Were the Celtics left behind in the post-LeBron James fallout?

LeBron James single-handedly held up the NBA world for over a week.  Once he made up his mind and announced it to the world, an avalanche of free agent signings and trades followed.  The landscape was shifting and every GM was doing their best to find solid ground and take advantage.

Armed with a plethora of picks, cap friendly assets, and some good, young talent, the Celtics were positioned well to take advantage in a time like this.  I was kind of hoping for a sign-and-trade, or a straight trade for a good player, or at the very least a deal where we pick up even more assets in order to facilitate another team looking to free up cap space immediately.

Yet, aside from the move to add Zeller, Thornton, and a pick, the Celtics have been whisper quiet.  Nothing happening and apparently we're no closer to landing Kevin Love than we were before.  In short, nothing has really changed.

But is that a bad thing?  I mean, I'm impatient so I'd rather know sooner than later.  But sometimes the best decisions are the ones to wait a little longer.  Much of the early action was teams with cap space locking up players to ginormous deals.  There are still some players looking for landing spots and teams with cash burning holes in their pockets.

In short, if a team has the cap space to sign a free agent themselves, they don't need to give up assets to make a trade.  So there's no rush for the Wolves or any other team with a star on the trading block to make a deal.  Same goes for the Celtics with Rajon Rondo by the way (not that he's "on the block" per se, but Danny will always listen).

The Celtics were not likely to make their coveted fireworks via free agency anyway.  Especially not with Avery Bradley re-signing and eating up what little cap space they could have created.  So there's really no timeline or deadline for the Celtics to make a move aside from the start of next season (and after that the trade deadline).

That isn't to say that there aren't deals that could happen at any moment.  By all indications Brandon Bass can be had for a song and a dance.  Or maybe just the song.

We can be reasonably sure that Jeff Green wouldn't be too expensive either.  I keep wondering if the Wizards will be in the market for the former Georgetown star.  Apparently the Wizards really think they have a shot at Kevin Durant in 2016, in part because he grew up in nearby Baltimore (and after LeBron returning to his roots, who can blame them?).  They still need a small forward till then and Jeff conveniently has 2 years left on his deal (the 2nd is a player option).  Otto Porter has shown some promise in Summer League already, but they might not feel comfortable putting their eggs into that basket.  But that's just conjecture on my part.

The Celtics might have to wait for their fireworks and the wait might be long.  And if it is too long, the fireworks could be in the form of sending Rajon Rondo to another town.  I'm not crazy about that idea (in case you haven't guessed) but it could happen and in the end it might be for the best.

I suppose it boils down to patience.  Are the Celtics (and their fans) willing to put up with another year (or more) of "rebuilding" the slow way?  Is Danny Ainge willing to wait for the ideal deal instead of accepting a decent deal (that doesn't produce fireworks)?

The concept is sound; the blueprint is similar to the one that succeeded in 2007.  Gather assets and swing for the fences with a few home run deals.  But there are different paths to a title and the team has to be open to any of them, provided they have the stomach to wait for the right opportunity.

In short, I'd really like to see the Celtics make a deal, but I'm also content to wait for them to make the right deal.