The 10-man rotation, starring Kobe’s farewell tour
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: The Hook. Tom Ziller offers the unrepentant hater’s guide to Kobe Bryant’s impending retirement, and it is wonderfully written, detail-rich and fair … well, as fair as an unrepentant hater can be, at least.
PF: Forum Blue and Gold, twice. Darius Soriano on Kobe’s 7-for-26 outing in Philly, “the worst case scenario for what a game in [a] Kobe farewell tour would look like,” and Anthony Irwin on the question of whether Kobe’s Viking funeral is worth the potential damage it could cause to the team’s young nucleus.
SF: The Sporting News. Sean Gentille disagrees with Kevin Durant’s perspective on how the media have treated Kobe this season, and makes a pretty smart case for Bryant just being the first superstar of his magnitude dealing with the end in the age of constant Internet communication/commentary. (Kobe, for his part, does not have any complaints about the way he’s been covered … or, at least, none he would share.)
SG: Mashable. Sam Laird comes through with an oral history of Kobe’s senior season at Lower Merion High School, when he was on the verge of superstardom yet still a teenager who desperately wanted to win state.
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PG: The Comeback. Seerat Sohi is not buying a 10-5 record as proof that the Chicago Bulls are good.
6th: Sports Illustrated. The latest installment in Rob Mahoney’s tremendous “The Craft” series focuses on the ongoing development of Derrick Favors, who has gotten better in every single season of his professional career, but often in ways that don’t immediately stand out, even if you watch the Utah Jazz every night.
7th: Sports Illustrated. Lee Jenkins checks in with LeBron James, who does not seem to be enjoying himself very much as he tries to push the Cleveland Cavaliers back to the NBA Finals.
8th: ESPN.com. Zach Lowe on how the early arrival of Kristaps Porzingis has changed the rebuilding timeline and potential future plans of the New York Knicks, a team that now might actually have a future.
9th: 1500ESPN.com. Andrew Wiggins sure seems to be pretty good at basketball. So why do advanced metrics like adjusted plus-minus seem to think he stinks? Steve McPherson investigates.
10th: Memphis Magazine. Kevin Lipe on Marc Gasol, 2015 Memphian of the Year: “It’s often said (even in these pages) that the Grizzlies are so beloved by the people of Memphis because they reflect the values we claim to hold for ourselves — that they are a reflection of the city. If that’s true, then Marc Gasol is the best version of ourselves.”
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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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