Poll: Can you live with 2013-2014 being a bridge year?

[LooseCannon]

Let's say that next the season, the Celtics won't be good enough to be legitimate contenders (unless they get really lucky and acquire players who massively exceed expectations) or bad enough to have one of the worst records (unless they get really unlucky with injuries).

Could you live with it if Ainge has a long-term plan (subjec to change) that involves using the 2013 off-season to attempt to set up the team for a shot at being able to use trades and free agency to build another contender in the 2014 off-season, then perhaps blowing it up if it proves impossible to do so?

So, if Ainge likes a core that includes Rondo, Bradley, Green, and Sullinger but thinks the team is multiple players away from being a contender, is it wrong for him to use this off-season to try to acquire some but not all of the necessary players, while trying to acquire assets to give the team a shot at acquire the rest of the players he needs a year from now?

[kgainez]

absolutely

[PhoSita]

Depends on what you mean.

Not one of the worst teams, but still get a top 10 pick which we might be able to combine with some of our other assets to move up for the right guy?

Okay, sure.

But if "bridge year" means 30-45 wins and we're financially locked into a middling group of talent for the next 2-4 years, no, I won't be happy about that.

[Casperian]

Sheesh, that´s a lot of "ifs". I´d say "Yes, but it´s not my first option".

I´d like it if the definition of "bridge year" included "sitting Rondo out for the season", if you know what I mean.

If that´s not possible, I still want us to go deep in the 2014 draft, as I think there will be lots of trade opportunities if you have a good pick next year.

Ideally, I´d love to get Wiggins. Even if we only get the #4 pick, I´d package that with whatever we have to get him. That´s just me, though, as I´m starting to develop a man crush on him. I love players with a certain elegance, and Wiggins has that in spades, in my opinion. I´m not too thrilled with the rest of the alleged "franchise players" in that draft, though.

[action781]

I REALLY hope that we can all "live with" this.

As a season ticket holder, I'll be really p---ed that I've already paid a lot of money for something different than what I expected, but life will go on for me.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I don't understand the fascination with these "bridges" and "rebuilding". Our current biggest asset is that we have a very good mix of talent, veteran players, and young players... all in controlled contracts.

This team can compete for a championship as is, and we have some areas that we can tweak to improve on, and the means to do so. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but whether we do something now or not, it doesn't dampen our good positioning we already have within a couple of years to rebuild or reload, or whatever you want to call it.

I'll tell you right now, you'd be very very hard-pressed to put together a collection of talent and championship ability like we have now, and throwing it all away on a panic move in a year where your coach just didn't do his job well, in a year where we were plagued by injuries (to our young talent) is a big mistake in my opinion.

[lightspeed5]

I don't understand the fascination with these "bridges" and "rebuilding". Our current biggest asset is that we have a very good mix of talent, veteran players, and young players... all in controlled contracts.

This team can compete for a championship as is, and we have some areas that we can tweak to improve on, and the means to do so. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but whether we do something now or not, it doesn't dampen our good positioning we already have within a couple of years to rebuild or reload, or whatever you want to call it.

I'll tell you right now, you'd be very very hard-pressed to put together a collection of talent and championship ability like we have now, and throwing it all away on a panic move in a year where your coach just didn't do his job well, in a year where we were plagued by injuries (to our young talent) is a big mistake in my opinion.

Like who? KG cant even play without cortisone shots because of bone spurs, and pierce and kg dont have the spacing that ray allen brought them.

[Neurotic Guy]

I can live with 3-5 years of rebuilding.  After that, I will get frustrated.  That doesn't mean I expect DA to build a contender in that timeframe -- it just means that's the limit of my patience.   Very hard to build a contender as most NBA team histories would attest.

[LooseCannon]

Depends on what you mean.

Not one of the worst teams, but still get a top 10 pick which we might be able to combine with some of our other assets to move up for the right guy?

Okay, sure.

But if "bridge year" means 30-45 wins and we're financially locked into a middling group of talent for the next 2-4 years, no, I won't be happy about that.

Let's say 75% chance of 35-45 wins next season, unlikely to get a top ten 2014 pick without some lucky ping pong balls to vault the team into the top three slots and lead fans of other teams to complain the lottery was rigged to benefit a big market team.  If all goes to plan, two years from now, the Celtics will either be a 45-50 win team trending upward or poised to bottom out for a couple of years.

[PhoSita]

Depends on what you mean.

Not one of the worst teams, but still get a top 10 pick which we might be able to combine with some of our other assets to move up for the right guy?

Okay, sure.

But if "bridge year" means 30-45 wins and we're financially locked into a middling group of talent for the next 2-4 years, no, I won't be happy about that.

Let's say 75% chance of 35-45 wins next season, unlikely to get a top ten 2014 pick without some lucky ping pong balls to vault the team into the top three slots and lead fans of other teams to complain the lottery was rigged to benefit a big market team.  If all goes to plan, two years from now, the Celtics will either be a 45-50 win team trending upward or poised to bottom out for a couple of years.

I'd say that would be a waste of a season, then.

Definitely would not approve of that.

That doesn't sound like a bridge year to me, it sounds like indecision about what the plan is moving forward.  Bad management.

[CelticAZ]

I don't post very often but I have to say that if by "bridge year" we mean to trade away our veterans to get us under the cap and then start signing mid-level talent to bloated contracts, I'd say don't do it.

This team is not 1 or 2 premium guys away from truly contending for a championship.  Signing Terry, Lee, and Bass destroyed whatever cap flexibility we had.

The Celts signed them to take one final shot for it all and gambled that we'd stay healthy.  When Rondo went down so did our chances at the Championship.

Now we must get rid of KG and Pierce.  While we're at it we should try to unload Terry, Lee, and Bass.  I'd rather we blow this up and free up our cap dollars while we attempt to amass current and future draft picks.  We'll be lottery bound for sure and I hate that but we don't have what it takes to get to the promised land now.

I would even consider trading Rondo at the trade deadline this year if he can prove himself healthy before then; if he's healthy he could be a real boost to another team for the playoff run.

Of the big three to be traded, Rondo is the one that I think  will be around long enough to bite us if we have early success as our young guns learn how to be NBA professionals.  KG and Pierce should be retired by then.