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.

A day after the Boston Celtics overcame a 17-point deficit to defeat the Brooklyn Nets in a preseason game, Jared Sullinger offered an eyebrow-raising reaction to the rally.

“Last year, this team would have laid down and given up. Game’s over,” suggested Sullinger. “Now, we’re just fighting.”
[…] “If things were not going our way, we really weren’t playing well,” Sullinger clarified before Tuesday’s practice. “I think that’s the biggest thing. When things went bad, we didn’t respond well. This year, we want to learn how to fight through that.”

These quotes from Sully highlight very well why I think the Philadelphia 76’ers two-year tank job is going to end poorly… or at the very least take a LOT longer to come to fruition than many people think (here is an excellent piece that makes this point very well).

Contrary to the Sixers, the Celtics are learning year-to-year lessons in HOW to win in the NBA. You can amass talent all you want, but when it’s young, untested, unproven talent, it’s going take a while for it to come together. Pardon my channeling of Kevin Garnett here, but you can give any ol’ cook great ingredients and get a bad meal. You have to find the chef with the right recipe and experience to know how to put those ingredients together the right way to make a great meal.

The Sixers are going to tank again this year. Which means they’re going to have good players go out there, play hard, then either sit when they’re playing too well, or, worse, not figure out how to play well enough to be in that position at all. The Celtics, meanwhile, are trying to at least take steps forward.

Sullinger’s quote about learning to fight is an important one. As Rajon Rondo said the other day about advanced statistics, they’re great to a point but they don’t measure heart. It’s that heart and desire that makes someone put up numbers in the clutch and makes teams fight through adversity. There are human beings behind those numbers, and if those human beings don’t learn hard lessons in the NBA, those numbers will often never materialize.

The NBA is full of the most talented guys in the world. Christian Watford, who was just waived and will spend his life as a fringe NBA guy, would walk into your league and make you think he was the next Jordan. All of these guys have immense talent. But there’s something else that the Celtics are learning that a team like Philly isn’t.

If you let the losses linger without learning how to eventually win those games, you’ll eventually just lose those games. If you don’t learn how to keep games in control late and give yourself a chance to win, you won’t have many chances to win.

It’s a winning culture. It’s immeasurable. But it’s important.

Page 2: James Young is playing catchup

“I was ready to go out there. I’m back in the flow. It felt really good,” Young said of his first practice. “I’m so young, I try not to do things too fast. When my time is right, my time is right.”

Now comes something a little more difficult, though, with the regular season opener only a week away against the same Nets team.

“James has some ground to make up, a bit more from the standpoint of us just evaluating him, and seeing how he can perform in these games,” Stevens said. “He did well in Game 1 on a bad hammy. He hasn’t been able to play or practice since, but he’ll do that today. That’s just as important as (tonight’s game) for him, because he’ll be going up (in practice) against Jeff Green, or he’ll be going up against Avery Bradley orMarcus Thornton. Those are guys he needs to measure himself (against).”

Herald: Coach likes what he sees of Young

A hamstring injury could be the worst non-catastrophic injury a young guy could have in preseason because he just has to sit there and let it heal. There’s no running or cutting or getting used to game speed, which is especially important for rookies because the game is so much faster at this level. So in that sense, Young’s injury really put him behind.

But the good news is that it wasn’t that bad, and he can get back out there tonight and play some good minutes. The starters aren’t going to play much, so we’ll have our first real chance to see Young play extended minutes.

I’m looking for a continuation of some of the things we saw in his debut… that smooth, confident shooting stroke, moving well without the ball, and a commitment to play defense. All we can hope for tonight is that he shows signs of a well-rounded game and a willingness to be part of the offense and not all of the offense. If he can keep doing that, he’ll be ok.

And Finally…

Danny Ainge and Mark Bartelstein, the agent for Will Bynum, continue to work today to find a destination for the veteran point guard that might also bring the Celtics something of value in return.

“We’re trying to see if there is something we can do,” said Bartelstein, who said that Bynum is currently working out in his hometown of Chicago, where years ago he was the high school teammate of Tony Allen.

Herald

I look forward to welcoming “heavily protected second round pick” to the team after Bynum is shipped somewhere.

That’s IF he’s shipped somewhere. Chances are he’s probably just going to get waived.

Oh, P.S.

For fans who have followed our ongoing Twitter exchange with CSNNE’s Gary Tanguay…

Here he is on Toucher and Rich saying “I hate Red’s Army…I hate them.” (Bonus: Scal totally has our back. We talked to Scal last night, and we’ll have more from him this afternoon). And here’s Tanguay “clarifying” his stance on Rondo, while calling us his “arch nemesis”.

The rest of the links:

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Your Morning Dump… Where the Celtics are learning to fight

Alan Draper

Page 2: James Young is playing catchup

And Finally…

Oh, P.S.

Alan Draper

Alan Draper