The 10-man rotation, starring the Dallas Mavericks’ marvelous offense
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: Mavs Moneyball and Eye on Basketball. Heading into the season, we expected the Dallas Mavericks’ offense to be excellent, but through the first week of games, as Hal Brown and Matt Moore write, it’s been borderline historic.
PF: ESPN Insider ($). Tom Haberstroh on how defense and corner-3-point shooting — which, hello there, Trevor Ariza — have fueled the Houston Rockets’ red-hot 5-0 start.
SF: Bullets Forever. Mike Prada breaks down how the Washington Wizards shut down the New York Knicks’ triangle offense en route to a comfortable road win on Tuesday.
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SG: Canis Hoopus and 1500 ESPN. Zachary Bennett and Steve McPherson make the case for the Minnesota Timberwolves ditching their arrangement with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants — the D-League squad with which the Wolves and 12 other NBA teams share an affiliation — and spending to set up their own D-League franchise, if only to ensure that youngsters like Zach LaVine and Glenn Robinson III have someplace to see extended minutes when there aren’t any available on the big club.
PG: SLAM. Tzvi Twersky on how Andre Iguodala taught some young cats how to be professional basketball players, and how he’s learning from older heads how to set himself up for life after the game.
6th: The Triangle. Jason Concepcion takes a hard-boiled look at the possibility that the Los Angeles Lakers are secretly tanking to ensure they keep the 2015 first-round selection that they’ll owe the Phoenix Suns if it falls outside the first five picks.
7th: The National Post. Eric Koreen on the Toronto Raptors’ Tuesday night win over the increasingly injured Oklahoma City Thunder: “Aesthetically and spiritually, this was a contender for the saddest game of the year.”
8th: Eye on Basketball. After watching Kobe Bryant take 37 shots as the Lakers gave up 112 points en route to losing their fifth straight game, Zach Harper wonders what, if any, principles L.A.’s following on either side of the ball.
9th: Arizona Republic, Sactown Royalty and TrueHoop. Spotlights on three players earning praise for taking an early-season step up on the defensive end — Suns forward Marcus Morris, Sacramento Kings shooting guard Ben McLemore and Golden State Warriors All-Star Stephen Curry.
10th: Denver Stiffs. After a couple of dispiriting Denver Nuggets losses, Jeffrey Morton sees a team in need of more consistent rotations and an offense desperate for room to breathe and easy looks.
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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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