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.

Lost in Brad Stevens’s media address following Sunday’s confounding 111-89 Celtics loss to the San Antonio Spurs was his decision to insert two rookies with just more than four minutes left to perhaps spark a rally.

James Young and Dwight Powell have either been sitting at the end of the bench this season or playing in the NBADL, and are considered ill prepared for the NBA moment but working arduously to get there. Following nearly every practice, Powell and Young, teamed together like cadets in basic training, work with the coaching staff.

[…] And now is the time to test these newcomers as Stevens searches for answers to the team’s fourth-quarter woes. The Celtics enter Tuesday’s game with the respectable Atlanta Hawks with one win in the past 24 days, against 0-16 Philadelphia. The past three weeks have been miserable, leaving the ever-encouraging Stevens to ponder changes.

He already benched Kelly Olynyk for Tyler Zeller, who responded with 7 points and 10 rebounds in 23 minutes Sunday. Now it’s time to take a long look at Powell and especially Young, who may be the Celtics’ most intriguing rookie since Rajon Rondo.

Globe: James Young, Dwight Powell, need a chance

These are the rough seas through which fans must navigate.  There’s only one potential All Star on this team right now, the roster is full of guys who are most likely gone after this year, and there are a lot of young guys the team must evaluate somehow to figure out how, where, and if they fit.

I say that to follow it with this.

Don’t overreact. 

Don’t overreact to things that happen in November, especially, in the NBA, because a lot of times we forget them.  We’ll say things like “Hey, remember Jordan Crawford became a viable NBA player?” because of things that happened in November, only to see December, January, and the natural regression to the mean even things out.

So don’t overreact applies to a lot of things in Boston right now.  Rondo’s free throw shooting, the team’s struggles in the 4th quarter right now, Olynyk’s shooting slump, Brad Stevens’ rotations… don’t overreact.

This is the time for evaluation.  So with Olynyk struggling a bit, it’s not a bad time to see how Zeller fit into the starting rotation.  Maybe Olynyk off the bench is a good idea, and after some struggles here, the kid will have a breakout game and things will work out.

With the team going into 4th quarter funks, we all want answers. The C’s have been outscored 79-47, or 26.3 to 15.6, in their last three games, and have been outscored in 8 of their last 9 4th quarters (with 2 wins in that stretch).  Also keep in mind that these games came against San Antonio, Chicago (twice), Portland, Memphis, Cleveland, Phoenix, OKC, and… well… Philly.  The schedule gets easier, so don’t be shocked if you see things change a little too.

Enter James Young and Dwight Powell, who have been playing extremely well in Maine.  Young. like Gary Washburn says in his piece, is especially intriguing because of his naturally sweet shooting stroke and fearless attitude.  Many fans are begging for Young to get into these games because “hey, why not?”

Well, “hey why, not?” is fine so long as we don’t overreact to the results.

I’m happy to see what James Young can do on the court.  I want to see if he can be the kind of scorer to take over once Jeff Green leaves.  And I want to see what he can down the stretch of a pressure-filled NBA game.  Maybe he’s too young and stupid to be afraid of the moment.  Or maybe he’s too young for that moment and he fails miserably too.

The Celtics problems in the 4th quarters is a collective tightening of assholes that changes early execution into a bungling mashup of really silly mistakes and missed opportunities.  The addition of one or two rookies hardly seems like the answer to that problem, but we won’t know if someone is built for moments like that until he experiences moments like that.

So I’m all for Young getting a shot in the clutch.  I’m all for Powell and Young getting more minutes, especially at the expense of soon-to-be-former Celtics Evan Turner and Marcus Thornton.  And I’m all for letting them fail and learn so they can succeed later.

Yes, it’s time for them to get some minutes.  Yes, it’s time for them to get some meaningful, clutch minutes.  But it’s also time to put the emotions of wins and losses away for a little while because it’s just going to drive you crazy.  The hyper-focus on wins and losses at this point of the Celtics rebuild is like going to the emergency room when you get a paper cut.

Stevens needs time to put guys on the floor and see if, over a meaningful stretch, they can be a viable part of the rotation.  That doesn’t mean a couple of games.  That means a month, two, or more so he can collect enough data to see if it’s truly working or if some aberration of bad matchups over a bad week on the schedule is at work.

Rondo needs time to he his head straight at the line.  He’s certainly capable of whipping off a 10 of 12 game and maybe finding something that gets him back to his average, or maybe better.

