I think it's incorrect to say that because we have no obvious "stars" right now, that this team can't be anything more than an also-ran 8th seed for the next couple years or that our lack of "star power" right now means our future outlook is bad, that Ainge has somehow screwed up our rebuild or that a team like the Lakers has a better outlook than we do. I think that's ridiculous and ignores how well we have built a competitive, improving young team with a great developing culture while also accumulating the assets and flexibility to pursue all avenues (Draft, Trade, FA) to return to contender status.
I also think it's incorrect to say that this team as currently constituted is going to grow to contender status with a Sully, Smart, AB, IT core, or that without any major changes this team is even gonna get past LeBron in the next couple years. The "accumulating assets" phase of the rebuild isn't over, because we don't have a contending roster yet. Ainge won't be done collecting assets until we do. It's exactly why we traded Wallace for Lee and wasted cap space to give PJ3 a look and grab a 2nd rounder. If they underachieve this year, it wouldn't surprise me to see Ainge take part of this team down, keep our 1sts and go total youth movement. That flexibility to do that is part of the reason I'm excited about our future. I still think this team could surprise people and could even win 50 games, but we're not developing into a contender with just these guys. The FO knows that better than anyone.
You can like our current group and be really excited about our future while also being concerned about our lack of obvious "star talent" and wonder where that talent is coming from. The two aren't necessarily separate. I just realize that the FO is keenly aware of where they are, and know what it takes to get where they wanna go.
I think your opening paragraph sets up some straw man arguments, but overall you make a solid point.
Where I'm at on this comes down to the sentence I've bolded.
The Celts are not done rebuilding. Nowhere close. And to my mind, while Ainge has done a great job of maintaining flexibility and assembling assets, all he's done is give himself resources with which to make future deals. The Celtics are still in a state of rebuild that reminds one of the Gertrude Stein quote, "There is no there there."
That's why I don't see the Celtics as any further along in their rebuild, or doing any better job of it, than teams like the Sixers, Magic, T-Wolves, etc. The wins in the short term mean nothing to me because the team has no shot of doing anything meaningful beyond winning enough regular season games to allow us to craft feel-good narratives about the team and the coach.
I appreciate that the wins in the short term have actual value to a lot of fans, and I respect that. I also understand that some people place a lot of value on the intangible stuff like team culture, providing positive examples for young players, and so on.
I tend to think those things could be accomplished without sacrificing so much on the player development and draft asset front. I also tend to think they matter relatively little until there is a core group in place that can carry over the intangible benefits into a theoretical eventual era of contention.
Well, When Ainge traded Rondo and Green he seemed to have the intention of playing his way to a high lottery pick, and even after the IT trade no one really thought we'd be in the playoffs. This team overachieved, and played their way to a 7th seed with an outstanding 2nd half. I don't think that's "sacrificing player development" when your one of the youngest teams in the league and almost everyone you have is 26 or under.
So it turns out the guys we have and the coach we have, right now at least, are better than anyone thought. I think it's really unfair to think of these guys as scrubs, because most of our guys would play meaningful minutes on a contender. I think Ainge also saw this. He knows the culture were building is very important to sustained success, and if we can draft/trade/sign a star or two and pry them around this group, we could really have something.
But even with all our flexibility, you can't really pursue all the avenues to improvement with equal aggressiveness in a single offseason. The direction you choose to go drives your off-season moves. I think Ainge was right to go this direction this season because that team that finished last season was pretty dang good and if your gonna break up that team because you feel like you didn't get a high enough pick it sends a very poor message to your young players, your coaches and your organization. We have extra picks that look pretty good coming our way and a bevy of trade assets. Your growing core and HC are gaining respect. You should at least try to make legit improvements, search out a good trade and see if you can try to sign someone next summer before you start making the team worse in the name of a slightly higher draft pick.
However, that's what I like about our off-season. We drafted guys that can use development but have good potential. We legitimately filled holes on our team that will allow us to improve even more this year, IMO. But we didn't get locked into any long term commitments to any over-rated over-priced veterans, and if things don't play out the way we hope we can literally shift on a dime, make a few moves at the deadline or at the draft and use our 3 likely top 15 picks to add to a total youth roster of Smart, Young, Rozier, Mickey, Crowder etc and go from there.
Our ability to pursue the most sensible road to contention, no matter what that is, whenever the opportunity presents itself is the key to our successful rebuild. We don't necessarily NEED Sully/Smart/KO etc. to develop into an all-star, wait on a major trade, or simply hope we can sign a big-name FA. We can do whatever option is the best at the time, and retain the flexibility to change course if need be. That's what I'm excited about. The issues of the "being stuck in the middle" seem rendered moot by that point.
Topic: You want Proof. You Can't handle the Proof! C's rebuilding fast. (Read 23637 times)