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.

The goal here is to try to show you the path that Ainge and the team are navigating as part of their rebuild. There’s still a ton of work to be done, and Ainge has to make an awful lot of good decisions to accelerate this team back to contender status. But the moves the Celtics have made this season — and will continue to make — all are aimed at giving the team as many possible assets to work with, which increases the margin for error along the way.

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Boston still has enough talent that, in a head-shaking East, it will linger just outside playoff contention (though a tougher slate of upcoming games should drop the team back toward the lottery pack a bit). The Celtics certainly wouldn’t mind some additional help from the ping-pong balls this spring, but are not reliant on it.

No, Boston has positioned itself well with cap flexibility, a surplus of draft picks and a burning desire to leave this rebuild behind. Sometimes it’s hard to see the forest from the trees, but these Celtics are trying to navigate their way out of the woods.

ESPN Boston – Future in focus: A feather is their cap

Chris Forsberg concluded a triumvirate of posts on the “state of the Celtics” by taking a look forward into the off-season and beyond. If you’re a green-team loyalist, it’s the only way to conjure up hope of better days filled with playoff runs and banner aspirations. After this weekend, Danny Ainge is nearly done dealing away expiring deals and tradeable assets, so this is the perfect time to take the wide-lensed view of the organization. Part one, the detonation of the remnants of the Celtics’ playoff contender (2007-2012) is all but complete. Part two, the rebuild, has commenced.

Forsberg’s final piece from Sunday is optimistic. He admits that Ainge probably won’t hit big on every player he drafts, every deal he consummates and every free agent he attempts to woo (perhaps he should talk to the people who got the US Olympic Committee to somehow decide Boston was a good choice for the games), but that with so many avenues to explore, money to spend and players to draft, he doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s hard not to read to the bottom of Forsberg’s piece and think that Ainge has the Cs ready to contend in the not so distant future.

Now read Zach Harper’s take from CBSSports.com, but only if you’re looking for a major buzzkill.

Three players dealt; three first-round picks coming in. The Celtics are stockpiling cap space and draft picks over the next couple of years, and Ainge is being lauded as master of this rebuilding plan. The problem with the plan is the assets don’t seem to be as bountiful as they appear.

It’s easy to “win trades” when you’re not trying to win games. That’s precisely what the Celtics’ organization — not the players and coach Brad Stevens — are doing. I’m also not sure how much winning they’re doing with the restructuring for the future.

The Celtics have some bad draft pick luck and it’s the main thing affecting their rebuilding strategy. They just don’t have a lot of young players who figure to develop as major players or major trade chips. Over the past four years, they’ve missed badly on guys like JaJuan Johnson and Fab Melo. They’ve picked up nice role players in Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk, but nobody who looks like an All-Star quality big man in that lot. Marcus Smart and James Young still could prove very valuable, but and not much has been shown in the early stages.

They potentially have 11 first-round picks in the next four drafts, which sounds amazing. This is the type of flexibility that helped the Cleveland Cavaliers put together a good enough situation to bring LeBron James home. But there is no hometown Boston star in his prime out there looking to return to the Celtics.

CBSSports.com – Is this Boston Celtics’ rebuild going as well as everybody says it is?

Zach Harper: playing the role of Bob the campus security guard who made me pour three cases of beer down my dorm’s bathroom sink my freshman year of college (a story for another Dump and probably for another publication).

Harper makes some valid points. While Danny Ainge has drafted some nice players since the beginning of the Big Three era, none of them look like All-Stars right now. Unless someone demonstrates major growth, there doesn’t look to be a Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green or even Chandler Parsons out of the bunch: a diamond in the rough drafted outside the lottery of the draft on this roster. Ainge will have plenty of chances to find that player in the coming years, but his track record since Rajon Rondo doesn’t demonstrate a knack for him. Harper doesn’t even get into the fact that Boston’s never been a destination city for NBA free agents, but he does state that most of the unrestricted free agents who are set to hit the market in the next two years (LaMarcus Aldridge Marc Gasol, Kevin Love who headline 2015 and Kevin Durant and Al Horford in 2016) may very well re-sign.

With so many questions and possibilities and zero answers for what the future holds, the one thing the Cs can control is their on the court development. Both Forsberg and Harper give credence to the opposite side of their stance on the future of the Celtics. At this point, it is too early to tell, but there’s no doubt that Danny Ainge is doing everything possible to give us the answer sooner rather than later.

On Page 2, Who’s the Celtics go-to scorer? Everybody and nobody

As you look at the Celtics’ roster, you won’t find a single player who would even be considered among the top 10 players at their respective position, which is an absolute must for a go-to player.

“We gotta be more judicious in who we decide to go through and that’s been all season,” Celtics head coach Brad Stevens told reporters after Saturday’s loss at Toronto.

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Boston has played 12 games since the Rondo trade, with nine resulting in Celtics losses. Of those 12 games, the Celtics have had seven different leading scorers.

CSNNE – Celtics search for go-to scorer continues

The Celtics traded their leading scorer, Jeff Green, (officially) this morning and so scoring by committee isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. If I had to take a guess as to who leads the team in per game scoring from now until April, I’d go Avery Bradley. He has the green light to launch mid-range jumpers and corner threes and when the Celtics demonstrate lateral ball movement in their half-court offense, he’s the one guy who is willing and able to attack the rim with regularity when an opening appears

There will be some nights, though, for James Young and Kelly Olynyk to try and work consistency into their offensive games. The silver lining of not having a go-to player is that every player on the roster will have his time to try and shoulder some of the burden. Mistakes will be made. Shots will continue to be missed, but for those players who stick around long enough for the Celtics to round into contender status again, these could prove to be very valuable days.

The rest of the links:

Mass Live – Boston Celtics, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans, agree on deal according to report