Jared Sullinger: ‘Kiss our butts about that tanking stuff’

If the NBA playoffs were today, the Boston Celtics (7-12) would be on the outside looking in, which is where most expected them to finish anyway.

But the idea that this team could fail to make the playoffs because the Celtics meant to do it -- also known as "tanking" -- is a preposterous idea that Jared Sullinger shot down emphatically.

"A lot of guys expect us to tank for Parker or Wiggins," said Sullinger, referring to Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggins, who are widely considered the likely top two picks in next June's NBA draft.

"Y'all might as well throw that out the door. I don't know why people keep talking about tanking," Sullinger said.

While losses would certainly help Boston's chances of landing one of the top picks in the 2014 draft, Sullinger readily admits that he and his Celtics teammates are focused on doing whatever they can to get the Celtics into the postseason for the seventh straight season.

"We got competitors around here," Sullinger said. "We're not really like that."

He added, "We just want to win and show everybody that they can kiss our butts about that tanking stuff."

-- A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE.com