The Boston Celtics saw their rebuild accelerate by being far better than expected during the 14-15 season. After trading away Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green, the Celtics somewhat surprisingly became better and ended up in the playoffs instead of the lottery. The Celtics are in a challenging situation as they’re not good enough to realistically contend for a title, yet they will win far too many games to continue in the asset collection phase. Combine their relatively talented young players with a ton of future traded picks coming their way and a reasonable cap situation, and the opportunity to jump to contender status is distinctly possible.

Boston will have to start cashing in some of their assets, however, in order to get there. Similar to how Danny Leroux ranked Boston's full draft arsenal, here’s a ranking of how valuable each of those assets are to the Celtics.

1. Marcus Smart – Young, locked in on a Rookie Scale deal and, most importantly, talented. A bulldog defender whose offense is developing.

2. Isaiah Thomas – Potential (some would say likely) 6th Man of the Year winner. An offensive talent on a very team friendly contract that declines over the next two years.

3. 2016 Brooklyn First Round Pick – No protections. If Brooklyn struggles, as many are predicting, this could be a high Lottery pick.

4. Jae Crowder – A huge surprise after being a throw-in from Dallas in the Rondo deal. A rugged wing defender who can also play small ball PF. Signed a five-year contract that tops out at $7.8 million in its final year. A steal of deal.

5. Amir Johnson – Accomplished post defender who also contributes on offense. Contract is $12 million and fully non-guaranteed next year. A very tradable piece, or simply a solid player on a decent deal.

6. Future Dallas First Round Pick – This pick is protected for the next few seasons if it falls between 1-7. With Dallas looking at a possible regression, but not a full tank, there is a possibility this is another mid-range Lottery pick.

7. 2017 First Round Pick Swap with Brooklyn – The Pierce/Garnett/Terry trade keeps on giving. Similar to above, but without being solely owned and a year later. Still a valuable piece with Brooklyn looking at a couple of rebuilding years.

8. 2018 Brooklyn First Round Pick – And the final payoff from the big trade. No way of knowing where Brooklyn will be at by 2018, but additional picks are always valuable.

9. Avery Bradley – Some saw his contract as silly when it was signed. Now it looks like a bargain. He’s still a terrific defender and his offense improves every year. Not a fit as a lead guard, but you could do much worse.

10. Kelly Olynyk – Still under team control on his Rookie Scale deal for a couple more seasons. Defense is lacking, but brings a stretch-4 skill-set. Also a better ball handler and passer than most his size. With the NBA continuing to move towards versatile bigs, he fits the bill.

11. Jared Sullinger – Ranks below Olynyk only because of his impending Restricted Free Agency next summer. A solid offensive player, even if he falls in love with the jumper sometimes. Positional defense is ok. He’s also a plus rebounder.

12. James Young – Many love his offensive potential at the age of 20. Needs a lot of time and development.

13. R.J. Hunter – Basically an older, despite one less year of experience, version of Young. A very good shooter and passer already. Defense needs work.

14. Tyler Zeller – A good offensive center, especially for an up tempo team. Regularly beats opposing bigs down the floor for easy baskets. Defense is passable, but needs to improve. Restricted Free Agent next summer.

15. Terry Rozier – Surprisingly high pick in last year’s draft. Fits the defense and toughness mold of Smart and Bradley. Needs to develop, but a hard worker.

16. Jonas Jerebko – A good backup swing forward. Signed to a very team friendly, tradable deal. Fully non-guaranteed next season.

17. Evan Turner – Turner was the de facto PG after Rondo was traded. Very solid with the ball in his hands. Good mid-range shooter, but not a deep threat. Best fit is probably as a backup wing.

18. David Lee – Can still play. Solid rebounder and passer. Not a good defender or great scorer. Large contract, but expiring.

19. Future Memphis First Round Pick – This one is hard to project. Earliest Boston can get this pick is 2018 (Memphis has to settle a debit with Denver first). Hard to know what the Grizzlies will be at that point. Declining protections for a few seasons further muddy the picture as well.

20. Jordan Mickey – Second round big man has promise, but far from proven. Locked in to a very cheap contract (but rich for a second round pick) for the next four seasons. If he develops, he could shoot way up this list.

The Celtics have very few players or picks that don’t carry value. Almost every piece is a legitimate asset that is very tradable. The challenge is that Boston is holding a lot of them. You can’t have too many young players on one squad. First, it takes time to develop. Second, it can get very expensive to retain all that talent. Take a look at where Oklahoma City is today. They spent a ton of money to retain Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka. A future, big contract was a deciding factor in trading away James Harden.

Boston is also deep in the frontcourt. Johnson, Lee, Zeller, Sullinger and Olynyk all need to play. Ideally, Jerebko would see minutes at power forward. And the team would love to get some time for Mickey as well. There are obviously too few minutes to go around. On the flipside, the team is lacking quality wings. There is an especially big need for wings that can shoot. Hunter and Young aren’t ready for that responsibility yet and none of the others on the roster can be described as a plus shooter.

While Danny Ainge has been public about maintaining the flexibility for when a superstar becomes available, the team could benefit with a few short term moves as well. For example, combining Sullinger with a pick (the Celtics own all of their first round picks) or younger player for a shooter is a move that Boston should consider. This is a move like that helps in several places. They free up frontcourt minutes immediately, improve the balance of the roster this year, and don’t have to pay Sullinger next summer. 

Ainge has done a phenomenal job of collecting assets. But those assets are only truly valuable when turned in to something. Sitting on them makes the Celtics only a more competitive version of the 76ers.