Your Morning Dump... HOFers show love for the Celtics

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.

I think those guys’ biggest goal is to try and win a championship and not trying to win 72 games. But if Jeff Van Gundy wants to make a bet, I will bet him that they won’t break it. You can put a lot of great players together, but it’s about building chemistry. There’s been a lot of great teams put together, but that doesn’t really seal the deal. I think, me personally, Boston is still probably the best team in the East. Miami hasn’t proven themselves.

Globe - Pippen says Celtics still the best

I've always liked Scottie Pippen (wink, wink).

"Don't forget, Shaq played very well last year," Barkley said. "I thought it was a very good pickup for the Celtics. Shaq played very well. He's going to help them a lot."

Barkley dismissed any notion that O'Neal would be uncomfortable in a potential backup role.

"Shaq does not have an ego," said Barkley of the 15-time All-Star. "When he first got to Miami, no problems and they won a championship. Didn't have any problems in Phoenix, Phoenix just didn't know what they were doing."

WEEI

I've always like Charles Barkley too (wink, wink). If you read the entire WEEI article, you'll notice I left out the portion where Barkley says the Lakers will win the title.

On Page 2, more love for Dennis Johnson.

“He’s the greatest defensive player that’s ever played in the league as a guard,” Magic said. “He was just awesome. He was big. He was strong. He was probably one of the smartest players to ever play.

I used to be so mad at Dennis because he made me think so much,” he said. “He anticipated my moves before I made them. He was just a master at understanding how to play you and not give you what you want - and still do it as the nice Dennis Johnson. I used to hate that."

Herald - Honor bittersweet without DJ

I missed most of last night's ceremony. For some reason, I felt the need to watch Josh Beckett blow a 6 run lead. Did anyone catch Larry Bird's comments? I heard he had some funny lines about the 1960 Olympic team.

Thanks to everyone who pushed out our Facebook page to their friends. We picked up 120 "Likes" yesterday. Keep it up. We have a small wager with Celtics blog on who can get to 1000 first. The bad news - they are 150 ahead of us.

The rest of the links: