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.

As Rose makes an inspired return to a playoff stage that desperately missed him, Thibodeau is pushing closer to the end of his run here. This wasn’t on his mind on Monday after a 99-92 Game 1 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers; only winning. Only the opportunity now. Rose is becoming Rose again, slowly, surely, but the progression’s unmistakable. It changes everything for Chicago, except this: Amid the twisted culture of Chicago’s regime – where winning is losing, where success is failure – management can’t wait to rid itself of one Tom Thibodeau.

For everything Chicago management does to undermine the coach, this Bulls locker room has remained something rare in professional sports: unaffected and unrelenting.

[…]

When a visiting scout visited the Bulls practice facility in the past year or so, he had the opportunity to watch the awkward, strange interplay between Bulls general manager Gar Forman and Thibodeau. Eventually, the man walked into the office of an assistant coach and asked: “What the hell is the deal here?”

Before answering, the coach turned his fan on full blast. For the visitor, everything was becoming even stranger. He gave the assistant a befuddled look, as though to say, “What are you doing?”

“I’m not taking any chances,” the coach said, refusing to risk the possibility of those walls being bugged.

Yahoo!: Bulls making last stand with Thibodeau

The announcement Tuesday that Isiah Thomas is back working for Madison Square Garden — albeit strictly for the WNBA’s New York Liberty for now — is no surprise at all, really. Most close observers know Thomas never really lost influence at the Garden even after the NBA decreed in 2010 that he could not consult for the Knicks because he was coaching at the collegiate level at the time (Florida International).

He has always had the ear of James L. Dolan, the Cablevision/MSG czar and principal owner of the Liberty and Knicks — sometimes against all reason.

And Thomas has always had a Rasputin-like knack for survival, gliding from one job or controversy to the next talking about fresh starts, unfair raps and the out-of-the-box vision he has for turning also-rans into winners.

But even for Dolan, this move takes guts. Few professional sports owners would choose to give a second act to a man who a jury found to have sexually harassed a female Garden employee — let alone put him in charge running the Garden’s women’s professional basketball team.

But that’s what Dolan has done with this move.

ESPN: Tone deaf Dolan once again turns to Isiah Thomas

After yesterday’s events, I have a much deeper, more meaningful appreciation for the top-to-bottom stability of this Boston Celtics franchise.

From Chicago, who will let Tom Thibodeau go regardless of how well they do (it’ll be awkward when he returns to get his championship ring as the Orlando Magic head coach), to New York where James Dolan is just an embarrassment, I’m thrilled to be covering and rooting for a franchise that is so mundanely stable.

Just yesterday I was lamenting the lack of Celtics news at this point. I was thinking “man, there’s literally nothing going on with this team right now.” And then these stories broke in Chicago and New York and now I find myself looking up new deities to thank for not having to cover some BS like that.

Has any team fought harder than the Bulls, despite all their injuries over the past few years? Has any coach coaxed more out of his entire roster than Tom Thibodeau over the past five years?  Sure he’s not perfect… he does have a tendency to play guys a lot of minutes… but there’s little doubt he’s gotten the most out of his teams. And now to read that management is obsessed with firing him?

Ridiculous.

And then New York.

Ohhhhh, New York… Where James Dolan’s obsession with Isiah Thomas has never relented. That stink continues to waft through the upper levels of MSG. It took Donnie Walsh and a CDC haz-mat team to disinfect the Knicks roster after Zeke’s reign of incompetence. His bravado in the front office turned into sexual harassment, which ultimately cost Dolan $11.6 million.

And STILL…

There were reports of Zeke still whispering in Dolan’s ear. Dolan had Isiah Thomas talk to LeBron to try to lure him to New York in his first go-round as a free agent. When that failed, it was Zeke who was pulling the strings to give Amar’e Stoudemire a ton of cash and trade everything for Carmelo Anthony. Dolan even wanted to bring Isiah back to run the franchise after Walsh, who had rebuilt the goddam thing, had enough of Zeke’s meddling.

No one understands Dolan’s fascination with Isiah Thomas. No one gets it one bit. Yet there it is, manifesting itself not only in a top management role with his WNBA franchise, but also with an ownership stake and mind-blowing attack-first strategy basically blaming everyone but Thomas for the sexual harassment verdict.

Statement from the #Knicks on the Anucha Browne Sanders trial and new Liberty president Isiah Thomas: pic.twitter.com/wqtxusoz5N

— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) May 5, 2015

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsAre you kidding me? Are. You. Kidding. Me? No matter how much I expect James Dolan to suck, he continues to find ways to top himself.

“Have I hit rock bottom yet?” “Yes, Mr. Dolan. You did years ago.” “Nah, eff that. Throw me a jackhammer.”

— devin kharpertian (@uuords) May 5, 2015

Seeing all this crap flying around, it makes me just so happy to look at this Celtics ownership group, which has no interference with the job Danny Ainge is doing. And then there’s Ainge, who saw Brad Stevens do too well with his new acquisitions this year and just threw up a  ¯_(ツ)_/¯ and waved his pom poms come playoff time. And of course there is Stevens, who has passed just about every challenge this year with an even keel, calm demeanor, and positive attitude.

You other teams continue to sabotage yourselves. We’ll just be over here biding our time in quiet obscurity, watching an actual good franchise do good things.

And Finally….

In case you missed Gregg Popovich declaring he’ll return to coach the Spurs because “the paycheck is pretty good”… here’s what he meant.

don’t forget that Popovich only just completed the first season of a five-year contract. Word is he contemplated retirement after last season’s championship with more seriousness than any of us on the outside realized, but Pop didn’t just agree to keep coaching. He consented to sign that long-term deal which, according to industry insiders, pays in the $11 million range annually.

That’s more than any Celtic… even Gerald Wallace. Almost twice what Isiah Thomas makes. 

Think they like him in San Antonio?  

Brad Stevens has to be sitting there like “please get me some better players by the time my contract is up.. pleeeeaaasseeeee.” 

The rest of the links

Globe: No detail is too small for Brad Stevens  |  CSNNE: 10 big men expected to go in the first round  |  Green can be a game-changer for Grizzlies  |  Sporting News: Cousins? Monroe? Celtics may stay quiet

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