It's an "Insider" article, so I'm only posting how ESPN comes up with who they expect to do well over the next 3 seasons and what they said about the Cs. The C's did well in all the categories below except cap. I don't disagree about the first two rankings FWIW. HOU, SAS, TWolves, Sixers and Cavs (with LBJ staying) round out the top 7. Fakers were 17th
http://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/20771005/nba-future-power-rankings-2017-rating-players-management-money-market-draft====
HOW FUTURE POWER RATING IS DETERMINED
PLAYERS (worth 50 percent of score): Current players and their potential for the future, factoring in expected departures
MANAGEMENT (worth 16.7 percent of score): Quality and stability of front office, ownership, coaching
MONEY (worth 16.7 percent of score): Projected salary-cap situation; ability and willingness to exceed cap and pay luxury tax
MARKET (worth 8.3 percent of score): Appeal to future acquisitions based on team quality, franchise reputation, city's desirability as a destination, market size, taxes, business and entertainment opportunities, arena quality, fans
DRAFT (worth 8.3 percent of score): Future draft picks; draft positioning
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Having added star power in the form of Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving this summer, the Celtics climb one spot to their highest rank ever in the Future Power Rankings, which debuted in the fall of 2009.
We've seen Boston's success coming; the Celtics ranked third in each of the past two editions. But now, in the wake of a run to the Eastern Conference finals, Boston is closer to making that future reality. Though the Celtics have loaded up, they still rank third in the draft category with an extra pick coming either next year or 2019 from trading the No. 1 selection to the Philadelphia 76ers, plus potentially two more in 2019 from the LA Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies.
And there are few organizations we trust to manage success better than the Celtics, who rank third in the management category.
-- Kevin Pelton