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.

You can’t really put a timetable on the rebuilding process,” said Green. “As long as you continue to get better each day — going to practice and just get better — that’s what it’s going to take for us to get better as a team and to increase wins. I think we ended the season well and this whole summer each guy took it upon themselves to get better, which is going to make our team better.”

What did Green focus on during the offseason?

“Just get better as a player, all around,” he said. “I don’t have one or two things that I focused on completely throughout the whole summer. I think it was more just becoming a better all-around player and trying to take the next step to becoming a leader on this team.”

The 28-year-old Green is coming off a season in which he averaged a career-high 16.9 points over 34.2 minutes per game. But despite welcoming the bull’s-eye that landed on him with Rajon Rondo sidelined for the start of last season, Green never quite flourished as the sort of go-to presence that many hoped he might develop into (particularly after a strong playoff showing to close the 2012-13 season).

ESPN Boston – Green: Trying to take next step as leader

Outside of Rondo, there isn’t a whole lot of veteran leadership on this team, which leaves room for guys like Green and Brandon Bass to step up and guide the younger players. Last season when the Nets blockbuster was going down, this was sort of one of the ‘intangible’ parts of our team we were losing. Yes, we’ll receive lots of young talent, but we lost the guys to guide them. Having Pierce and Garnett on the team meant rookies may have not been given the greatest chance to succeed, but for those who did, they were offered valuable lessons for their maturity. In particular for Avery Bradley, who in my opinion, seems to be one of the most aware and level-headed players in the game.

Jeff Green as a leader may seem odd considering how he’s largely considered as inconsistent, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say it isn’t possible. Though I’d probably bet and hope Rondo, Bradley, and Smart become the leaders of this team, if Jeff Green can put his pieces together with Rondo’s help, he may flourish into that sort of role. Although if he did, it would probably just make him more trade-able at the deadline.

Page 2: Expectations for Marcus Smart

He’s not just a physical specimen, but also a cerebral player who rarely makes defensive errors. Smart clearly had some good coaching from a young age considering his ability to properly rotate, angle ball handlers into the big on the pick-and-roll, and fight through both on- and off-ball screens. The 20-year-old guard doesn’t need much encouragement to stay mentally engaged on the defensive end, as he never takes plays off.

Smart is also adept at chasing down loose rebounds, an often overlooked aspect of defense (because a possession isn’t over until the rebound is secured). With such a strong frame, Smart is able to put on his big boy pants and battle down low; if he grabs the board he is very good at powering the ball in transition, creating offense with his defense.

CelticsBlog – Setting expectations for Boston Celtics rookie guard Marcus Smart

This is just the latest from CelticsBlog’s Kevin O’Connor, who’s been killing it this summer with articles to keep us busy ’til the season starts. He goes over Smart’s strengths and potential flaws, and the above excerpt is taken from the ‘Immediate Defensive Impact’ section. It is likely that Smart will be able to buy himself a bunch of minutes on his defense alone. Part of rebuilding a franchise from the ground up means having guys that can do more than score, dunk, and sell tickets.

With Smart, we’ll probably get a few years of inefficient scoring and iffy decision-making, but we should always be able to lean on his defense in return. The combinations of guard rotations should be awesome to watch and analyze next year.

The rest of the links:

Grantland – Can Derrick Rose shoot?  | Grantland Exclusive: Redacted NBA scouting reports

ESPN – J.J. Hickson suspended five games | Houston Rockets set to acquire Jason Terry