Everyone is writing us off as a 26 win team... and that's with good reason.  I'd be shocked to see this roster stay the same and win more than 30 games.   That said, it should still be an entertaining season.  I think Ainge is doing a fine job.

Right now the roster just doesn't make any sense.  It's a collection of marginal talent that is clearly set up for a trade.   There's redundancies all over the roster and gaping holes that need to be filled. 

Smart looks like he should be a good player.  It's going to be fun to see how he develops.  Long-term, it makes very little sense having Rondo + Smart + 9 mil a year for Avery Bradley.  Those are 3 guys you hope to be starters.  Something has to shake loose there.  Kudos to Ainge for not taking a lowball offer for Rondo, but it really doesn't look like we're done with that.  I really wouldn't be surprised to see us get all the way to free agency and see Rondo walk.  I wouldn't be surprised to see us move Rondo before the deadline.  I wouldn't be surprised to see us build a trade around Smart or Bradley.  I would be surprised to see all three of them here next year.  The only way I see that happening is if Smart or Bradley struggles and we find we're best off bringing one of them off the bench.   That scenario is depressing, because it either means Smart isn't panning out or Bradley is overpaid.   

Turner might be a pleasant surprise.  Depends on how he meshes with the system, but there's clearly talent there.  The problem is... the best-case scenario with him, he sort of seems redundant with Jeff Green... so it's going to be interesting to see which of those two stick around.  Green could opt out after the season.  Turner might be one of those classic Ricky Davis-esque "buy low/sell high" Ainge moves.  Both could be gone within a year.  I'll be interested to see how that works out.  I guess there's also a scenario where Turner is just an effective bench role player, but I'm rooting for him to break-out.

Oly and Sully are going to be really fascinating to watch this season.   Is Sully (despite his weight), ready to break out in year 3?... or is he a long-term role player.   Can Oly build on his excellent late-season play?  I'm rooting for both of them, but I struggle to envision a scenario where both of them "break out" and remain here long-term.  Both are PFs.  Neither is a solution at center... where we are going to inevitably need to find a post defender if we have any hope of being a serious playoff threat.  Or am I wrong?... will we throw defense out the window, keep Oly at center... and have this fun quirky team that scores pretty well in spite of their defensive woes?  I'm rooting for both of them, but preparing to see one of them get sent out in a package.  I'm also prepared to see both revealed as long-term bench talent.  No guarantee either is a career starter.

What about the rest of the pieces here?  Thornton and Bass are a couple of effective vets that have no long-term future with the organization.  Do we let them walk for nothing?... squeeze some assets out of them?  Do we sit on Gerald Wallace for another year and wait until he regains value as an expiring in Feb 2016?

Then of course we have boatloads of future picks that can be included in large trade packages.   

We severely lack a star to build around... is there any hope that Smart, Oly or Sully can be that star?  Probably not.  But we'll be in position to make a move if someone like Melo becomes available.  Will we address our big man issues?  Will this team surprisingly mesh in spite of their mis-matched pieces and lack of star power?  Extremely unlikely. 

On paper, this team is terrible.  A bunch of B- to D+ talent that doesn't really fit.  But it's going to be really interesting to follow the individual storylines of this trainwreck and see if Ainge can cobble together these lackluster parts into something substantial.   I'm excited to see what happens, but I am also prepared to see this result in another "lost" season that comes and goes with a whimper... where the only result is us adding some more drafted youth.  We've gone through this kind of thing before.  It could be a few years of mis-matched pieces and waiting for youth development that never really pans out.  Alternatively, we could see a major 5-for-1 trade that reshapes this roster mid-season.  Who knows.  I doubt Ainge even knows at this point.  Should be fun, though.