Your rebuilding plan...

[Robert24]

How would bring this team back to success? I would keep Rondo and Smart as the main building blocks, and sign Marc Gasol in FA. In this upcoming draft, I would aim for a top SF like Kelly Oubre or Stanley Johnson.

Rondo
Smart
Oubre/Johnson
Sullinger
Gasol

I think that will give us a solid team in the future, and package that with all of our draft picks, and we have a great future.

[Celtics4ever]

Right now Rondo and Smart play the same position.  Both of them, One of them would have to develop a shot from the outside to both serve as building blocks.

[Nerf DPOY]

I know it's not the answer you're looking for, but there's just too many unforeseeable variables and unknowns ( like what Marc Gasol is thinking) for me to bother presenting any plan for bringing us back into contention.

That said, my best guess is that they won't "blow it up" i.e they won't trade Rondo,Green, or Bass this season.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Find the right trade partner, hope we can sign a big free-agent, or hope our current talent develops enough.

This whole idea of a "plan" is a bit silly to discuss in all honesty once one considers how the CBA works. There's so much outside of one's control to really do a plan. All you can do is make sure you make solid decisions as you go forward while improving the make-up of the team. You have small goals, like planning for cap space at some point, etc., but there's no "plan" to really follow through on a rebuild. You just weight your options and make the most of opportunities when they come your way.

[Chris22]

Trade Rondo, keep our picks.
Sign a free agent with the cap space, if you can get one worth the money.

2015 - three first round picks, ours and the Clippers and maybe the 76ers
2016 - three first round picks, ours and the Nets and the Cavs
2017 - one first round pick, the better of ours or the Nets
2018 - two first round picks, ours and the Nets

[diconzo]

With the impending cap rise, would it be possible to have a core of Rondo/Gay/Horford/Gasol? Would definitely require clearing cap (Wallace) moving some of our assets (Sullinger/Olynyk/Smart/Young/Zeller) but I doubt all of them. Gay, Gasol and Rondo are all FAs this offseason, and Horford is one next season. Could we trade for Horford and sign Gay/Gasol?

[gpap]

With the impending cap rise, would it be possible to have a core of Rondo/Gay/Horford/Gasol? Would definitely require clearing cap (Wallace) moving some of our assets (Sullinger/Olynyk/Smart/Young/Zeller) but I doubt all of them. Gay, Gasol and Rondo are all FAs this offseason, and Horford is one next season. Could we trade for Horford and sign Gay/Gasol?

I wish. That be a pretty sweet lineup.

[obnoxiousmime]

Marc Gasol, like Bird, McHale, and Parish, is not walking through that door. DeAndre Jordan is not walking through that door. Even if Boston had the cap space (which it wouldn't after a Rondo re-sign in this scenario) there's no reason why Jordan or Gasol would pick Boston over the other teams because of the limits on how much you can offer guys. When money is equal, location and quality of team become the prime factors and Boston is lacking in both areas.

Yes, it's possible for a guy like Gasol who's a little older that Boston could overpay with a huge 5-year deal, but I don't think that's really the smartest move for the franchise at this time.

If they're really going to build around Rondo they need to get the record to a point where it's respectable and FAs/trade targets think, OK I can see this team being a perennial playoff team with me on it.

Secondly they need to acquire guys who are young and undervalued who have the potential to exceed expectations. Everybody knows guys like Anthony Davis are awesome, but not every GM would have predicted Bledsoe and Dragic having great years in Phoenix, or Millsap developing a three-pt. shot in Atlanta. Based on Rondo's age they can't be drafting all these 19-20 year olds who are years away from their prime. They need to find the guys who have been in the league 3-5 years and take a shot that they could be better than most think.

Someone like Turner could qualify because he's talented and still young but due to a disappointing season didn't find a lot of suitors in FA. Or, let's say that they take a chance on trading for Larry Sanders and the guy suddenly matures a la Zach Randolph? When the obvious stars are not available to you, these are the options you have.

The hope is that after enough good moves the team is competitive enough so that they are not laughed out of the building when making FA/trade pitches to that star(s) that will take you over the top (like how significant the Harden trade was to Houston).

[LooseCannon]

My rebuilding plan is to try to make the team as attractive as possible for a free agent to join in 2015 while avoiding trading a first-round pick.  Try to make some moves in the summer of 2015.

Basically, maintain flexibility until next summer, then reevaluate.

[D.o.s.]

Drink heavily.

[Vermont Green]

I think the plan has to be to get lucky in the draft.  We have so many picks, we need to hope that some of the picks turn out to be stars (even one or two).  To have room on the roster, we will need to continually move the picks that don't work out (which will be most of them).

In the meantime, I think trading Rondo for something (recent picks and future picks) is a better bet than holding on to him and hoping that he both resigns and is able to attract a big name FA.  I think if that were to happen, it would have already happened.

In terms of trading assets for say one big star (like the KG trade), we have to stay open to that but I just think that it is very unlikely that lightening will strike twice with that approach.  That would probably have to go in conjunction with Rondo resigning so that will likely only happen when/if Rondo resigns.

I know that "get lucky in the draft" is not terribly reassuring as a plan but I think it is more likely than make a big trade or sign a big FA.  There is not sure fire plan.  Trades can blow up on us and FA can be busts too.  If we do a big trade or sign a big FA, that is it.  If it doesn't work out, we are kind of stuck.  With all the picks that we have, we can get past a bust or two along the way.

[greece66]

I think the plan has to be to get lucky in the draft.  We have so many picks, we need to hope that some of the picks turn out to be stars (even one or two).  To have room on the roster, we will need to continually move the picks that don't work out (which will be most of them).

In the meantime, I think trading Rondo for something (recent picks and future picks) is a better bet than holding on to him and hoping that he both resigns and is able to attract a big name FA.  I think if that were to happen, it would have already happened.

In terms of trading assets for say one big star (like the KG trade), we have to stay open to that but I just think that it is very unlikely that lightening will strike twice with that approach.  That would probably have to go in conjunction with Rondo resigning so that will likely only happen when/if Rondo resigns.

I know that "get lucky in the draft" is not terribly reassuring as a plan but I think it is more likely than make a big trade or sign a big FA.  There is not sure fire plan.  Trades can blow up on us and FA can be busts too.  If we do a big trade or sign a big FA, that is it.  If it doesn't work out, we are kind of stuck.  With all the picks that we have, we can get past a bust or two along the way.

I agree. They will take lots of young guys and then decide which ones have a real upside. This is going to be a long process, but it is the safest way to do it. Bradley, Young, Smart and Sullynyk (and maybe Powell and Zeller)are not great but they are a decent core of young players to work with.
ET and Thornton will probably be treated the same way Crawford was last year.
I hope Rondo has a really good start of the year, so they can trade him early on.

[Csfan1984]

Draft well

[Celtics18]

Step one:

Win some games. 

[guava_wrench]

Drink heavily.

Best answer.