The 10-man rotation, starring the struggling Nuggets (Ball Don't Lie)

[Yahoo! Sports - NBA -]

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 : Roundball Mining Company . Colin Deaver on the Denver Nuggets' dismal perimeter defense that's been a weak point all season and that allowed the Portland Trail Blazers to drain 16 of 31 3-pointers in a Sunday drubbing . PF : Denver Stiffs . Dontae Delgado on Brian Shaw's "infuriating" nightly minutes shuffle: " This team has an identity crisis, [and] a consistent rotation could go a long way in helping the Nuggets find themselves." [ Yahoo Sports Fantasy Basketball: Sign up and join a league today! ] SF : Magic Basketball . Scott Rafferty on the uncomfortable position in which Jacque Vaughn finds himself, with patience running thin among Orlando Magic fans in his third season at the helm and still without a whole heck of a lot of win-producing players for him to choose from as he pushes toward improvement. SG : Forum Blue and Gold . A funny thing happened on the way to the Los Angeles Lakers becoming a shot-selection-plucked-from-the-1980s laughingstock — through the first two weeks of the season, despite playing several top-flight defenses, a surprised Darius Soriano notes that Byron Scott's club ranks just outside the top 10 (11th when the post was written, tied for 12th entering Tuesday's games) in points scored per possession. PG : Pattern of Basketball . Jonathan Tjarks on birth order, NBA younger brothers, and three younger siblings who have a chance to be stars. 6th : The Cauldron . Bethlehem Shoals offers five commandments for watching the NBA all season long, with a heavy emphasis on not getting bogged down: "We’re not taking notes on particle acceleration or tracking voting patterns, we’re supposed to be enjoying ourselves." 7th : Welcome to Loud City . A good read from Chris Hanneke on how Serge Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins, Steven Adams and Nick Collison flustered DeMarcus Cousins during the Oklahoma City Thunder's Sunday night win over the Sacramento Kings. 8th : Analytics Game . Justin Willard tries to answer a simple question about a complicated bunch of information: Does the NBA's SportVU player tracking data actually help us understand how good a defender someone is? A bit lengthy and a bit dense, but a worthwhile exploration. 9th : NBA Miner . A very neat way to check out which players have had the most four-point plays and and-ones from year to year. 10th : Blazer's Edge . Dave Deckard on the Blazers, corporate sponsorships and the lines that divide towns, cities and "markets," which seem at once both more invisible and brighter than ever: "What started four decades ago with fans at the center of the process — co-creating, if you will — has slowly evolved into a relationship where the league and its elite-level product are the highest ideal while fans are reduced to consumers to be marketed to." More NBA coverage: - - - - - - - Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YourManDevine Stay connected with Ball Don't Lie on Twitter @YahooBDL , "Like" BDL on Facebook and follow BDL's Tumblr for year-round NBA talk, jokes and more.

Continue reading...