The 10-man rotation, starring where the Timberwolves go from here
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. Steve Aschburner looks at how the Minnesota Timberwolves organization, from the owner’s suite to the locker room, continues to try to find ways to deal with the stunning and bracing pre-season death of Flip Saunders.
PF: The Cauldron. Nate Duncan spins the Wolves’ situation forward, considering how Minnesota’s decision-makers might most effectively build around No. 1 picks Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns.
SF: The New York Times Magazine. A tremendous piece by Wesley Morris about NBA referee Bill Kennedy’s decision to “self-identify” as gay to Yahoo Sports NBA columnist Adrian Wojnarowski earlier this month, how “self-identifying” is different from “coming out,” and what Kennedy actually chose with this decision: “He traded a useful job protection to advocate for other gay people in sports to feel safer while doing their job. It’s easy to hate whom you can’t see and harder to hate whom you can.”
SG: TrueHoop. Baxter Holmes looks back 20 years at how Kobe Bryant almost became a Boston Celtic.
PG: Salon. Nathaniel Friedman on the “impossible position” in which LeBron James finds himself as some activists call for him to sit out games in protest of a grand jury’s decision not to indict two white Cleveland police officers in the fatal shooting of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy who had a pellet gun.
6th: Memphis Commercial Appeal. Chris Herrington on the Memphis Grizzlies going big again in Tuesday’s win with Matt Barnes suspended, and Dave Joerger’s continual quest for things that work: “Ultimately, for this year’s very much transitional team and especially for its head coach, the question is less which than when. Not which style to play, but when to play each style. This team has shown itself incapable of reaching previous heights with full fidelity to one approach, but might just have a shot, or at least its best shot, with the right blend.”
7th: Wall Street Journal. Chris Herring on the “consistently inconsistent” New York Knicks: “Over the past five-plus seasons, the Knicks have [posted] a league-high 16 different spans in which they won or lost at least three consecutive games, then immediately followed that streak with three or more games of the opposite result.”
8th: Bleacher Report. Jared Dubin goes deep on something I mentioned briefly last night: Carmelo Anthony has looked like a more frequently willing passer this season, and in fact might be having the best passing season of his career.
9th: Roundball Mining Company. Cody Russell looks at how reliance on isolation play, and struggles to produce points with it, have submarined the Denver Nuggets’ offense.
10th: Sports Illustrated. Kenny Ducey’s latest round of #important statistical analysis: “As you can see, [Hassan] Whiteside has surpassed his season averages (12.6, 11.0 & 4.0) when [DJ] Khaled stops by American Airlines Arena.”
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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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