The goal is championships
The strategy is Williams-Howard
The tactic is aquiring 6 of the 8 rotations players needed to attract them for $26 million or less.
That means rookie contracts and role-players, guys that can shoot and defend, and some scoring off the bench. My answer is simple:
Starters - Gerald Henderson, Corey Brewer, Irsan Ilyasova*
Rotation - Isaiah Thomas, Mickael Pietrus, Derrick Favors
That is an $14,309,755 rotation *excluding the Ilyasova contract. Everyone hustles, defends and moves the ball well enough to keep defenses honest. They are young, fast and athletic. Thomas brings a scoring spark. Favors brings a lot of defense, size and upside to the 4 or 5 position.
Bench - Avery Bradley, JJ Johnson, E'Twuan Moore, Greg Stiemsma
That is a $3,751,240 bench. Bradley and Johnson are expensive pieces that I would clear for veteran depth. I am assuming we have to move our first rounders to aquire some of those players above.
Williams-Henderson-Brewer-Ilyasova-Howard with Thomas-Pietrus-Favors off the bench is a championship squad.
*Ilyasova is a controversial choice, I understand that. He is young, has good size, rebounds and can knock down the three. He is tough. I like him a lot. I figured we would pay him $4-$5 per season. In case he is not your cup of tea, we can spend $8,000,000 on that spot, and still get everyone else.