The 10-man rotation, starring the case against Kobe Bryant
A look around the league and the Web that covers it. It’s also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren’t always listed in order of importance. That’s for you, dear reader, to figure out.
C: ESPN the Magazine. Henry Abbott presents the argument that Kobe Bryant — his contract, his demeanor, his relationship to other top stars, etc. — is the primary reason the Los Angeles Lakers have become awful, are likely to be awful again this season and might continue to be awful until after he’s retired. My general, broad-strokes takeaways:
• The efficiency/effectiveness/demeanor claims aren’t necessarily anything new, and we’re certainly no closer to folks on either side of those debates capitulating today than we were yesterday;
• There are other points that can be raised as, if not mitigating factors, then at least factors worth considering in the Lakers’ decline;
• There sure seem to be a lot of Lakers-related folks and agents willing to slam Kobe under cover of anonymity!
PF: NBA.com. In addition to the standard dynamite grab-bag of news and notes, David Aldridge’s Monday Morning Tip features something I thought about quite a bit last week — what Scott Brooks might do with his starting lineup now that Kevin Durant won’t be available at the three for the Oklahoma City Thunder for a little while.
SF: Hang Time. With multiple teams preaching the gospel of ball and player movement after watching the San Antonio Spurs slice and dice the opposition en route to a championship, John Schuhmann digs into the NBA’s SportVU optical tracking data to find out whether there’s any correlation between all that motion and having a great, highly efficient offense. (Spoiler alert: There isn’t!)
SG: The Brooklyn Game. Schuhmann’s research led Devin Kharpertian to wonder what does correlate with offensive efficiency, so he, too, got to digging.
PG: Fast Break and The Hook. Adam Lauridsen expects a monster win total from this year’s Golden State Warriors, and Tom Ziller thinks they might just be weird enough to get there.
6th: TrueHoop. For Golden State to reach those great heights, as Ethan Sherwood Strauss sees it, they’re going to need Klay Thompson to become the All-Star his new head coach thinks he can be.
7th: 8 Points, 9 Seconds. On Roy Hibbert, the Indiana Pacers’ great and giant X-factor, and the question — will he “believe his outward confidence about being one of the league’s best or will he let doubt overcome him after a few ugly box scores?” — that “might reveal his long-term future in Indiana.”
8th: Ballislife. A fun documentary-style look at Jamal Crawford’s come-up in, and ongoing relationship with, Seattle.
9th: Boston Globe. Gary Washburn leads off his Sunday notes column with a good one-on-one about finding an NBA role with James Johnson, who went from first-round pick to out of the league to a multi-year deal, and is trying to do whatever he can to avoid sliding back down to that middle step: “I’m just trying to help the youngsters so they don’t make the same mistakes I made.”
10th: Hardwood Paroxysm. Seth Partnow talks to former New York Knicks shooting coach Dave Hopla about the ins and outs of trying to improve NBA players’ jumpers — what works, what doesn’t, and more.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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