The 10-man rotation, starring why nobody’s broken the bank for Brandon Jennings
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: BBall Breakdown. Coach Nick takes a look at the flaws in Brandon Jennings' game that have led NBA teams to steer clear of making him a big offer in restricted free agency over the past three weeks, increasing the likelihood that he'll have to sign the Milwaukee Bucks' one-year, $4.53 million qualifying offer for the 2013-14 season.
PF: Houston Chronicle. Jonathan Feigen sat down with Hakeem Olajuwon, Ralph Sampson, Yao Ming and Dwight Howard — the Houston Rockets' "lineage of superstar centers" — to talk about what it's like to be the man in the middle and the importance of pivot play on both ends of the floor.
SF: Grantland. Jared Dubin does the salary cap math to show just how ridiculously far-fetched a notion it is that the Los Angeles Lakers, "interest" aside, would sign both LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony while retaining Kobe Bryant should the former two stars wind up on the free-agent market in the summer of 2014.
SG: Sactown Royalty. After some reportedly strong play at Team USA minicamp last summer and some reportedly overblown drama with USA Basketball boss Jerry Colangelo (a man not to be trifled with, by the way), DeMarcus Cousins has been invited back to work out with the national team as part of Team USA's summer camp in Vegas this week. Is this the Sacramento Kings big man's last shot at donning the red, white and blue in senior international competition? (Over at the SB Nation flagship, Tom Ziller takes a look at the other likely candidates to play center, or "center," for the U.S. at the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain.)
PG: The New York Times. Beckley Mason looks at the relationship between Daryl Morey's Rockets and Mark Cuban's Dallas Mavericks, and how much has changed for the two ahead-of-the-curve Texas hoops bosses in what seems like the blink of an eye. (Especially interesting in light of Monday's news that Cuban just poached one of Morey's top lieutenants, Houston vice president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas, to be Dallas' new general manager.)
6th: The Point Forward, twice, and Eye on Basketball. Filing from Las Vegas, Ben Golliver names his All-Summer League team, Rob Mahoney identifies five players who surprised in Sin City, and Zach Harper offers both surprises and disappointments. Not everybody's scorecards match up, which makes for some fun comparing and contrasting.
7th: SB Nation. For those of us who haven't had the opportunity to go, Seth Rosenthal provides a primer of sorts for the weird non-basketball stuff you see at Las Vegas Summer League. Kind of a field guide to 10 days of madness.
8th: Raptors Republic. Sure, it's "only Summer League," but Blake Murphy and a lot of Toronto Raptors fans would've liked to see, if nothing else, more aggressiveness from rising sophomore wing Terrence Ross out in Vegas.
9th: Boston Globe. A good read from Baxter Holmes on Boston Celtics rookie Kelly Olynyk, a coach's kid who doesn't view Danny Ainge saying he isn't a "go-to guy" as an insult: "'What you want is a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts,' Olynyk said, quoting Aristotle."
10th: Daily Thunder. Here is Russell Westbrook dancing.
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