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.

A mere four years after hitting the reset button, the Celtics are coming off a season in which they won an East-best 53 games and appear on the cusp of returning to legitimate title contention. How did Boston turn things around so quickly?

Ainge and his front-office staff relentlessly overhauled the team’s roster, targeting undervalued talent that formed the Celtics’ chip-on-their-shoulder core while also feverishly stockpiling future draft picks. They hit a couple of home runs along the way (Boston is still collecting picks from the Pierce/Garnett swap and got All-NBA guard Isaiah Thomas virtually for free thanks to the aftershocks of the Nets blockbuster).

Stevens has squeezed every drop of talent out of all the players that have passed through — and there have been many of them — and the rest of the league, including some of the biggest free agents of the past two summers, took notice of Boston’s expedited climb and have rushed to join the voyage.

The Celtics made more than 70 major moves over the past four years, including 21 trades that helped bring back 16 future draft picks to Boston. A look at how the franchise fast-forwarded through the rebuilding process:

ESPN Boston — The four-year rebuild project that has transformed the Boston Celtics

For as many times over the last four years that fans have pleaded with Danny Ainge to speed the rebuild up with the help of the Brooklyn Nets’ bounty of picks (myself included at times. I was at the Garden for Draft Night 2016 and almost blew a gasket when Jimmy Butler wasn’t a Celtic and Jaylen Brown was instead), it’s nice to stop and put this all into perspective.

The Celtics’ 4-year transformation from aging roster, to one bereft of talent, to a Finals contender with staying power is as hard for me to comprehend as it seems to have been for Keith Bogans in the photo above at his Celtics’ introductory press conference in 2013.

Chris Forsberg takes us through every step of the journey: from the hiring of Brad Stevens, to every scrub clean of the 12-13 roster (Courtney Lee and Jeff Green shipped out), to the brief Jordan Crawford renaissance, to the numbers behind the Rondo-Crowder deal, to the arrival of Isaiah, Horford and Hayward.

And the crazy thing, as we all know, is that the rebuild rumbles on– as Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and player(s) X from this coming summer’s draft come of age into the 2020s, we’ll continue to look back and marvel at how it all began when the Big Three era Cs trudged off the TD Garden court at the end of a game six, series-ending loss to the Knicks. Who knew this is what was to come.

On page 2, the Cavs’ rumors swirl as the Cs sit back

LeBron James’ eventual departure from Cleveland for a second time has seemed inevitable for a while. A tweet from longtime basketball reporter Chris Sheridan Wednesday shouldn’t make Cavs fans feel any better. 

Sheridan tweeted a quote from an NBA source saying that the 2017-18 season will definitely be James’ last with the Cavs.

CSNNE — Report: Lebron James ‘100% leaving’ after this season

Cleveland Cavaliers superstars LeBron James and Kyrie Irving were both in Miami recently, and according to ESPN Cleveland, James and Irving at one point met up and talked.

Tony Rizzo of ESPN Cleveland appeared on The Really Big Show Podcast and suggested that LeBron and Kyrie had a peaceful interaction.

Irving, of course, has requested a trade from the Cavs and reportedly wants to escape James’ shadow.

Amico Hoops — Did Lebron and Kyrie meet in Miami?

Is Lebron leaving next season? Is the relationship with Kyrie beyond repair? Did they meet in Miami? As the Celtics enjoy a drama free summer, the rumors continue to come in hot around Cleveland. Hard to know exactly what’s going on behind the scenes, but if the Cavs do need to trade Irving to placate James, they better do it before the start of training camp. This is the same Cavs team, though, that tore through the Eastern Conference playoffs while faced with controversy, so I don’t want to come in hot and declare that keeping both guys will surely sink Cleveland.

Stay tuned for more craziness.

The Rest of the links:

Mass Live — Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens talks Gordon Hayward disliking Tom Brady, Hayward’s versatility

ESPN — 2017 Summer Forecast: Eastern Conference Standings