Boston Celtics: 2 reasons why Cs should tank during play-in tournament

Reason for Boston Celtics to tank No. 1) More minutes for youngsters

The term “tank” kind of gets a bad rep nowadays, so let’s make something abundantly clear — tanking does NOT mean that the players on the court are trying to lose.

Instead, what it means is the individuals behind the scenes — i.e. the front office — are looking to attain a better chance at racking up losses in an effort to increase the odds of attaining specific organizational gains (more on this in the next slide).

We’ve seen many examples of tanking teams throughout the years, with the most famous one being the “Trust the Process” Philadelphia 76ers of the mid-2010s.

Generally speaking, these types of teams give their younger/ less experienced players more time on the hardwood to get a better understanding of who they have in tow so they can make decisions to either keep them moving forward, cut ties with them when contracts expire, or to simply increase trade value in specific individuals.

Due to the bevy of injuries sustained by some of the top players currently on the Boston Celtics (Jaylen Brown, Kemba Walker, etc.), seeing young players get extended play was already somewhat of a given, and we’ve already seen this trend pick up in recent games with the likes of Aaron Nesmith, Carsen Edwards, and Tremont Waters all seeing an uptick in minutes because of it.

Should the Cs come into this play-in tournament with little care about final outcomes, it could, in theory, be beneficial for their first and second-year players who have yet to see substantial run on the hardwood, as the team has been in legitimate contention mode for the majority of their tenures.

The benefits could come in the form of increased playing time and bigger roles found within the team’s scheme for these youngsters and, in turn, could up their confidence levels which is a huge factor in how a player performs at this stage in their career.

With this, it would allow both the front office and coaching staff to get a better understanding of how well these players can perform whilst on the court and in higher-stakes scenarios (in comparison to the regular season, that is) while also gauging their value to the team, be it on their roster moving forward or in trade talks this offseason.