When last we left the Celtics, they had melted down in South Florida and were headed into an uncertain offseason. Six months and 149 locked out days later, the Celtics future seems clear but their present remains cloudy as they begin what will likely be the last ride of the Kevin Garnett era.

No matter what happens between now and the end of this season, it has been an exceptional journey. Since Garnett and Ray Allen arrived, the Celtics have won 234 regular season games, nine playoff series, two Eastern Conference titles and one NBA championship. Despite a pair of disappointing Game 7 losses, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who wouldn’t have signed on for that when it all came together in the summer of 2007.

Team president Danny Ainge went on record before the lockout with his intention to bring the core back for one more season with an eye on keeping the books clean for a major renovation in 2012.

Ainge’s reasoning is sound. Garnett is in the last year of his contract, Allen signed on for one more season and Jermaine O’Neal is also in the last year of his deal. He won’t find many takers for those contracts and the Celtics will go into 2012 with Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, coach Doc Rivers and tons of cap space.

The question between now and then is: Can the Celtics still legitimately contend for a championship in what is the ultimate transition year?

The argument against them is fairly straight-forward. Their key players are another year older and they haven’t shown the ability to remain healthy for a full season and playoffs since the championship season. There are only six players under contract (seven if you count rookie JaJuan Johnson) and there are needs at every position behind the starting five. Throw in a condensed 66-game schedule and a short training camp and their glaring need for depth becomes even more pronounced.

Then there’s the competition. The Celtics are chasing the Heat and the Bulls who sprinted past them at the end of the regular season. The Sixers and Pacers are coming on strong, the Hawks and Magic remain solid 50-win teams and the Knicks are an intriguing project.

Still, it would be foolish to bury the Celtics until they are laid to rest in the cold, dark ground. It will take a combination of luck, planning and good health if they are to be more than the proverbial team no one wants to face in the playoffs and while it may be a longshot, here’s what has to happen for the Celtics to contend one more time:

AINGE NEEDS TO COME UP BIG IN FREE AGENCY

With a tentative agreement to end the lockout and less than two weeks until training camps are likely to open on Dec. 9, Ainge has his work cut out for him as he attempts to fill out the roster for this season and keep the books clean for the summer of 2012.

At the moment the Celtics have six players under contract: Rondo, Allen, Pierce, Garnett, Jermaine O’Neal and Avery Bradley. Those six players alone have contracts worth over $66 million, which will take the Celtics over the cap and put them close to the luxury tax line, which was $70.3 million last season.

The luxury tax line is as important as the cap because under the proposed CBA, teams can’t use the full mid-level exception and their Bird rights to retain their own free agents if it takes them over the tax line. (See this breakdown from SI’s Zach Lowe and yes, this is a little confusing). 

The takeaway is that Ainge won’t have much room to maneuver and a lot of holes to fill. His track record in free agency has been mixed. Adding James Posey and Eddie House in 2007 were masterstrokes, but using the full mid-level exception on Rasheed Wallace and the Jermaine O’Neals was a disappointment. Delonte West and Marquis Daniels were nice under-the-radar additions, but couldn’t stay healthy.

The Celtics need size, bench shooting and more size. (We’ll throw in our annual plea for a legitimate backup point guard but won’t hold our breath). Ainge will have to be both good and lucky as he attempts to find the right pieces without jeopardizing any future maneuverability.

Keep an eye on the amnesty cuts, which could provide some interesting pieces to the free agent puzzle.

CAN RONDO FINALLY TAKE THE NEXT STEP?

After five years in the league, Rondo is now a certified All-Star and one of the best point guards in the league. Now, can he get better? He is, as always, an enigma.

Even before his season began to unravel in March, Rondo was alternating between jaw-dropping brilliance and head-scratching indifference. Injuries took a heavy toll, but even before they began to set in he was showing a casual indifference to scoring, while still producing amazing moments of cunning decision-making. The Celtics’ offense was often futile when he was off the court and sometimes stagnant when he was on it.

The holes in his game are obvious and may prevent him from joining the truly elite, but too often we focus on the negatives and forget to remember his unique abilities. If Rondo can take that proverbial final step -- and do it consistently -- then we may have to reassess just how good this Celtics team can become.

The future belongs to Rondo, but he’s as responsible for the present as anyone.

JEFF GREEN NEEDS TO EMERGE

Assuming Green returns, and that seems like a reasonable assumption, he will be under pressure to deliver far more than he produced in his short stint last season. He gets something of a pass for that performance because he was never given a consistent role.

In theory Green can be an athletic combination forward with size and skill that can help take some of the burden from Pierce and Garnett. In theory he can be the linchpin to a revamped rotation and develop into an impact sixth man, providing much-needed scoring and athletic ability.

Green is still just 25 years old, but he’s had four years playing major minutes on good teams. Now is the time for Green to move his career beyond the theoretical stage and develop into the player people have expected him to become since he came into the league.

GOOD HEALTH

This is a given and it will be the biggest challenge Rivers faces in what will be a grueling schedule. The ironic development last season was that the veterans stayed remarkably healthy, but the supporting cast was undone by injuries to the O’Neals, Delonte West, Marquis Daniels and even Nenad Krstic, which put an undue amount of pressure on Pierce, Allen and Rondo to play heavy minutes.

Whether it was due to injuries or inconsistent play, Rivers was never able to settle on a rotation last season. That will have to change.

The condensed schedule may actually help in this regard, provided Ainge can cobble together a suitable reserve unit. There’s simply no way Rivers can lean on his stars to the extent he did last season when faced with the sheer amount of games that will be on the schedule.

Rivers has already been able to do this with Garnett, keeping him at 30-32 minutes a night and resisting the urge to get him back in the game when things start to go wrong. He’ll have to convince Pierce and Allen to do the same, which won’t be easy but it’s the only way they can make it to May with a realistic chance in the playoffs.

The Celtics will not begin the year as the favorites under any scenario. Just about everything has to go right if they are to get out of the Eastern Conference and that’s before we even get to what should once again be a loaded West. It’s a slim chance, but it’s still a better chance than the vast majority of the league. At the very least that chance exists and that’s more than we could have said at the beginning of the week.