Overflowing with Assets, Boston Celtics Face Momentous 2015 Offseason

It wasn't long ago that the Boston Celtics were embarking on what figured to be an arduous rebuild. They had just brought a rookie head coach aboard in Brad Stevens. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett had been shipped to the Brooklyn Nets. Jeff Green and Rajon Rondo were lingering in purgatory, and firm direction was elusive. 

The team subsequently floundered during Stevens' first year as head coach, finishing 25-57, which netted them the sixth pick (Marcus Smart) in the 2014 NBA draft.

But one year later, Boston is sitting in an entirely different position. Its trajectory has changed substantially thanks to some accelerated development spurred by a second-half surge. In a weak Eastern Conference, the Celtics are starting to look like one of the most promising young teams on the rise.

And not just because the Celtics qualified for the playoffs and captured the No. 7 seed after tying the Cleveland Cavaliers with the most post-All-Star break wins (20) of any Eastern Conference team. 

It's wholly encouraging that Boston can count on a budding core comprised of cost-controlled guards like Isaiah Thomas and Marcus Smart to go with a defensive stalwart a la Avery Bradley and restricted free agent Jae Crowder. Plus the team's asset management has positioned the Celtics to pivot in a myriad of directions this summer. 

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President of basketball operations Danny Ainge has stacked the deck with an insane number of delectable draft picks who could be dangled as trade chips in an attempt to lure a big name to Beantown.

"We’re going to go after anybody and everybody that we think is a significant player to upgrade our talent," Ainge said in April, according to The Boston Globe's Adam Himmelsbach. "And when I say upgrade our talent, you’ve got to be pretty good to upgrade our talent, because we have good players. And so we’re going after all the top names on the list and seeing what happens."

According to RealGM.com, Boston owns picks 16, 28 (via Los Angeles Clippers), 33 (via Philadelphia 76ers) and 45 this year alone. Head into 2016, and the Celtics could be purveyors of as many as four first-round picks. Not only did they retain their selection, but the Celtics will acquire Brooklyn's first-rounder, Dallas' first-rounder (if it falls outside the top seven) and Minnesota's early selection should it reside outside the top 12 picks.

Along with a slew of second-round picks spread out through 2017, the Celtics can swap first-round picks with the Nets in two years before acquiring their 2018 first-rounder. All that by virtue of the Pierce-Garnett blockbuster. 

And did we mention the cap space? Oh, the cap space. 

Next season, the Celtics have a shade over $40 million in guarantees on their balance sheet, with the final year of Gerald Wallace's deal eating up one-quarter of that total. 

That's how many cost-effective moves Boston has made over the past two years. 

"We haven’t ever had cap space in the history of the Celtics, for sure since I’ve been here," Ainge said in April, according to Himmelsbach. "So we need to use that space wisely."

In fact, entering the summer of 2016 when the cap is set to spike, the only two players guaranteed to be under contract are Bradley and Smart, each of whom will be making under $9 million at that point. Smart, Kelly Olynyk and James Young all have team options in their rookie deals that can be exercised, but combined, they won't tally $9 million. 

What all this means is the Celtics are set up to make a blockbuster move if they so choose—be it in a trade or free-agent signing. 

Using all of those picks is a pipe dream in the first place. There has to be a bigger end game than simply loading up on prospects, and Ainge's track record (read: dealing for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett in 2007) suggests there will be a blockbuster move to be made down the line. 

Should they decide to package those picks in an effort to improve in the short term, there are two conceivable routes to be the taken. The first involves splicing together some of the selections this year and the unprotected picks—or those likely to be conveyed down the line—as a way to move up in the draft to secure another top-tier lottery prospect. 

The other concept Boston could toy with involves the theoretical pursuit of a superstar to anchor the team's future pursuits.  

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One of the oft-discussed objects of the Celtics' affection has been Kevin Love, who can opt out of the final year of his deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers and test free-agent waters this summer. 

However, the odds of Love shipping up to Boston this summer appear to be dwindling, according to the Boston Herald's Steve Bulpett: 

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This year, even though Love’s path to Boston could seemingly be more clear—all he has to do is opt out of the final year of his contract, not wait out a trade—things have gotten significantly more problematic from a Celtics point of view. 

According to all sources, Danny Ainge still has affection for Love, but it’s not nearly the borderline obsession that it was last summer.

While all Celtics/Love talk may be rendered moot anyway if the Cavaliers present him with a big-money extension, the general circumstances here make it perhaps even more of a longshot that he plays his 2015-16 home games in Boston.

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Don't be surprised if the team sniffs around Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins, either, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein: 

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Will they open their war chest of future draft picks to try to pry DeMarcus Cousins away from Sacramento via trade? The early word out there is: Bank on it.

Will they be in the mix for pretty much any name player who unexpectedly comes available in coming months?

Bank on that, too.

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Then, of course, Ainge can try to use his team's newfound financial wiggle room to swipe a free agent or two off the open market to bolster the team's status as a playoff contender in the East immediately.

With the team in desperate need of three-point shooting after recording a 27th-ranked conversion rate of 32.7 percent from beyond the arc last season, swing options like Khris Middleton or Wesley Matthews could be enticing.  

There won't be clarity for a few weeks now, but the Celtics are locked and loaded with enough assets to change the course of the franchise in one fell swoop. Whether they do so via the draft, trades, free agency or a combination of the three remains to be seen, but optionality can't hurt in a case like this. 

With their developmental timetable already accelerated following a promising flourish to the 2014-15 season, it should be fascinating to see how the Celtics parlay that success into even greater rewards this summer. 

All statistics are courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com unless noted otherwise. All salary information retrieved from BasketballInsiders.com.