It’s about constructing a team to compete for a title over the next 6-10 years. Not next year. When we have no shot anyway.
Not really. You can't foresee what's gonna happen in 4 years, let alone 10. Title windows last much less in today's NBA. Long gone are the days of slowly bulding your team around a superstar like Duncan, Dirk, Wade, Kobe, etc. If you are a small market team, it's more likely a superstar will stay until the end of his second contract (or force his way out before it).
If you have a small window, you must take a crack at it (see Toronto). Even the freaking Lakers. They 've done everything wrong the last few years but they get AD and suddenly the go from non-playoff team to winning the title. That's how quickly the landscape changes.
On the other hand, see Boston & Philly. Both hoarding assets for the next big move: they fail to pull the trigger (Kawhi) or made horrendous moves and suddenly their chances are not as obvious.
My take is that our title window with this group is the next 2 years (maybe 3). We have an All-NBA Center in his prime, a young superstar, a great third option (Bogie), good role players around them (Joe, Royce, Mike). Great scorer from the bench (JC if he stays). We are on par with Denver, Clippers and perhaps a bit ahead of Dallas and OKC. With a healthy Bogey (or even without him but at least one decent defender), we could have reached the Conf Finals: then you are one AD twisted ankle away from reaching the Finals.
Our top 6-7 players are very good. The FO just screwed up the bench. If we hit home runs with the MLE and the draft, we are right back a it. The margin of error is thinner due to our lack of assets, but I say, go for it now and if it doesn't work, hit a rebuild while Rudy is still in his prime. Don't plan for the next 10 years because Rudy, DM, the coaching staff or even the FO might not be here that long (remember, 10 years ago we had DWill, Haywood, Kirilenko , Okur, Raja Bell, etc on the roster and Jerry was still our coach)