Kelly Olynyk needs time to understand and become what the team wants him to be, and to get that “I believe the next one is always going in” mentality.

And Young will need time to grow into his role as, potentially, the team’s primary wing scorer.  He could hit a game-winner tonight or go 0-for-7 in the 4th quarter, and none of it should change how we approach him.

Plant the seeds, water them, let them get their sun, and let them grow.  It takes a while for them to become a tree.  Time is the one thing the Celtics have.

Related links:  CSNNE: Rough stretch has Stevens thinking lineup shakeup  |  Patriot Ledger:  C’s look for improvement in new month

Page 2: Speaking of Rondo…

But the biggest eyesore for Rondo right now is his fourth-quarter production. Again, fair or not, the youthful Celtics are looking toward Rondo as the veteran leader in crunch time. Here’s his fourth-quarter stat line: 98 minutes, 8-of-31 shooting (a team-worst 25.8 percent), 28 assists, 11 turnovers, 5 blocked attempts, minus-45 in plus/minus.

Granted, the Celtics as a whole have been dreadful in the fourth quarter. This is a team issue, not just a Rondo issue. But he’s the guy the team wants to lean on in crunch time. Boston’s offensive rating drops to 90.2 when Rondo is on the court in the fourth quarter, nearly a five-point dip below an already abysmal rating.

Rondo engaged in a long locker room chat with Celtics legend Tommy Heinsohn after Sunday’s loss to the Spurs. He said Heinsohn encouraged the team to “keep chugging away” and hinted a large part of the conversation focused on how Boston’s pace dips in the fourth quarter. Indeed, Boston’s fourth-quarter pace of 97.13 is its lowest of the four quarters, even if it’s still the fourth-fastest in the league in that frame. The Celtics average 100.03 possessions per 48 minutes, the second-highest total in the league.

ESPN Boston:  Rondo having his ups and downs

That piece is a nice in-depth analysis of Rondo this year and acknowledges the role he place in both the Celtics success and failures, often within the same game.

The biggest issue is obviously that 4th quarter, where Rondo often continues to be in his “playmaking” mode while the rest of the team is in an “ok Rondo, go make a play” mode.  In the past, Rondo has had Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen to find in key spots.  This year, he’s still making play to find open guys, but his open guys are Jared Sullinger from 3, Avery Bradley, and Jeff Green.

This where Rondo, offensively, needs to make the adjustment… and where Brad Stevens needs to make an adjustment in his substitution pattern.

Rondo often starts 4th quarters on the bench.  I think he needs to start, and he needs to start the quarter attacking and aggressive.  All I care about is that he gets into the lane and draws some contact.  I don’t care if he goes 0-8 from the line, I just want the other team in the penalty early so the rest of the team can get to the line.  The aggressive attack will also encourage the rest of the team to keep attacking as well.

I used to say you knew Rondo was having a good game when he spent a lot of time on the floor.  You don’t see that as much anymore, and I’m wondering if somewhere along the way he learned, or was told, that he was going to cut his career short doing that.  Maybe that took away from some of the attacks… and I certainly get that.  Rondo’s not a huge guy and at some point the pounding gets to be too much.

But this is his job, and this is one aspect I’m looking for him to improve sooner rather than later.  I think attacking early in the 4th and letting him get a quick break for a few minutes between the 8:00 and 5:00 marks will let him get back out there to finish the game.

Related links:  WEEI:  Tommy Heinsohn gives advice to Rondo after Spurs loss

And Finally…

These All Star uniforms aren’t bad at all

Going back to fashion elements of the earliest NBA All-Star games, the league will feature a “simple, classic and timeless” uniform design at the 2015 All-Star Game in New York in February.

Also, for the first time, the All-Star uniforms will include the first and last name of the player on the back of the jersey – the first name above the number and the last name below it.

The 5 stars represent New York’s 5 boroughs.

This a nice, clean jersey… unlike some of the monstrosities of the past. And look… NO SLEEVES!!

The rest of the links:

Herald:  Olynyk struggles to find his shooting  |  CSNNE:  Smart won’t play vs. Hawks  |  Celtics/Hawks preview  |  Rondo not concerned with back-to-back  |  ESPN Boston:  Smart out Tuesday  |  WEEI:  Stevens remains obsessed with Spurs  |  MassLive: Smart out Tuesday vs. Hawks  |  NBA (video):  Green dunk among top 10 in November