If you guys want something to read into, read into Wyc's summation of this team.
"I tell you one thing... 3 years ago, almost today, in 2013 Doc had just left and then we, as they said on NBA.com "The Celtics have completed the DEMOLITION of their 2008 Championship team by trading Pierce and Garnett"... so three years ago we were probably looking at a lost decade. Could easily be looking at 10 years in the darkness. Now we're 3 years in we've got Brad, we've got Isaiah - who's an allstar, we've got Al Horford - who's a mult-time all-star, and we've got guys like Smart and Olynyk and Jae Crowder, and we've got all our picks going forward plus three more picks from other guys, and room for a full max next year... and we won 48 games. So we're three years in, on the way up. I think we're going in the right direction..."
Who is the one guy he doesn't mention? How about 1st Team All-Defense Avery Bradley? I'm sure it was just an oversight, but maybe not.
Had we landed Durant, any trade for a star would have had to involved Avery Bradley's contract. But of course, with Durant out of the picture we don't actually need to move Bradley anymore. We could just combine the contracts of Amir + Jerebko + several picks/prospects to land a guy like Middleton without moving Bradley.