Your Morning Dump... Where it looks like Stevens got who he wanted.

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.

Back inside the core of TD Garden, Stevens rose from his seat and slowly walked toward the TV as ESPN began displaying Tatum’s college highlights, all of which the coach had surely seen countless times before. Stevens eventually stopped less than four feet from the enormous screen – close enough so that one could watch the reflection of Tatum’s reel in the whites of his eyes – and smiled in admiration at his newest pupil.

For several moments, Stevens did not say a word. He had completely cut himself off from the buzzing conversations that were taking place behind him as he stood grinning with his lips slightly ajar, occasionally nodding with approval.

Finally, Stevens blinked out of his trance as the reel faded out.

“OK,” he stated to no one in particular. “Here we go.”

Celtics.com

“And one of the (reasons why) is he fits with not only the way we want to play, but also who we want to be. And I think that’s really important. Here’s a guy that is very good, but he’s committed to being better. And I think that’s — at 19, you better be that way in this league. And at 28, you better be that way in our league. But it’s a good fit for our group.”

MassLive

So, yeah, Thursday night Danny Ainge said stuff like, “this is the guy we would’ve taken first overall.”

And you hear that, from a guy like Ainge, and you’d be forgiven for thinking, “Right. Danny. That and two bucks won’t even buy me a decent cup of coffee.”

But the stuff above? That should give you some idea of whether Stevens was forced to settle for Tatum because Danny traded away his shot at Fultz. I wouldn’t be surprised if Stevens was sold on Tatum from day one, and once Danny signed off on it, it was a simple matter of conning Bryan Colangelo into giving him another lottery pick for what, in hindsight, appears to be no good reason whatsoever.

Of course, Tatum’s whole NBA career is in front of him and nothing’s guaranteed. But if a guy as smart as Stevens is that sold on Tatum, that seems like a pretty good indicator of his potential.

Page 2: Where Tatum’s got even better Boston connections than Fultz

There is one way father and son differed. While Jayson was rooting for the Lakers because of his fondness for Kobe Bryant, Justin was a Celtic fan.

“I love Boston, I mean, especially when they picked up the Big Three — the latest Big Three with KG and Paul [Pierce],” he said. “But I’m related to Jo Jo White, too, and he played for them back in the day. We’re related through cousins, so I’ve been a Boston fan for the longest time.”

Boston Herald

I mean, I don’t want to knock Fultz–I’m just trying to play off the “Boston connections” narrative that we all lapped up in the weeks leading up to the draft. Here you’ve got a guy with family connections to #10, who–because he grew up a Lakers fan (sigh)–may not even know he picked the next number up: #11.

Finally: Jaylen Brown – penalty kick artist

¡Ojo cómo la pega @FCHWPO en el campo del @cordobacfsad!

¿Le veis hueco, @LaLiga? pic.twitter.com/UU6ucQjukx

— NBASpain (@NBAspain) June 23, 2017

That kick turned out a wee bit better than Josh Jackson’s first pitch at last night’s Diamondbacks game:

Josh Jackson threw out the first pitch at the Diamondbacks game tonight https://t.co/XgQ36QIyA6

— Jayhawks In The NBA (@NBA_Jayhawks) June 24, 2017

Now that I’ve heard about that visit that was canceled while the Celtics brass were in the air, him talking tough about ‘proving himself’ to teams that didn’t draft him after he refused to work out for the C’s because he apparently didn’t want to fight for minutes, and kicking that Jayhawk player’s car when she wasn’t around? That doesn’t sound like someone who walks the walk. That just sounds like someone who talks the talk.