I think we are two all-nba team players away from a champion

[Stig]

So is every other team in the NBA.....

that's wrong, a lot of other teams are far away from that.

[ChefEricT]

They are all bigs except DW, but then if we keep Rondo there's no need for DW. So my preference is here:
Kevin Love
LaMarcus Aldridge
Marc Gasol
Melo
DeMarcus Cousins
Al Horford
David Lee
Brook Lopez

First off, I appreciate the work you did putting this post together.  When I first read the title, my response was "any team could be a legit contender if you added 2 all NBA players", but after reading your post I commend you for putting this together. 

Now, here's my opinion on your list.

I would love to get Kevin Love and/or  LeMarcus Aldridge, but I'm not sure why Minnesota or Portland would trade them.  I don't believe Rondo and Melo would be a good pairing because they both need the ball in their hands a lot.  When the Kings traded for Rudy Gay it showed me that they want to win now, so it wouldn't make sense for them to trade Cousins unless it was for Rondo and I think that would be counter-productive for us.  Brook Lopez is out for the year.  And, for me, given the choice I would rather have Sullinger starting at PF than David Lee.

That brings the list to:
Marc Gasol
And
Al Horford

I would add either of them in a heart beat if the price was right.  I don't, however, think I'd want to add both.  It would take our naturally up tempo team and slow us down.  Adding one of these guys wouldn't immediately make us a contender, but would help a lot more than Asik would.

I would also like to keep an eye on New Orleans.  They have a bunch of talented youngish guys and they may not be able to keep them all long term, so they could cash in now.  So if we were to add either Gasol or Horford(or Love or Aldridge if Danny can pull off a miracle) it might make sense to trade for Eric Gordon or Tyreke Evans. 

To Rondo and whatever assets we don't trade, we'd be adding a talented Big and a scoring wing.  Could be something interesting.  Or we could roll with what we've got and see what the picks become.

Anyways, just my thoughts on your proposal.

[BballTim]

All this list says is that having better players correlates to having a better record.

  All the lists come down to that. I'd also say that how players are at the time is more important than their past achievements. For instance, how Kobe, Pau and Nash are playing now matters, not how they played 3-4 years ago.

[kozlodoev]

So is every other team in the NBA.....

that's wrong, a lot of other teams are far away from that.

You'd be surprised what placing 2 all-NBA team players on your roster can do for your team.

[guava_wrench]

All this list says is that having better players correlates to having a better record.

  All the lists come down to that. I'd also say that how players are at the time is more important than their past achievements. For instance, how Kobe, Pau and Nash are playing now matters, not how they played 3-4 years ago.

Definitely.

It also doesn't make sense to talk about Lebron, Duncan or Kobe in terms of that same category being applied to David Lee. There is a big difference between having the best player in the NBA at a point in time and having someone who made an appearance on an all-NBA team.

[guava_wrench]

So is every other team in the NBA.....

that's wrong, a lot of other teams are far away from that.

Not if the 2 all NBA team players are Lebron and Wade (or Lebron and anyone else). And that is the point.

2 David Lees don't make anyone a contender unless they are already a contender. Even CP3 and David Lee would not make us a contender. The all-NBA category is only useful in that in includes the best players in the NBA. Limit that to first team all-NBA, and you will see an even stronger correlation to winning titles.

[Q_FBE]

Danny Ainge needs to figure out who will be tomorrow's all-NBA top 15 players and have a sound plan for acquiring those players (tanking is definitely not the way to go). Seems like Phoenix made an accurate call on picking up Eric Bledsoe, keeping Goran Dragic, and getting Jason Plumlee. Portland stayed the course with LeMarcus Aldridge and Nicholas Batum while getting Robin Lopez. In the East, Larry Bird built a powerhouse lineup by staying the course. They could trade Danny Grange (not to the Celtics) for someone looking to clear cap space and keep building for instance. The league is changing landscape and no team, even Miami, is guarenteed to be a powerhouse. For a bit of good news, I was delighted the Lakers decided to pony up 48 million dollars for two more years of Kobe.

[pearljammer10]

If we had five really good starters and 3 really great bench players, I think we might be contenders.

[manl_lui]

I actually think we are ONE all-nba team or ONE all star away from being contenders again.

Rondo himself is already an all star and all-nba team player. And Jeff Green will fit in nicely as a third option. If we can maintain Bradley and Sully, moving forward it will be very good.

