

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        • #19
          Nilanka wrote: View Post
          Speaking of Phoenix and collecting young assets, I wonder why they gave up on Marshall so quickly. I remember just a year ago, there was an article on the main page discussing Lillard and Marshall (pre-draft) as if both could become great NBA players.
          Marshall was fairly awful last year. Couldn't shoot, couldn't defend, not overly athletic, and his passing (his #1 skill) was over-rated at the draft.
          Heir, Prince of Cambridge

          If you see KeonClark in the wasteland, please share your food and water with him.

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          • #20
            Axel wrote: View Post
            Bradley is going to his 4th year with the team, I don't think a GM who has had that player for 4 years would make that comment, it sounds like a new GM to me.

            Crawford, 5th year.

            I dunno, the whole thing sounds like a new GM to me. Ainge has a better handle on who is on the team, since he acquired them all. Sounds more like someone coming in and evaluating previously acquired "youngsters"
            But Bradley is the only one of those guys who's been with the Celtics awhile. And well, they still expect growth from him, so I'd say he's a young player. And other than him, Ainge would not have seen most of these guys play every day, which is an entirely different perspective when evaluating. It's still a young team by NBA standards...they have 3 rookies and 4 guys who have at most 3 previous years experience (including Crawford, who you must have misread his career stats or something, because it's his 4th year). That's 7 guys who are basically on their first NBA contracts.

            To me it actually doesn't sound like a new GM. The way he talks about approaching ownership on the issue, it very much sounded like a guy who had an established position with his team. Like he wasn't pitching his position to get the job, more just to make sure ownership was on the same page.

            And then it sounds more to me like it's a new coach. Because you usually don't keep an old coach around when you start to tank. And with Boston, Stevens has a long contract that ensures he'll survive a 2-3 year losing cycle.

            Boston makes perfect sense to me. They traded away veterans that could easily have kept them in the playoffs (and thus a treadmill team) for young players and picks. Can't say the same about PHX, Utah, or even Philly, who all could have kept their teams together and still tanked. They have a new coach who got an uncharacteristically long contract for a first time head coach , or in other words, a long enough contract to go through a cycle of tanking before really building toward winning.

            How do you pull it off? First, you talk it over with ownership. I analyzed the team and told them what I wanted to do, the guys I wanted to get rid of and the guys with future value whom we wanted to keep. We obviously traded away some of our veteran guys who gave us a better chance of winning right now for future draft picks and young players. The owners didn't want to tread water any more than I did. They'd rather go down to the bottom with the hope of coming up, so they signed off on it. It wasn't a fight at all. In a different season, it might not make sense, but this draft certainly makes it more appealing.

            Our coach understands that too. It's no secret what we're trying to do, and you can't lie to him anyway or you'll lose all trust. We never really had to tell him, because the handwriting is on the wall. He knows exactly what's going on, and he's good with it. What's hard is keeping it from the players. If you took a poll in all 30 locker rooms, regardless of how the roster looks, I bet they'd all say they are a playoff team. That's good, because you want them to play with effort and lose organically. You never tell the players not to try to win a game, but it's obvious that you're putting out a team that's just not good enough to win.
            Last edited by white men can't jump; Tue Oct 29, 2013, 02:13 PM.

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            • #21
              Axel wrote: View Post
              Marshall was fairly awful last year. Couldn't shoot, couldn't defend, not overly athletic, and his passing (his #1 skill) was over-rated at the draft.
              Agreed, but did he really look any worse than MKG, TRob, Ross or Rivers last year?

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              • #22
                white men can't jump wrote: View Post
                Celtics
                Yeah, I can see some of that fitting.
                Heir, Prince of Cambridge

                If you see KeonClark in the wasteland, please share your food and water with him.

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                • #23
                  Phoenix, Utah or Boston. But I'm leaning towards Boston, because

                  1) Ainge has a long history of shooting off his mouth,

                  and

                  2) this is a pretty ballsy thing to say, even if it's anonymous, and he has enough pedigree that he doesn't have to worry about any repercussions.
                  "Stop eating your sushi."
                  "I do actually have a pair of Uggs."
                  "I've had three cups of green tea tonight. I'm wired. I'm absolutely wired."
                  - Jack Armstrong

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                  • #24
                    Nilanka wrote: View Post
                    Agreed, but did he really look any worse than MKG, TRob, Ross or Rivers last year?
                    Ross and Robinson? Yes, he was worse. Rivers was equally awful. Rivers has a job because of his family genes more than anything at this point. He had the bust label coming out and has worn it proudly since.
                    Heir, Prince of Cambridge

                    If you see KeonClark in the wasteland, please share your food and water with him.

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                    • #25
                      JimiCliff wrote: View Post
                      Phoenix, Utah or Boston. But I'm leaning towards Boston, because

                      1) Ainge has a long history of shooting off his mouth,

                      and

                      2) this is a pretty ballsy thing to say, even if it's anonymous, and he has enough pedigree that he doesn't have to worry about any repercussions.
                      When I first read the article, I gotta say that my initial reaction was that this whole thing could have been made up by the writer.

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                      • #26
                        Nilanka wrote: View Post
                        Agreed, but did he really look any worse than MKG, TRob, Ross or Rivers last year?
                        For the most part, yes. Marshall looked terrible last year. Especially defensively. I know you could say he's a rookie, but he very obviously doesn't have the tools to ever be even a passable, but below-average, defender. His D makes Jose Calderon look like Rajon Rondo with superpowers.

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                        • #27
                          It seemed like Philly until they said it wasn't. Phoenix makes the most sense. Boston could be in the running but i don't know that they can cry poor when it comes to free agents wanting to "get together".

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                          • #28
                            Jclaw wrote: View Post
                            It seemed like Philly until they said it wasn't. Phoenix makes the most sense. Boston could be in the running but i don't know that they can cry poor when it comes to free agents wanting to "get together".
                            Yes, they can. They drafted Pierce and Rondo, and used accumulated assets to acquire Allen and Garnett. Boston does not do very well on the FA market when it comes to big names.

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                            • #29
                              95% sure that's the Phoenix GM. They just traded their big in Gortat for young players and draft pick. In fact it's entirely possible that they interviewed him about that trade and he passed along these quotes under the condition of anonymity.

                              And really, good on him to say things like that because of the reality that he is facing. For him to say it out loud is risky but it's the truth.
                              your pal,
                              ebrian

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                              • #30
                                ebrian wrote: View Post
                                95% sure that's the Phoenix GM. They just traded their big in Gortat for young players and draft pick. In fact it's entirely possible that they interviewed him about that trade and he passed along these quotes under the condition of anonymity.

                                And really, good on him to say things like that because of the reality that he is facing. For him to say it out loud is risky but it's the truth.
                                Gortat for young players??

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