The 10-man rotation, starring Flip Saunders, gone too soon
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: NBA.com, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Sports Illustrated and MinnPost. Please read Steve Aschburner, Jerry Zgoda, Steve Rushin and Britt Robson on the late Flip Saunders.
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PF: San Antonio Express-News. Jeff McDonald does a wonderful job of telling the story of how LaMarcus Aldridge wound up coming home — kind of — to play for the San Antonio Spurs.
SF: Sporting News. Adi Joseph talks to Al Jefferson about his apparent status as an NBA dinosaur, and how a 30-year-old post-playing big man who struggles defending in space can still be an impact player for the Charlotte Hornets this year … and, perhaps, for other suitors in free agency. (Ben Detrick comes at the same question from a very different place on the career continuum, wondering at The Triangle how the Philadelphia 76ers can get the most out of rookie Jahlil Okafor’s throwback talents in a future-focused offensive era.)
SG: The Triangle. Kirk Goldsberry uses his signature pretty pictures to illustrate the defining difference between high-scoring and point-poor teams in 2015: “As we look around the league […] an undeniable correlation emerges: Where we see frequent unassisted shots, we see bad NBA offenses.”
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PG: ESPN.com. Ethan Sherwood Strauss thinks harder than most about Doc Rivers’ “you need luck in the West” comments, the reaction to them, and what constitutes “luck” in the NBA in 2015.
6th: Beyond the Arc. Kevin Lipe, as smart a Memphis Grizzlies watcher as there is, takes a look at this year’s model of the grit-and-grind group and wonders: Even after re-upping Marc Gasol and bringing back most of the principals from last year’s 55-win squad, might the Grizz be looking at this season more as a rebuilding campaign than a hell-bent-for-the-Finals odyssey?
7th: Bullets Forever. I really enjoyed Jake Whitacre simulating the 2015-16 NBA season 30 times in “NBA 2K16” to see whether Kevin Durant would ever decide to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder and join the Washington Wizards.
[The BDL 25: The key storylines to watch this NBA season]
8th: SB Nation. Paul Flannery talks to Anthony Davis about the next step in his evolution as the league’s most dangerous player: becoming the unquestioned and dependable leader of the New Orleans Pelicans.
9th: Orlando Sentinel. Josh Robbins checks in on Orlando Magic rookie Mario Hezonja’s adjustment to the NBA game, which doesn’t seem to have included much of a dip in his fabled confidence.
10th: NBAStuffer. These schedule visualizations help crystallize things every year — a brutal post-All-Star road trip for the Brooklyn Nets, a friendly early-spring homestand for the playoff-hopeful Detroit Pistons, 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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