Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the bigstory line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Hearing the Celtics and Knicks will play on Christmas Day in New York.

— Kevin O’Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) August 10, 2016

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsThe schedule won’t come out until tomorrow, but Kevin O’Connor (The Ringer’s newest employee, by the way!) caught wind of a potential Celtics/Knicks matchup on Christmas day.

I’m not surprised by this… the Celtics are now good enough to hold national interest for what many consider the “real” opening day of the season. I’m sure there will be another marquee game or two, so I’m banking on an afternoon game. As has been noted around the interwebs, the Celtics always play on the road on Christmas because Red Auerbach didn’t want his staff working a home game on the holiday.

Welcome back to national relevance, Boston!

Page 2: Brad Stevens explains the Jaylen Brown pick and more

Coach Stevens joined Chris Mannix on The Vertical… giving very Brad answers to the questions about Al Horford, Jaylen Brown, Tom Brady’s involvement in the Durant pitch, and much more.

In a nutshell…

• Tom Brady’s involvement was awesome, and it gave guys there a glimpse into what it takes to be that great for that long.
• Al Horford compliments every big on the team, and can do a lot of things with a lot of people. It’s also not up to Al to fit into the system, it’s up to Stevens to fit him into the system.
• Jaylen Brown has a lot of skills that will transfer to the NBA, and he’s also got a lot of room to grow. Also, he’ll be “just fine” as an NBA 3-point shooter if he puts the work into it.
• His best time to think is coming up because he gets to separate from everything and he knows what his team will be. Once the schedule is released he’ll get a feel for what the team’s progression should be.
• The team approached him about his extension, and he’s thrilled about it, but he’s not talking about any terms other than to say he’ll “be here for a while.

Take a listen to the show… it’s only about 27 minutes long, so you can grab it for your lunch break, ride home from work, evening run, or whatever. If you can’t listen to the embedded copy or download it, check out their show page.

And Finally…

The Red’s Army crew continued its participation in the ESPN Boston summer forecast. Today’s topic… who’ll be the biggest overachiever?

Ben Mark, Red’s Army (Johnson): It’s easy to forget that Johnson is back after powering through nagging injuries last season to give the Celtics what they needed as a defensive anchor and garbage man on the offensive end. I’m not sure if he ends up starting, but given the fact that he’ll be playing for his next contract, Johnson should give the Celtics everything he has. I also think he’ll be re-energized playing next to an All-Star in Horford.

Mike Dynon, Red’s Army (Brown): The fans who booed Brown on draft night don’t expect him to live up to being the No. 3 overall pick, but Brown will be motivated to prove himself. If he hustles, plays defense, and throws down the occasional loud jam — which he will — Brown will earn both minutes from Stevens and love from the fan

Rich Jensen, Red’s Army (Brown): I’m going with Brown because the kid was booed on draft night. Basically, at that moment, Brown was considered a net negative for the Celtics — the worst possible outcome (or at least that was the opinion until Guerschon Yabusele was drafted and everybody just left the team’s draft party). There are still internet commenters griping about Brown. And yet, on a worse team, I’m pretty sure he could contend for rookie of the year. He’s a smart guy, views this all as a learning process, and he has a chip on his shoulder when he gets on the court. In terms of changing fan opinion? I don’t think anyone’s going to do more than Brown.

Lots of great answers there today… so be sure to check them all out. 

The rest of the links:

CSNNE: Projecting the East’s bottom 5  |  Robert Parish talks Grateful Dead, celebration in ’86

ESPN Boston: Abdel Nader pressing for NBA deal?

MassLive: Ray Allen wants to return to extend 3-point record over Curry