how is anyone in the east going to compete with Boston in the future?

 Boston looks like a nightmare for the rest of the East for years to come. The salary cap looks like the most likely thing to stop them. At some point they will have hard decisions to make similar to what OKC had to do with KD, Russ, and Harden.

 Oh god a Booker-Kyrie backcourt, open the turnstiles on the perimeter, better have some serious rim protection behind them.

Ayton would be terrifying though coached by Stevens and playing alongside Horford. 

 Let’s not get too carried away. I really like Rozier but Kyrie is a Superstar. He gets buckets even in the clutch and nobody handles the rock and finnishes below the rim like him.

Gordon Hayward and his contract is Fair Game tho. He only played 5 mins this season. I know he is one of Brad Stevens guys but they traded away the truth and I.T he can/should at least see what he can get with Tatum and Brown on the Roster and the Success they had.

I started writing a couple sentences about how Hayward’s contract and injury situation could hold them back a little, but looking at their salary and contract situation more yeah theyre good.. Brown and Tatum won’t be getting their big money deals for another 2 or 3 years. Horford has two more years at 30 per. Irving is a tradeable contract (and I think they eventually will whether it’s this offseason like op said or next year), Rozier has another year on his rookie deal so they have a whole year to evaluate who they want to invest big money in. They’ll like have a top 5 pick next year along with several other future firsts. Plenty of draft picks/tradeable assets to find another big to play alongside/succeed Horford

I think Philly will definitely be able to keep right there with Boston especially if they land a Paul George or Kawhi Leonard this off-season. Where LeBron goes will have an impact as well.

I think the 2 other teams that depending on how they build and develop could be very competitive are Milwaukee and Indiana.
Milwaukee obviously has some real talent on their roster starting with Giannis and Middleton is still criminally under rated. I think what Bud can do with the team will be huge and Parker is a legit talent who I don’t think they can afford or really fits given Giannis seems best at PF, Middleton at SF, Brogdon at SG and Bledsoe at PG. I think if they can find a stretch-5,fill out the bench and Giannis improve the 3-ball they will be scary.

Indiana doesn’t quite have the talent on roster, but the reason I give them a chance is the cap-room combined with Kevin Pritchard’s GM abilities, Oladipo’s development and they have 2 really good C’s with All-Star potential in my opinion. Turner and/or Sabonis’ development will be huge, but my question is can Indiana get another guy on the roster who can be a guaranteed All-Star, elite scoring option and fit the mold.

One trade I keep thinking 2hich could benefit both teams is Sign-Trade Parker + Thon Maker for Turner. The reason I throw Maker in is a little insurance for Parkers injury history and he plays a lot like Turner so could be a nice bench fit s well as keep some rim protection in Indiana. Turner has more upside than Sabonis no doubt, but Sabonis seems to fit better with Indiana’s current franchise player in Oladipo and hopefully develops his outside shot further.

Bucks – C. Turner PF. Giannis SF. Middleton SG. Brogdon PG. Bledsoe
Pacers – C. Sabonis PF. Parker SF. Bogdanovic SG. Oladipo PG. Collison (Will still have lots of cap in 2019 offseason)

 Yeah. Slow your roll.  76ers can mess around and get Kawhi and Lebrun/PG13.  Plus Embiid and Simmons with playoff experience.  Celtics have to pay Smart in the meantime and figure out how to incorporate Irving and Hayward into the offense while keeping the best defense in the league.   That’s a tall order.

 Can’t trade Heyward it would look so bad if you sign max guys then trade them no max player would want to sign with you. IT isn’t a max guy they traded him for an upgrade and Pierce was at the end of his career.

 If anyone ever can out coach Brad stevens…

Talent wise he can maximise a bunch of bums and make them look like borderline allstars…See I.T,Avery bradley and Crowder out of Celtics system.. Also see Simmons and Embiid vs Supposed lesser talent and losing. System and a good coach will always beat individual talents.

So with that being said:

Talent wise who can keep up in the East: 76ers,Bucks(if they get a could get a couple more solid young players),Orlando(youth wise just need the right coach) and maybe one other team could.

But actually keeping up/beating them depends on if the other coaches figure Stevens out and maximise their talent better..