[obnoxiousmime]

Danny Ainge needs to figure out who will be tomorrow's all-NBA top 15 players and have a sound plan for acquiring those players (tanking is definitely not the way to go). Seems like Phoenix made an accurate call on picking up Eric Bledsoe, keeping Goran Dragic, and getting Jason Plumlee. Portland stayed the course with LeMarcus Aldridge and Nicholas Batum while getting Robin Lopez. In the East, Larry Bird built a powerhouse lineup by staying the course. They could trade Danny Grange (not to the Celtics) for someone looking to clear cap space and keep building for instance. The league is changing landscape and no team, even Miami, is guarenteed to be a powerhouse. For a bit of good news, I was delighted the Lakers decided to pony up 48 million dollars for two more years of Kobe.

You don't want to tank but then you named a team that was fully planning to tank this season, the Phoenix Suns. Their roster wasn't supposed to be good enough to compete this year and Dragic was their big piece to deal away during the season. It's unclear now what their plan is but they definitely were not expecting this. Also, it's Miles Plumlee, not Jason (the Plumlee bros. all have names starting with "M", you may have been thinking of Mason Plumlee on the Nets).

Portland's two most important players are Aldridge (2nd overall pick) and Lillard (6th overall). They've done a great job of supplementing those picks with talent, but those are still their two primary building blocks. How did they get such low picks? They were bad! Lillard is already a top 5 PG (yes, past Rondo).

I'm not saying either are world beaters (Portland's defense is horrible and they've had an easy schedule) but they are definitely not examples of a non-tanking philosophy.

I respect the Pacers a lot for not completely tanking but getting a franchise center in Hibbert at 17 and a great wing at 10 is definitely an exception, not a rule. They have a great development system, hopefully the Celtics do too. You can definitely get good players in the teens but the best talent, on average, is still going to be there earlier rather than later. I don't think Ainge is perfect (he certainly missed on Giannis last draft but so did a lot of teams).

[jc3celticsphan]

rondo and sully are looking like the leaders. jeff and avery are right behind them and it sux we are missing a legit 5.

we need to give sully consistent minutes because hes still growing

we have 2 top talented players and i agree a 3rd would put them in contention.. avery and green compliment this team perfect and hopefully crawford can be that 6thman.. its really a solid team going forward.

[fitzhickey]

Add Dwight Howard and Kevin Durant and then we're definitely contenders. If it's someone like David Lee we wouldn't be launched into contendership. Just depends on what calibre players you're talking about.

[BballTim]

Danny Ainge needs to figure out who will be tomorrow's all-NBA top 15 players and have a sound plan for acquiring those players (tanking is definitely not the way to go). Seems like Phoenix made an accurate call on picking up Eric Bledsoe, keeping Goran Dragic, and getting Jason Plumlee. Portland stayed the course with LeMarcus Aldridge and Nicholas Batum while getting Robin Lopez. In the East, Larry Bird built a powerhouse lineup by staying the course. They could trade Danny Grange (not to the Celtics) for someone looking to clear cap space and keep building for instance. The league is changing landscape and no team, even Miami, is guarenteed to be a powerhouse. For a bit of good news, I was delighted the Lakers decided to pony up 48 million dollars for two more years of Kobe.

You don't want to tank but then you named a team that was fully planning to tank this season, the Phoenix Suns. Their roster wasn't supposed to be good enough to compete this year and Dragic was their big piece to deal away during the season. It's unclear now what their plan is but they definitely were not expecting this. Also, it's Miles Plumlee, not Jason (the Plumlee bros. all have names starting with "M", you may have been thinking of Mason Plumlee on the Nets).

Portland's two most important players are Aldridge (2nd overall pick) and Lillard (6th overall). They've done a great job of supplementing those picks with talent, but those are still their two primary building blocks. How did they get such low picks? They were bad! Lillard is already a top 5 PG (yes, past Rondo).

I'm not saying either are world beaters (Portland's defense is horrible and they've had an easy schedule) but they are definitely not examples of a non-tanking philosophy.

I respect the Pacers a lot for not completely tanking but getting a franchise center in Hibbert at 17 and a great wing at 10 is definitely an exception, not a rule. They have a great development system, hopefully the Celtics do too. You can definitely get good players in the teens but the best talent, on average, is still going to be there earlier rather than later. I don't think Ainge is perfect (he certainly missed on Giannis last draft but so did a lot of teams).

