Thanks for the info on the actual future power rankings. I'd rather look at it as a more generic phrase. If it's not about the future in regards to say three or more years, then I suppose Cleveland and Golden State should dominate it until they slip back towards the second tier.
It's all about Danny Ainge and how he set us up for flexibility moving forward.
http://en.hispanosnba.com/salaries/teams/boston-celticsPlayers that can simply be allowed to walk after this year:Olynyk
Zeller
Young
Amir
Jerebko
Jackson
Green
Mickey
Players locked up for four years including this one:Horford
Crowder
Jaylen Brown
Players with only two years left:Thomas
Bradley
Smart
Rozier
Rozier can be retained a third year by team option and I am assuming Brown is retained in years three and four by team option.
Yabusele, Zizac and Nader look promising, but there are never any guarantees they can transform potential or good play in inferior leagues to the NBA.
The Brooklyn picks are where the gold is found for our future.
We'll either get another star through Danny trades or he will ride this out and keep rolling the Brooklyn dice.
Minnesota seems to be good for a futures team, but they are missing the good to very good developed pros already on the Celtics.
Orlando and Milwaukee for a number of years have looked promising, but they still haven't made any leaps from looking at the standings.
Toronto is our big brother and are currently still bullying us. But they are possibly looking at an eventual treadmill if they can't snag a big free agent to go with their few established stars. The Clippers have been stacked with stars for years and we are still waiting for them to get even a small whiff of a title opportunity.
The NBA has been flipped for roster trends over the past decades. Players used to stay on the same teams for a lot longer.
Now the trend seems to be to retain a couple stars and make them feel comfortable while finding economic pieces to fit around them.
We basically need great future years out of Crowder, Horford and Brown. We need Danny to make good decisions in regards to Olynyk next off-season and then the one after that with Bradley, Thomas and Smart on slate for decisions.
As fans we are helpless. We can hope for fireworks or be patient for development. We can form opinions on who we want to keep, cut or trade, but that's about it. And we all know the old saying on opinions.
No matter what happens this year, Danny will be looking at another top draft pick to select and the room to add another very good to great free agent.
The only treadmill we are on is one of uncertainty. That is the character of the new NBA with crapshoot drafts, persistent injuries and salary caps limiting lengths of contracts.
Jaylen Brown doesn't look like a crapshoot. It would help if he could make the leap out of the rookie deer eyes phase going into next year. Then we'd have a good to great player at cheap Isaiah type money for three more years.
A lot has to go right for Danny to set us up to win title #18. However, I think for us to become a contender nipping at the great teams won't take much more than Danny rolling out of bed.