I think there could be changes made at or before the dead line (a)if the Celtics are clearly out of contention and (b)the right deal comes along. Ainge will be perfectly happy letting those deals run out and seeing what he can do with the cap space.
I don't think they will be clearly out of contention though. I don't think they are truly title contenders either unless a marquee player is hurt in Miami or Chicago but injuries do happen so anything is possible especially in a season lie this one.
They looked awful old late last season and so far this season so realistically I think the window is closed IMO but I'd be thrilled to be wrong about it.
Agreed. I doubt the C's even when fully healthy can beat Miami or Chicago but if they can come close and almost beat them, we always have hope due to the injury bug affecting other top teams.
So in that scenario, it'll be more worth letting RA/KG contracts expire.
At this point though he is going to be looking for different things then he was looking for in the recent past IMO. Recently he ha had little to work with in terms of assets and in that instance the best you can really hope for is a lateral move. His recent trades for better or worse have been about right now and IMO in every instance made sense even if they didn't work out perfectly.
Example: (Perkins wasn't coming back and signed for way more then he is worth or will even play up to. There was no way of knowing Green would be out for the year or that the Clips pick would appear to lose a whole lot of value in recent weeks). That trade makes complete sense even though in hindsight in appears to be a bad decision.
Now he will be looking for similar things in return like he was looking for pre 2007. He will be looking for assets whether that be draft pick or young players. No need to look for expiring contracts as he wont find better ones then the ones he already has.
I don't see him making a major shake up in hopes of being better now but if we're out of it he may look to stock pile assets as he has done in the past. Getting a franchise player to Boston is more likely to happen via somehow getting lucky in the lottery or via trade. He cannot plan on any marquee FA's signing in Boston.