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

Ron Adams remembers how opposing teams defended Rajon Rondo. Adams saw it when he was an assistant coach with the Bulls and elsewhere.

Then Adams joined the Celtics as an assistant, began working with Rondo this season, and now, Rondo has improved his shot, especially from 3-point range.

In fact, heading into Wednesday night’s game against Golden State, Rondo is shooting a career-best 36 percent from beyond the arc. And with his next 3-pointer, he’ll tie his career-high for makes in a season (17 in 2009-10).

“I gotta give Ron Adams a lot of credit,” Rondo said recently. “He’s been with me since Day 1.’’

Adams said Rondo deserved the bulk of the credit, but their work together began with a simple notion.

“One of the things we talked about was knowing when you’re open and shooting the ball,” Adams said. “That’s a fundamental change for him in some ways.”

They also examined every aspect of Rondo’s shooting motion.

“You start with the feet,” Adams said. “You see how fluid the shot is through the feet and then you work your way up.”

Then, there are Rondo’s large hands.

“That’s a little bit of an issue with him,” Adams said. “It’s good to have big hands, but he’s working on certain things as far as catching and so on so that he can catch and release and spin the ball in the right way.”

Boston Globe – Celtics’ Rajon Rondo refining his shot

It’s been quite the journey for Rondo’s jump shot. At the start of last season, while Ron Adams was still with the Bulls, we saw what appeared to be an improved mid-range shot from Rondo, and this year has shown to be more of the same. I guess when you’ve got a year off, there’s plenty of time to refine the small things that go into making up one’s shooting motion. Much credit to Ron Adams for finding time help too — he must find himself busy in his first year with the C’s: from assisting with the learning curve of a rookie coach, to learning and teaching the team’s defensive schemes, to also taking the time to work so in-depth with Rondo’s shot. It’s nice to see Rondo comfortable enough to heed the advice of a  coach he wasn’t very familiar with at the season’s start.

His development with the three ball is great as well; there aren’t many great point guards in the NBA who can’t shoot from beyond the arc, and adding this to his bag of tricks should only help make hims harder to guard when he’s back to 100%. Speaking of being 100%, the article mentions his scoring struggles from close range and at the basket. We’re used to seeing pretty much all of Rondo’s points come at the basket, which makes it odd to see him score in bunches from mid range and deep.

But because Rondo is still working his way into form after missing nearly a year, his explosiveness isn’t quite there yet, which has affected him when it comes to his shots around the rim.

In fact, Rondo has made less than half of his 67 attempts from less than 5 feet of the rim. He is also just 3 of 21 on shots within 5-9 feet of the rim.

“Each game, he gets a little bit better, but I think he’s getting in an area where he’s close to the basket and he doesn’t have quite the snap that he once had on his drives,” Adams said.

I’d tend to agree with Adams and Globe writer Baxter Holmes. We’ve seen Rondo dominate in the paint for the past five years. Physical limitations as well as mental hesitations may still exist with Rondo, and there’s really no need for him to rush back into fully playing the way he once did until he’s ready to do so. I don’t think we should be worried with low numbers in the paint, unless it continues into next season.

Page 2: Wyc plans to retire Ainge’s number

Last weekend at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck was asked a question about Danny Ainge and responded in the most complimentary way possible.

“I plan to put (Ainge’s) number in the rafters one day for all he’s done,” Grousbeck said. “He’s not going to accept that, but…”

There was nothing after the “but…” Instead, Grousbeck just sort of trailed off and moved on.

CSNNE – Celtics want to retire Ainge’s number

Makes sense. He won two championships as a player in Boston, and then came back as a GM to get us (at least) one more. Even if he “doesn’t accept it”, I’d tend to think it’s appropriate. Of course if we retire the numbers of Ainge, Pierce, Garnett, and possibly Ray Allen — there wont be many numbers for new guys to choose from. Which makes me think: If we ended up drafting Marcus Smart, I wonder what he’d do regarding his jersey number. Obviously, #33 is off limits, but Smart also happens to have the number 33 tattooed on his triceps. That’d be an interesting conversation.

And finally, Crash gets surgery

Gerald Wallace underwent successful surgery on Tuesday to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee and bone spurs on his left ankle.

And with those two surgeries, Wallace’s first season with the Boston Celtics is now officially over.

“The ankle alone was three to four months to be cleared,” said Celtics head coach Brad Stevens. “He’s out (for the season).”

If only that were the only injury of note for the Celtics.

CSNNE – Wallace undergoes surgery

If he was hard to trade two weeks ago, he’ll be damn near impossible to trade now. 30-something year old making $10 million for the next two years and coming off of season-ending surgery? G’luck with that, Danny.

The rest of the links:

CSNNE – Which Boston GM has the most pressure to succeed? | C’s continue to find motivation through losses | Wakeup call: Commissioner’s in the tank for for Sixers

Boston Herald – Rajon Rondo does job outside | Veteran’s effort not lost on Ainge

Masslive – Danny Ainge on incorporating analytics | Sullinger: C’s follow Brad Steven’s lead, will not quit | Stevens likes C’s makeup