Maybe I'm over thinking the cap space and stars route. Let's see how Cavs match-up. If we get torched this series than think 2 max guys needed. If two games are close and one is a C's win then maybe Middleton and one max guy is enough to make the team a contender.
I agree we need 2 All Stars at a minimum. Middleton's production is close to All Star level and he's 23 years old. I didn't mention earlier that I agree with you I doubt we'd want to pay Middleton the max slot, but just something high enough that the Bucks won't match, say up to 16/17 million x 4 years.
I read your post on cap room and it's good. Keep in mind that guys like Bradley probably part of deals with that salary going out in order to sign one or two max players. This team isn't just keeping everyone and just adding max guys.
Contracts like Bradley, Thomas are designed to give teams who consider trading with us a value proposition who need salary coming back in that isn't complete dead weight with the picks we send them.
Ainge probably looks to move Bradley in any trade that acquires a star. The final year of his contract will be something like 8% of the cap, which would be pretty appealing to other GM's with a need for defense/3 point shooting/locker room culture in a rebuild.
But yeah I agree with you on the max slot. I just hope we consider Middleton as someone who could get that max slot one day and signing him to something solid now could be very valuable, and is never going to be overly detrimental.