Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big storyline. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

And then there’s Minnesota, who along with Love is certainly looking to trade Kevin Martin in the deal. The two will most likely come as a package. There were reports that the Wolves were trying to unload J.J. Barea as well, a former Northeastern Husky. The Wolves have two strong centers in Nikola Pekovic and second-year player Gorgui Dieng, who had a strong finish to the year. Boston’s search for a legit center does continue . . .

CSNNE – Report: Celtics look to be 3rd team in Love deal

The above quote is the last paragraphs from Jimmy Toscano’s article detailing some of the players Ainge might try to target as a Love-Wiggins facilitator. Though the sad reality is that we’ve likely been reduced to the facilitator role — the players we could make a run at are far from garbage guys. I chose the paragraph for two reasons: I could actually see this happening, and adding Gorgui Dieng in particular, would be a huge step in the right direction.

I’m not a master on the trade exceptions (of which we have two…I think), but essentially we’d be agreeing to take on Kevin Martin and/or J.J. Barea. KMart is one the books for 3 years, and will make $6.7M in 2014-15, but since he’s not crazy expensive, moving him to a contender seeking extra offense is maneuverable. J.J. Barea will make $4.5M this year and come off the books after that.

It’s unlikely that Minnesota will give up any of its assets simply as a ‘thank you’ for us helping the deal move along, when they could just tell Cleveland to figure it out themselves. But, if we were to send something over to Minnesota (ie: picks, expiring contracts, maybe even Olynyk), seeking Gorgui Dieng may be reasonable. Minny has Pekovic locked up for four years, so they’ll be overbooked at center. Now having too many centers typically isn’t a problem, but they’ll also be short on productive PFs — which is where I could see a Olynyk-for-Dieng swap become a reality. I know Olynyk had a better, more consistent rookie season, but Dieng would provide the rim protection we need. Plus, he’ll be locked up super cheap for the next three years.

Dieng’s per-36 numbers are pretty promising too — especially the 2.2 blocks and 13.2 rebounds. Trading Olynyk after a solid rookie season would be risky, but a chance to solidify rim protection should at least be discussed. Dieng and Sullinger could make a strong (and cheap) frontcourt pairing over the next few years.

Page 2: A kid asks Dwyane Wade why he flops

NBC Sports

Answer the question, Dwyane…

 Here’s Brad Stevens at Fenway watching…soccer?

http://instagram.com/p/q0EfPugk-O/?modal=true

I work right across from Fenway — stepped out around 5pm yesterday and had no idea where I was. Guess last night was Futbol night at Fenway, where Liverpool and AS Roma faced off in a friendly match. Pretty cool to see Brad’s spending time in Boston during the summer. I’m sure he prefers to be around, just incase Danny stumbles across any leftover fireworks (…sorta still hoping).

Finally, looks like Ray Allen’s leaning towards Cleveland

NBA source tells Globe that Ray Allen is leaning toward returning for 19th season and joining LeBron James with #cavaliers

— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) July 24, 2014

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsNot overly surprised to see Ray return for another season; he still really hasn’t shown any drastic signs of aging. That said, it’s kind of annoying to see all of James’ role players following him from Miami to Cleveland like pets. Not that I can fault any of them for chosing on-court familiarity and a chance to win another title — especially James Jones and Mike Miller — who won’t be passing up much money by picking Cleveland over anywhere else. But for a guy like Ray Allen, who spent six years in Boston squaring off with the Heat and Cavs — seeing him follow LeBron around to his former rivals is kind of head scratcher. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him sign with the Lakers for his 20th season.

The rest of the links:

Grantland – Eric Bledsoe’s long, hot, restricted summer | Jamal Crawford is trying to keep Seattle’s basketball dreams alive

HoopsHype – Richard Hamilton: I want to play another year | Who could beat LeBron one-on-one?

Boston Herald – Timberwolves weighing options for Kevin Love