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.

While coach Brad Stevens and his staff are part of the pre-draft auditioning process, they are also focused on improving what they already have. In addition to their additions, it is imperative the Celtics get better from within.

“I don’t know how else you do it,” Ainge said. “I don’t know how else to build a team — other than losing games and sitting around and waiting for stars or taking your shot at free agency. I think all those things are what teams try to do, but you can’t neglect the part of drafting and developing players from the mid-to-late first round and second-round picks. That’s a big part of it and always will be.

“I don’t think it’s any different this year than any other year. I think that every year you see players that are drafted all over the first and second round that are contributing to successful teams. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that the great players are the difference-makers.”

The difference-making reigning MVP is Stephen Curry, the No. 7 pick in 2009 by newly crowned NBA champion Golden State. And key Warriors component Draymond Green was a second-rounder, No. 35 overall, three years ago.

Development served Golden State well.

“All those guys have gotten better offensively and have worked at their games,” Stevens said. “Where I think they’ve really developed is on the other end. . . . You’ve got all of these guys that are two-way players, and they may not have been considered that at one time in their lives. But they made the commitment to become that and develop on both ends of the court. . . . It’s a testament to them that they worked and got better on both ends.”

So while the Celtics will be exploring all opportunities to get a higher draft pick or maybe trade one or more picks for veteran help, they are also prepared to get better with what they have

Boston Herald – Late scoring at a premium for Celtics

We’ve spent the last couple of months postulating just how, exactly, the Celtics roster will look different – hopefully improved – from this past season’s outfit. Mock Drafts abound, free agent fits debated, sign-and-trade targets discussed, but rarely does anyone talk about where the improvement will come from on the current roster. Chris Forsberg wrote about the promising off-season developments of James Young, who’s expected to contribute in a meaningful way next season, but until training camp begins, we’ll be left to speculate on who on this current roster could take a leap.

If the Celtics make a selection at 16 and add little outside of a rotation player or two in free agency, the only way the team gets better is if someone takes a mini-leap. Sound off in the comments on who you think that’s going to be. My first target would be Marcus Smart but I’d also nominate one of the Kelly Olynyk/Jared Sullinger duo. We’ve spent two months dreaming of LaMarcus Aldridge, Boogie Cousins, Kevin Love in Boston, or Willie Cauley-Stein anchoring the defense after the team trades up, but there’s a fair chance none of that comes to fruition. Then what?

On Page 2, There’s no light at the end of the midtown tunnel in Brooklyn

For a fifth straight year, the Nets, a team that finished six games under .500 last season, enter a draft without a top-20 pick. It’s hard to imagine when they’ll have a high pick again, considering they don’t control their own first-rounder until 2019, or when the next U.S. president is revving up his or her re-election campaign.

“They are probably in the worst situation of any NBA team right now,” Stan Van Gundy said in the beginning of last year, before Brooklyn’s situation further deteriorated with the departures of Jason Kidd, Paul Pierce and most of Deron Williams’ abilities.

This is what happens when a franchise plays loose with its draft picks, when the future is ignored and invested in players who dwell in their middle 30s by the time their enormous contracts expire. It happens when a five-year plan, established by an impatient owner, goes up in flames. GM Billy King was hired by Mikhail Prokhorov in 2010 with a directive to make moves, and what followed is a series of shortsighted trades and eight-figure salaries.

It reverberates depressingly on draft nights.

“It was one of those stories of a get-rich-quick scheme,” Gerald Wallace, whom the Nets regrettably acquired in 2012 for a first-round pick, told me last season. “They took a gamble. It backfired.”

NBA.com – Morning Shootaround — June 22

Whereas the Celtics are still only two years into their rebuilding plan, and it’s hard to know just where the team will stand in three to four years’ time, the Nets are two years into their apocalypse, and it’s quite clear where they’ll be in that same time span: in roster peril at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

Celtics fans: get ready to bask in some serious schadenfreude whenever you glance at the standings. There isn’t even a sliver of hope when it comes to the Nets: capped out and banking on some sort of renaissance from Deron Williams, or a healthy, dominant season from Brook Lopez if he re-signs. While the Hawks are reaping the benefit this season with a draft pick-swap, it’s just about that time for the Celtics to cash in. Even if the Cs don’t make major roster improvements this off-season, the Brooklyn trade is about to alter the trajectory of the Cs roster starting this November. Let the train wreck begin!

And Finally: The Ainge Empire in focus

Austin Ainge’s job centers on roster construction — draft, trades, free agency — but it’s heavy on college/international scouting. And it’s Austin Ainge who has the rather thankless task of organizing Boston’s pre-draft workouts.

Over the past four weeks, Boston has hosted 54 players in 10 publicized group workouts (all while bringing in other individuals under the cloak of secrecy). Organizing these workouts is a nightmare, and Boston’s sessions have featured a melting pot of basketball prospects, including a handful of international men of mystery and some stateside candidates who played outside the Division 1 spotlight. It’s all part of a pre-draft evaluation process, one in which the Celtics aim to leave no stone unturned.

To the uneducated observer, there’s a notion that 33-year-old Austin Ainge ascended to his front-office role because of his last name. No one in the Ainge family denies that familial ties helped open some doors, including Ainge’s first gig at Southern Utah (Reid was an assistant coach at BYU when Danny Ainge played there, then Reid was an assistant on Danny Ainge’s NBA coaching staff in Phoenix). But Danny Ainge is emphatic that his son has logged the necessary basketball hours.

“Listen, Austin got his first coaching job with Roger Reid because Roger knew him as a kid and loved him,” said Danny Ainge. “Roger was one of the most intense, fiery personalities, and he loved Austin. I think he wanted Austin. Austin learned a lot at Southern Utah; he did a lot, he had a lot of responsibility.”

And even before Austin Ainge became a coach, he was essentially an older, less cute Riley Curry.

“[Austin has] been around the game his whole life,” said Danny Ainge. “Austin was in my coaches’ meetings, Austin was on the court, he was in my huddles. He was tugging on my pant leg telling me what to do when I was a head coach in Phoenix. He’s been around it his whole life. Him and I have talked basketball — I’ve talked more basketball with him than anybody else.”

ESPN Boston – Austin Ainge powers Celtics’ pre-draft process

Cool story from Chris Forsberg on Austin Ainge’s ascension to Director of Player Personnel under his dad. While skeptics may grumble that Ainge got to where he is due to Nepotism, it’s clear that the guy knows basketball and has earned this spot. Having that father-son relationship leads to the tight-knit, cohesive front office that leads experts to consistently rate the Celtics front-office high on effectiveness.

Wonder how he feels about being called a “less cute Riley Curry?”