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.

“An opportunity came along… I knew for sure Isaiah was going to make us a little bit better, but I just wasn’t sure that right now he was going to make us as good a team as we are… I’m not sure it was in our best interests to get incrementally better, but because the deal was so good for us and you never know when you’re going to get a deal like that again. You can’t just sit around and wait for a player of his caliber to come along”

CSNNE 

I was fascinated when Danny Ainge made this comment during the broadcast last night. It says so much in such a short amount of time.

It really stems from an NBA GM’s open acknowledgement that he was basically afraid of getting good. “I’m not sure it was in our best interests to get incrementally better” speaks VOLUMES about where Ainge had hoped this rebuild would go.  This team was never supposed to compete for a bottom seed in the East. This team was supposed to win 20-something games, be competitive in stretches, shock a few teams, and settle nicely into the top 10 of the lottery.

But the Phoenix fire sale was too good to pass up, even if it meant putting the plan at risk.

It’s almost like someone offering to sell you a perfectly good new BMW for a couple of grand… you have to take that deal but in the back of your head you’re thinking “oh man I hope the taxes and insurance on this thing don’t handcuff me later.”

But in that situation, you just have to figure it out. Even if you turn around and sell the car for fair market value and go back to driving that old Hyundai, you pull the trigger and then figure out what’s really in your best interests.

I’m not suggesting Ainge turns around and trades Isaiah Thomas this summer. I’m also not NOT suggesting it either. Thomas is obviously the Celtics best player right now and Ainge has loved him for a long time, but we all know that no one is safe when it comes to Ainge. He’ll trade his kidneys if it means making the team better. So if this becomes one of those things where Ainge bought low on Thomas and sold high in order to get a top-tier superstar, I wouldn’t be shocked.

The bottom line here is this is what separates Ainge from Sam Hinkie in Philadelphia. Hinkie is not deviating from his plan. He’s got his team in the tank and there’s nothing you can do to get him out of it. Ainge, meanwhile, could have passed on the Thomas deal, jettisoned Marcus Thornton for nothing but a couple of second rounders or something, and rolled his dice on lottery night.

Instead, he said “screw it” and got a great player at a great price and will now adjust his plan accordingly.

Because he’s right. A guy like Thomas doesn’t come around every day at that price. Sometimes in life you have to put your plan aside and realize what kind of opportunity is staring you in the face. Sometimes in life you have to say “screw it” and take the opportunity that has been presented to you and then figure out the rest of it later.

Ainge spent about a minute and a half talking about that Thomas scenario, but it was a really eye-opening look into the thought process of an NBA GM trying to build a winner.

Related links:  CSNNE Ainge: “I honestly don’t know” if I’ll trade picks

Page 2: Paul Pierce outs fraud local media by outing fraud Ray Allen

I was aware Ray was not tight with others. Kept to himself but helped them win! @RedsArmy_John

— Gary Tanguay (@Gary_Tanguay) April 14, 2015

Tanguay on WEEI: “I always knew Ray Allen was a fraud. He was the type of guy that would always carry a book around but never read it” — Jay O (@MrTrpleDouble10) April 15, 2015

Tanguay also admitted he got the majority of his C’s info from Donny Marshall

— Jay O (@MrTrpleDouble10) April 15, 2015

Yesterday, Paul Pierce demolished quite a few people in a long, wide-ranging interview with Jackie MacMullan. One of his targets was Ray Allen, who was exposed as the fraud most of us realized he was after his departure from Boston. He’s a completely self-serving, self-centered media creation whose personality was concocted to put himself in a positive light.

I bought it. You probably bought it. And so did the media.

But this revelation from Pierce showed one thing about one particular about our good friend Gary Tanguay, the ring-leader of the anti-Rajon Rondo parade in Boston…

… while running roughshod on our former point guard and stoking the flames of hatred, he willingly took one-sided information from that Ray Fraud Allen through is caddy Donny Marshall and regurgitated it out for mass consumption. Tanguay was Ray Allen’s willing puppet through this whole Rondo mess, and he happily parroted one asshole’s agenda.

And now, when our suspicious about his source have been confirmed, he plays the card he railed against the whole time…. “I don’t care if he’s an asshole off the court, he helped us win.”

Here’s the kicker, though… Read that Pierce article and it was Rondo who set aside his differences to go to Ray Allen’s charity events because the team was more important than personal differences.

The point of this isn’t to vindicate Rondo. I really don’t give a shit about that because he’s gone and we’re moving on with a fun, exciting team with a bright future. The point of this is to show you how blatantly one-sided some of the things you heard were, and how there was zero attempt to bring you both sides to the story (and to be weary when it happens again in the future).

One guy’s warts were out there for all to see and people slammed him for it. Another guy’s were hidden away from public view in a carefully crafted charade, and some people willingly went along with the show just to so they could feed you juicy gossip.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather deal with the asshole whose cards are all out on the table. At least with him, I know what I’m getting.

And Finally…

… just for fun… here’s Jae Crowder’s game winner again

Called it.

Related links: CSNNE: Crowder comes up big with game winner  |  Crowder mobbed by Sullinger, Wallace in postgame interview  |  MassLive: Crowder plays finisher

The rest of the links

Globe: Celtics clinch 7th seed  |  Bass strikes right chord with C’s  |  Q&A with team owners  |  Herald: Most made most of Havlicek’s steal  |  Grousbeck likes what he sees  |  Smart’s impact belies rookie status  |  Celtics lock up 7th seed  |  Celtics & Kings to play regular season game in Mexico City  |  CSNNE: Welsh: Making playoffs a great step  |  ESPN Boston: C’s, Crowder, ready to battle Cavs  |  Bradley out vs. Bucks  |  C’s take the court with playoffs clinched  |  WEEI: An oral history: how Celtics earned a playoff date with LeBron James’ Cavaliers  |  5 things we learned as Crowder, Celtics bury Raptors late  |  MassLive: Celtics “ready for war” with Cavs  |  Smart “most competitive” member of 2014 draft class having rare rookie season