The 10-man rotation, starring why Justise Winslow can already hang
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: Sports Illustrated. Rob Mahoney takes a look at what Justise Winslow already does so well that he’s become the rare rookie to earn major minutes on the Miami Heat, and what the potential-packed 19-year-old is working on to get even better.
PF: Red94. Paul McGuire watched the Houston Rockets’ come-from-behind win over the Utah Jazz on Monday, and he liked what he saw from the Rockets’ defense in the second half … which, perhaps not coincidentally, dovetailed with interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff’s decision to move from Terrence Jones to rookie Montrezl Harrell.
SF: 8 Points, 9 Seconds. William Furr takes stock of the Indiana Pacers’ much-discussed offseason promise to downshift and play small, and finds a couple of interesting things: for one thing, they’re not starting small that much, and for another, they might actually be better right now starting big.
SG: Bright Side of the Sun. Dave King, who’s not a millennial, offers a smart, fair and not-knee-jerky response to Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver’s weird comments about millennials.
PG: Indubitably Hoops. Jesse Blanchard explores the secret origins of Jonathon Simmons, a little-known former D-League and Summer League standout who’s making a name for himself as a hard-charging slashing dunker for the San Antonio Spurs’ second unit: “Simmons was a typical AT&T Center employee until the radioactive bat that Manu Ginobili swatted bit him, transferring some of Ginobili’s powers to Simmons in the process.”
6th: ESPN.com. Zach Lowe talks to coaches, players and executives about whether the league’s move away from crashing the offensive glass in favor of dropping back on transition defense has resulted in teams missing some golden opportunities for gimme buckets.
7th: The Hook. I don’t tend to get too riled up about the relative justice or injustice of All-Star nods/snubs anymore, but I’d be cool with the NBA adopting Tom Ziller’s four tweaks to the voting process. (“Mandatory minimums: Bad for criminal justice, good for the NBA All-Star Game.”)
8th: ESPN.com. J.A. Adande on #NoJusticeNoLeBron, that interesting new Public Enemy-soundtracked Samsung ad and different paths: “There are multiple ways for James to help black people. Not every method is tied to protest.”
9th: Silver Screen and Roll. Harrison Faigen on Larry Nance Jr., starting to look like a late-first-round steal for the Undefeated In 2016! Los Angeles Lakers.
10th: NBA.com. Ian Thomsen on the Milwaukee Bucks’ early struggles to build on last year’s playoff berth, and why even amid exasperating defensive lapses and offensive stall-outs, nobody’s getting impatient. (Yet.)
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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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