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

“Hawks basketball is playing the right way, playing hard ourselves, being the more aggressive team, being physical and letting our defense dictate our offense,” Carroll explained to Bleacher Report prior to the game.

Again: It’s nothing fancy, nothing special. Maybe that’s why the Hawks weren’t greeted with the sort of animosity that the league’s elite tend to get on the road. If the oop-happy Clippers are sushi at Izakaya, the Hawks might as well be the kind found at Sugarfish. They don’t need any special sauces or intricate recipes to win you over. The core quality of their product and the simplicity of its presentation will do just fine.

Bleacher Report – Meet the NBA’s most under appreciated team

Even with the Cavs adding help, it seems like the East (and the entire league) is wide open for the first time in years. In the modern NBA, we’re used to three or four teams honestly being considered title contenders, but now the race is much more broad and there really isn’t one team that holds the advantage. The west is particularly stacked, and whoever emerges from that conference will partly have done so as a result of drawing the best matchup advantages throughout the playoffs. But in the East, the top four seeds are not out of reach. The Bulls are probably the best, but they still hinge on Rose, who hasn’t returned to his normal self yet.

How this relates to the Celtics, is that if allows for Danny and this C’s front office to look at other (more reasonable blueprints). The ‘Big Three’ mold is awesome and certainly a preference as it’s worked recently. But that is also extremely hard to pull off, and it helped that we had a third of the trio already wearing green. Now, with a roster of evaluable talent and cap flexibility, we have an opportunity to build a competitive team and hope that our coach can implement his system to see its full effect.

Take a look at the Atlanta Hawks roster. They have good talent up front in Horford and Millsap, but they didn’t overpay for either and both players chose to sign in a location typically considered a place free agents don’t want to sign. They have a coach who learned his way in the Spurs system, and they’re a great representation of how a team is supposed to play.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjGnP8EaF6I]

Outside of the Hawks, the Raptors and  are good examples of team that hasn’t overspent in any one area, and has grown their own players into guys who fit their system. Kyle Lowry and Demar Derozan aren’t household names when compared to LeBron, Harden, Melo, but they play star basketball and didn’t command near max money.

Heading into free agency this summer, Ainge will certainly at least try to convince the A-list free agents on Boston, but missing out on those guys shouldn’t mean we pack it in and save for 2016. Even if they’re older, guys like Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap,  and Omer Asik,can give you a needed presence, can contribute for years to come, and will cost only around $10-12mil a year. Maybe Ainge can overpay a bit for a guy like Draymond Green, who may seek more than the Warriors can offer. He’s young enough to sign long term and become a building block for Stevens’ system.

I guess what my point is, is that the league doesn’t seem to require a massive stockpile of superstars to be great. It’s proving to be more a coaches league, and spending safely on contributors may be the best option. With a boatload of draft picks, it’d give us the chance to mesh a win-now attitude while still developing new players.

Page 2: Ainge does not expect Rondo to return to the C’s

When the Boston Red Sox traded Jon Lester away during the season, that didn’t stop them from trying to re-connect with him afterwards.

Can the same hold true for Rajon Rondo and the Boston Celtics?

Danny Ainge, the Celtics president of basketball operations, anticipates Rondo’s time with the Celtics is over for good.

“We thought that that was the case,” Ainge said during his weekly call-in to 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Toucher & Rich show. “That was one reason we made the trade. We thought Rondo was going to choose another place.”

CSNNE – Ainge does not see a Rondo return to Celtics

I don’t think too many of us thought there would be a chance of Rondo coming back this offseason. It would’ve been sneaky-cool if he agreed to be traded in order to give Ainge more picks to use as bait for getting all stars this summer, and then came back to play here. But that certainly isn’t the case, and it’s probably best that way. If the Mavs win a title this year, it’ll likely secure a max deal (or very close) for him, and that seems way too far out of our price range given the team’s state.

The rest of the links

Grantland – The future of basketball is here and it looks a lot like James Harden

CelticsBlog – Hustle & Flow

Masslive – Marcus Smart developing point guard skills