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. Ben Golliver and Rob Mahoney get us hyped for the season ahead.
PF: SLAM. In which 10 rappers answer 10 questions to preview the 2014-15 NBA season, and Jadakiss offers a trenchant analysis of why championship teams break up.
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SF: The Cauldron. Jared Dubin makes the case for Blake Griffin, 2014-15 NBA Most Valuable Player.
SG: The Triangle. Sideways geysers, free-jazz Richard Nixons, Kendrick Perkins clones and the most demeaning branch of mobility: Brian Phillips writes about the challenges facing the Kevin Durant-less Oklahoma City Thunder.
PG: Sportsnet. Dave Zarum on DeMar DeRozan, who "just might be the hardest-working man in the NBA," and the coach who's helped fuel his steady ascent to the ranks of the NBA's All-Stars, a place the Toronto Raptors swingman doesn't want to leave any time soon: “I’m sure there’s a long list of one-time all-stars, and I don’t want to be on it.”
6th: CBSSports.com. Ken Berger goes long on Kobe Bryant's recovery and his efforts to finish the journey, featuring some anonymous executive comments offering some semblance of a counterpoint to the anonymous Lakers sources recently cited by ESPN: "'[The Lakers are] the ones that gave him a $48 million extension knowing that nobody wanted to play with him,' one rival executive said. 'And they were also the ones that gave away multiple first-round picks for an over-the-hill Steve Nash. Not to mention firing every coach that Magic [Johnson] decided he didn't like.'"
7th: San Antonio Express-News. Jeff McDonald brings us to Gregg Popovich's hometown to show us how the head coach of the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs came up. As it turns out, he wasn't always the hard-ass barking about missed rotations and blown calls; once upon a time, he was just a kid trying to find a pick-up game whose high-school coach kept calling by the wrong name.
8th: Bleacher Report. Howard Beck with a fantastic read on one of Pop's new assistants in San Antonio: "In so many ways, Becky Hammon is the perfect individual at the perfect time to make history. In so many ways, she is the unlikeliest candidate."
9th: In Street Clothes. Jeff Stotts has built an injury database stretching back nine seasons to find out which teams' training staffs have had the most success at keeping their players healthy and on the court. You'll never guess which team tops the charts, and which team has seen the most money languish on the training table over the past nine years.
10th: Biscutball. The only New Orleans Pelicans season preview you need — well, besides this one — comes courtesy of Corbin Smith, who turns Omer Asik into, I think, a dystopian superhero?
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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!
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.
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