  I'd wonder whether Phoenix meant to tank or that people assumed they were, just like they assumed the Celts were tanking and the Lakers were setting themselves up to be the worst team in the league. Also, I thought Portland got Lillard in a trade, not by being bad.

[obnoxiousmime]

rondo and sully are looking like the leaders. jeff and avery are right behind them and it sux we are missing a legit 5.

we need to give sully consistent minutes because hes still growing

we have 2 top talented players and i agree a 3rd would put them in contention.. avery and green compliment this team perfect and hopefully crawford can be that 6thman.. its really a solid team going forward.

When I see the word "solid" I think of a team full of B+ guys that win regular season games but inevitably lose to the team with two As in the playoffs.

The Heat have done allright with a bench and supporting cast that are probably below average for a typical championship team. They've been able to overcome it because they have LeBron, Bosh, Wade and a decent enough coaching staff.

[obnoxiousmime]

Danny Ainge needs to figure out who will be tomorrow's all-NBA top 15 players and have a sound plan for acquiring those players (tanking is definitely not the way to go). Seems like Phoenix made an accurate call on picking up Eric Bledsoe, keeping Goran Dragic, and getting Jason Plumlee. Portland stayed the course with LeMarcus Aldridge and Nicholas Batum while getting Robin Lopez. In the East, Larry Bird built a powerhouse lineup by staying the course. They could trade Danny Grange (not to the Celtics) for someone looking to clear cap space and keep building for instance. The league is changing landscape and no team, even Miami, is guarenteed to be a powerhouse. For a bit of good news, I was delighted the Lakers decided to pony up 48 million dollars for two more years of Kobe.

You don't want to tank but then you named a team that was fully planning to tank this season, the Phoenix Suns. Their roster wasn't supposed to be good enough to compete this year and Dragic was their big piece to deal away during the season. It's unclear now what their plan is but they definitely were not expecting this. Also, it's Miles Plumlee, not Jason (the Plumlee bros. all have names starting with "M", you may have been thinking of Mason Plumlee on the Nets).

Portland's two most important players are Aldridge (2nd overall pick) and Lillard (6th overall). They've done a great job of supplementing those picks with talent, but those are still their two primary building blocks. How did they get such low picks? They were bad! Lillard is already a top 5 PG (yes, past Rondo).

I'm not saying either are world beaters (Portland's defense is horrible and they've had an easy schedule) but they are definitely not examples of a non-tanking philosophy.

I respect the Pacers a lot for not completely tanking but getting a franchise center in Hibbert at 17 and a great wing at 10 is definitely an exception, not a rule. They have a great development system, hopefully the Celtics do too. You can definitely get good players in the teens but the best talent, on average, is still going to be there earlier rather than later. I don't think Ainge is perfect (he certainly missed on Giannis last draft but so did a lot of teams).

  I'd wonder whether Phoenix meant to tank or that people assumed they were, just like they assumed the Celts were tanking and the Lakers were setting themselves up to be the worst team in the league. Also, I thought Portland got Lillard in a trade, not by being bad.

Phoenix was definitely tanking, that's why they traded Gortat. They planned to rebuild with Bledsoe and use Dragic as trade bait before the deadline.

You're right, they got the Lillard pick from the desperate Nets by giving them Gerald Wallace in what has got to be one of the most amazing deals in league history. They weren't necessarily tanking during that time though they were bad enough to finish 28-38 that year.

Still, the previous run they made was built on lottery guys like Roy, Oden, and the aforementioned Aldridge. Aldridge and Oden were acquired by being bad. The Roy pick was acquired primarily by dealing Bassy to the Celtics (I had wiped that from my memory and am so sorry to bring this up to any Celts fan older than 20).

I remember Ainge justified that by saying the draft was bad and that we got Rondo anyway. And of course he made the point GMs always make when they acquire a young player: "If this guy had been in the draft THIS year, he'd be a top pick!" It WAS a pretty bad draft but Rudy Gay and Redick would have at least been valuable guys despite not being franchise-changers.

Unfortunately that was the cost of getting rid of the inherited LaFrentz deal for a less horrible Ratliff deal expiring one year earlier.

And the Ratliff deal PRESTO CHANGO became Garnett a year later!