Looking long-term: How Kyrie fits the Celtics timeline

Now that we’re all done with the drama, we can focus on the Celtics’ future and what Kyrie Irving means moving forward.

One thing we heard last week when Danny Ainge discussed the trade was how Irving fit Boston’s timeline. I explained what the means on Boston.com: 

When Ainge talks about the Celtics’ timeline, he’s talking about an adjusted timeline that shifted in the wake of the Warriors. Instead of building a team to get past Cleveland and fight for a championship now, the Celtics have created a roster that will still be good, but will be better suited for when the Warriors start to fall apart.

[…] The Celtics, meanwhile, will be hitting a nice stride right about when contractual dynamics start to break up the greatest NBA team ever assembled. In two years, Al Horford will be 33 and in the last year of his contract. Gordon Hayward will be 29 and smack in the middle of his prime. Irving will 27 and just entering his. Key players like Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, and Jayson Tatum will be 25, 22, and 21 respectively.

So the Celtics are building a team that is built to grow into a contender in a couple of years and make a serious run at the NBA title when Cleveland and Golden State theoretically start to decline.

But wait, there’s more!

Yes, there is more! And you can check it out on Boston.com. There are still a lot of questions to be answered in the wake of this trade, but the Celtics seem to be moving closer to a team full of 20-somethings at or near their prime ready for a sustained run at or near the top of the East and the NBA.