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.

Not a whole lot going on in Celtics Nation right now.  There is a rumor that Kelly Olynyk hurt his wrist while playing for Team Canada, but so far there’s no official confirmation on this.  I think (hope) the lack of reporting on it makes it seem relatively minor.  But until we can confirm that, we’re stuck looking at Instagram and Twitter and seeing if the fellas make any sort of news while they do whatever it is they’re doing.

For Jared Sullinger, it’s a trip to China… which is basically what half the NBA does in August.  And unless my eyes are playing tricks on me or I’m not remembering correctly, Sully looks to be a little slimmer than usual.  That’s something that he’s said he was going to work on, and that seems to be paying off.

Last season, Sully was carrying around a little extra weight, partly because he needed to bang in the post as a center.  But now he’s going to play a lot more at the 4, which means he needs to be quicker.  After the season ended, he and Brad Stevens both admitted that conditioning was a priority.

“I think it’s mostly about conditioning, it’s mostly about being able to play longer stretches as effectively as possible,” the coach said late in March. “And sometimes those stretches happen throughout the course of a game where you do play pretty well for an extended stretch because you feel good that night, whatever the case may be. But just being able to do it back to back, to back, to back, to back. And that’s the challenge of the NBA in general. But for a young guy in his second year, he’s had a lot of great moments. I think the focus will be on enhancing the number of times that you have those moments, because he’s a capable guy.”

Everyone involved agrees: Sullinger can reach new heights as a player.

“Trust me, I hear it every day from multiple people,” he said.

He just doesn’t know how high.

“I think once my conditioning comes into factor, everything else will kind of follow suit,” he said. “Only time will tell.”

Looks good so far.  We’ll see how he looks in a month when the preparation for next season really kicks into high gear.

Page 2:  MarShon Brooks is out of the NBA

MarShon Brooks was a late first round pick in the 2011 draft, and while he showed potential as a scorer with a very bad Nets team in his rookie season, he’s bounced around ever since, and hasn’t shown the requisite amount of improvement to earn a spot on an NBA roster.

He’ll get the chance to showcase what he can do while playing overseas instead.

Brooks signed a deal with Italy’s Olimpia Milano for next season, the team announced on Friday (via Sportando.net).

CSNNE

I remember people talking about starting Brooks to give him a chance to show what he’s got.  Now the only way he’s going to prove that he needs more time in the NBA is by dominating in overseas leagues.

We’ll see how it goes for MarShon.  He’s a young guy and he’s got some talent, but he’s done very little to justify his spot on a roster.  It’s entirely possible that he’s going to become one of those guys who’s really good overseas and just not good in the NBA.  Luckily for him, that can still result in a lucrative career.  While these teams don’t dish out NBA money, they do pay stars pretty well.  He could do much worse.

Good luck, Marshon.  I hope you figure yourself out over there and make it back.  I really do.  I hate unrealized potential.

And Finally…

ESPN Boston has started its summer forecast series… with bloggers currently pegging the Celtics as a 28-win team.   Our guys were slightly more optimistic:

Jay Ouellette, RedsArmy (34-48*)

Despite the roster having no balance again, the reason for the asterisk is Rondo’s status. If he’s here for a full year they should win at least that many games.

KWAPT, Red’s Army (30-52)

I honestly don’t see the Celtics being much better this time around. More fun to watch? Possibly/hopefully yes, with the additions of Smart, Young and Thornton, who could add some scoring punch. But, realistically, this team will come into camp similar to last year, with a lot of new faces. Kris Humphries brought some much needed hustle, defense and rebounding last year. I can’t see Olynyk filling that void, so who is going to be the “energy” guy? The other question mark is, of course, Rondo. If Ainge decides to deal this young team’s leader at the trade deadline, this squad could go into a serious funk for lack of a better word.

The rest of the links:

NBA.com:  Hall of Fame roundtable (including Tommy Heinsohn)