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

The Celtics still haven’t ruled out the possibility of Marcus Smart (sprained ankle) playing on opening night. He no longer needs a walking boot, according to Stevens, and spent some time in the weight room Saturday.

“He’s not going to practice Monday, but we’ll see how he progresses,” Stevens said.

MassLive

Celtics coach Brad Stevens said Smart is no longer in a walking boot and continues to be day-to-day as he receives a steady diet of treatments to help speed up the healing process.

Smart will undergo a series of tests to determine the ankle’s strength, prior to getting any kind of clearance to play.

That’s why Stevens isn’t worried about Smart returning to the floor too soon.

“I trust our staff. Our staff and Marcus will make that decision well,” Stevens said. “Then I play guys, if they are available.”

CSNNE

The injury never looked too bad from the beginning, so all this positive progress isn’t THAT surprising. And with today’s modern technology, they can reduce the swelling and make that thing feel better in much less time than a normal human being. Marcus Smart is walking around in a special stabilizing boot, getting electro-stim therapy, getting daily ankle massages from a magical forest nymph with anti-inflammatory powers… while the rest of us get this treatment:

So even if Smart isn’t back for the opener, it’s looking like he won’t miss much time. It’s possible he’ll miss one of the first two games since the Celtics open the season with a back-to-back (which is ridiculous, but with the Bruins playing at home on Tuesday and Barclays Center also booked and preventing it from just being a Nets home game, I guess there are no other options unless the Celtics just get their own arena at some point).

I’m really excited to see what translates from the preseason to the regular season. It’s going to be fun to figure out which results were false positives stemming from bad competition. I hesitate to remind everyone how impactful we thought David Lee was going to be at this point a year ago.

Whenever Smart is healthy enough to return we’ll get to see a healthy dose of Point Smart and how that will really affect the second unit offense.As I’ve said just about everywhere lately, I’m really liking Smart with the ball in his hands and Terry Rozier off the ball. Everything just seems to flow better that way.

So we’ll see if Smart is back in time for the opener. Honestly, I’d rather have him miss that and be ready for the Bulls. I’d like to think the Celtics can handle Brooklyn without Smart… while another day to get ready to defend the Bulls’ perimeter lineup will be really helpful. Those guys can’t shoot, but it’s still going to be a lot of hard work preventing them from getting to the basket, and I’d like Marcus to be as close to 100% for that.

Page 2… Kelly Olynyk is getting better too

According to Celtics head coach Brad Stevens, Olynyk participated in some 5-on-5 action at Saturday’s practice. He was cleared a couple of days ago to ramp up his on-court activity, Stevens said, but cannot go through a full practice yet.

“He was limited but he did do some 5-on-5,” Stevens said after practice Saturday. “He did some contact. He did some 1-on-1 contact. So he did a lot more. He got cleared to do that I think Thursday when he did some of his testing. So we’ll see how he feels and progress appropriately after that.”

Mass Live: Kelly Olynyk has been cleared for some contact

Hey some more positive news! It will still take a while for Olynyk to make it all the way back but his progression is a reminder that this battle station is not yet fully armed and operational. Olynyk is a key piece to this entire puzzle and probably the primary scoring option off the bench.

So while we like a lot of what we’ve seen, there will be some rotational changes coming.

Related links: Herald: Olynyk remains cautious with shoulder  | CSNNE: Olynyk cleared for full contact at practice  |  ProJo: Olynyk takes first step back after shoulder surgery

And Finally…

…. keep your eyes open for more LaMarcus Aldridge chatter. This was buried at the bottom of Gary Washburn’s NBA notes today:

LaMarcus Aldridge is reportedly unhappy in San Antonio after the Spurs promised him a more prominent role in their offense, which hasn’t happened. Aldridge averaged 19.9 shots per game in his final year in Portland but that dropped to 14.1 last season. That’s not likely to increase with the presence of Kawhi Leonard and the addition of Pau Gasol, who will take more shots than the departed Tim Duncan.

I don’t think it’s anything new, per se, considering he used the word “reportedly” and not “sources.” However, this is buzz that may continue to fester as the season presses on.

I think San Antonio is still really good… BUT… taking out even an aging, slow Tim Duncan still removes one of the smartest basketball players in the league. I’m expecting at least a little bit of a defensive step backwards just for the fact that Duncan is no longer QB’ing the rotations. And if that leads to a sharper-than-expected decline in the standings, then maybe the Spurs decide they don’t want to wait around to limp into the sunset.

When R.C. Buford and Gregg Popovich look up at the Warriors on top of the conference, they might decide now is a good time to just sell off valuable parts and hasten the rebuilding process so they can still keep Kawhi Leonard as their centerpiece. Aldridge still has a lot of value, even though I’m really not interested in trading for him. Sure they could do something centered around Olynyk + some other contracts to make the move, but that would hinder their pursuit of one of the premier free agents next summer. I’d like to think there are ways the Celtics can get a big name and keep Olynyk as a stretch big off the bench… and I think the free agent option is better than going for Aldridge.

Of course, this is all at the rumor/speculation stage. But this one might have some legs as the season goes on.

The rest of the links:

Herald: Hawks announcer Dennis Scott makes the call: Horford is great for the Celtics

CSNNE: Celtics waive Ryan Kelly  |  A worrisome wait for Hunter and Young

Celtics.com: Bradley mentoring Olynyk through shoulder injury

MassLive: Danny Ainge reportedly golfed with JR Smith this summer