Your Morning Dump... Where the Celtics... Signed a player?

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.

Kelly spent the preseason with the Atlanta Hawks, but was waived earlier this week. Given the roster crunch in Boston, it’s possible the Celtics signed the stretch power forward with the idea of directing him to their D-League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws. Because second-round draft pick Ben Bentil will likely explore other options after he was waived, the Celtics still have one affiliate player spot open in Maine.

MassLive

That’s Danny! Zigging when everyone expects him to zag. Sixteen players under contract, and everyone’s expecting him to cut a player, and what does he do? Signs a guy!

What’s next?

Expect Ainge to have James Young sit on RJ Hunter’s shoulders and put an overcoat on them and try to pass them off as a single person for roster purposes:

Seriously, though, with Bentil taking a pass on a contract in Portland, the Celtics were in position to add a guy to that roster. Which they’ve done. Apparently. Who knows?

Page 2: Where Bentil’s gone too.

“I think that Ben will look for other opportunities,” Ainge said before practice Friday. “We are just so loaded at that position with Jaylen and Jae Crowder and Kelly Olynyk and Al Horford. We have a lot of guys that play the 4 position. I think that he probably wants to look for somewhere that might have more of an opportunity. But Ben was great. He had great energy, great enthusiasm from the day he showed up here. He had a great attitude, and we love Ben. We’re rooting hard for him to find success and I think he will because he has great attitude and great energy, and his skills I think will get there.”

MassLive

No surprise here. Bentil didn’t play his way onto the roster, as opposed to Demetrius Jackson, for instance, who isn’t even on the bubble. Unlike Hunter & Young:

Page 3: Where Ainge may have to waive a first round pick

It’s highly unusual for a team to have to waive a former first-round pick that they selected.

Young was the 17th overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft by Boston, while Hunter was selected by the Celtics with the 28th overall pick in the 2015 draft.

“Sometimes the decision is made for me. It’s really easy,” said Ainge. “But this year it hasn’t been that way. Both of those guys have had some outstanding moments in practice, in training camp and in games. So it’s been challenging.”

Boston being in this roster conundrum is due to having lots of draft picks in recent years that either didn’t turn into impact players initially, or were unable to be flipped for more established talent via trade.

CSNNE

Ainge has been looking for a trade for quite a while now. He hasn’t found any takers in part because the rest of the league knows that if they do nothing, one of these guys is hitting the waiver wire, and neither player is attractive enough to offer even a highly protected second rounder in order to obtain.

Now, yes, you can suggest that Ainge botched things, but when you look at the 2014 draft, it’s not like Ainge passed up on anyone likely to be a rotation player on this team in order to draft Young. At best Ainge is going to have to cut a guy when he could’ve picked someone to sit on the end of the bench instead. And as with Hunter, Young was Boston’s second first round pick, not their first or only one.

In 2015, Boston picked both Rozier and Hunter. Plenty of people kvetched about the Rozier pick, and most of them are probably glad that the internet has a short memory right now.

At any rate, Boston is probably going to cut one first rounder, which isn’t ideal, but let’s not pretend that Boston’s had a shortage of them–and hasn’t been in a position to take a flyer on a long-shot.

Finally: Where the Bruins and Celtics have a Kamloops connection

Not everyone from Kamloops knows one another, of course. But Olynyk and Nash do, and they are almost family: Olynyk’s ~~father’s brother~~ [uncle] is married to Nash’s ~~mother’s sister~~ [aunt].

“It’s . . . I don’t know what you’d call it,” Nash said. “But we just call each other cousins. It’s easy.”

When Nash signed with the Bruins July 1, Olynyk got about 40 text messages from friends and family members who were aware of their bond. The first message Nash’s mother, Shannon, received was from Olynyk’s mother, Arlene, ecstatic that their sons would be reconnected on the other side of the continent.

(less opaque family relationship terms inserted by your humble scribe)

Boston Globe

So, yeah, this is goofy. Kamloops is a long, long way from Boston.