The Boston Celtics have become one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference over the last couple of seasons after the decision to scrap their former NBA title winning group of players.

According to Chris Forsberg and Luke Knox of ESPN, this decision to go full rebuild mode has quickly paid huge dividends that have led to the current state of the franchise.

A mere four years after hitting the reset button, the Celtics are coming off a season in which they won an East-best 53 games and appear on the cusp of returning to legitimate title contention. How did Boston turn things around so quickly?

Ainge and his front-office staff relentlessly overhauled the team's roster, targeting undervalued talent that formed the Celtics' chip-on-their-shoulder core while also feverishly stockpiling future draft picks. They hit a couple of home runs along the way (Boston is still collecting picks from the Pierce/Garnett swap and got All-NBA guard Isaiah Thomas virtually for free thanks to the aftershocks of the Nets blockbuster).

Although their draft pick choices haven't exactly hit gold over the last few years, they have made several other key moves that have put them in a promising position to potentially contend for a 18th NBA championship.

It began with the acquisition of point guard Isaiah Thomas from the Phoenix Suns a couple of seasons ago that put in place a reliable top scoring option who has developed into a two-time All-Star. This coupled with the key free agent signings of former All-Star center Al Horford last summer and All-Star forward Gordon Hayward this summer that could possibly give them enough firepower to seriously challenge the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference.

The decision to head into rebuilding mode isn't an easy choice, but the slew of subsequent moves made over the last couple of years has created a bright future around the organization moving forward.