Yeah. Could be another year like this one. At the same time, C's will have a LOT of money, really to spend on just 2-3 players if they desire. Currently the C's have 9 players under contract for next season at a shade under $34 million, not counting Jerebko and Johnson. They also have 3 1st-round picks. If we project those picks at the same positions their teams picked last year, they'd have 12 roster spots allocated to players making $38.4 million. The cap was most recently projected to be in the $89 million range, but that was before this year's cap came in several million high. Based on 5% revenue growth (the NBA has been outpacing that the last few years, so that's conservative) plus the new money from the TV deal, I project the cap to be over $95 million. The Celtics could have $57 million in cap room to spend on 3 players (although hopefully a bit less because those Nets and Mavs picks get better). If they kept Johnson and Jerebko, they'd have $40 million to spend on one player. They'd have $31 million to spend on one guy just to reach the salary floor.
That's funny money. The Celtics have almost managed their cap too well. But if Durant and Al Horford want to play together, for instance, that can happen here. Some people are upset that we're spinning our wheels for another year, but if this team can win 50 games (not saying it can, just saying "if") and get at least another round into the playoffs, Ainge will have the money to go to two top free agents and say "Come join this 50-win team and turn us into a championship team." And maybe it will work. And if it doesn't, I guess they just sign a couple more players to Amir Johnson contracts and try again the next year, when the free agent class is loads better, they have even more cap room despite still having 12 players under contract, and hopefully some of the young guys like Smart are good enough to be a real draw on their own.