1) A Skills Trainer Explains The World Of NBA Player Development

Summary: Chris Johnson, an NBA development coach for Jimmy Butler and a host of others, explains how professionals work during their off-season. http://www.si.com/nba/2016/09/08/jimmy-butler-jayl...

2) Warriors' Play Types: Hand-Offs

Summary: Breaking the Warriors down on offense by play type, and look at how they will change next year. This time, we look at shot attempts from Hand Offs.(from Andy Serbe) http://bluemanhoop.com/2016/09/09/breaking-warrior...

3) The Next Iteration Of Playmaking Fours

Summary: The “playmaking 4” player archetype is all the rage in the modern NBA. Every team wants the next Draymond Green — a new age 4 who can put the ball on the floor as a chaos-creator in transition, attack closeouts making reads on the move and kill teams for trapping elite perimeter players in advantage situations.(from Cole Zwicker) https://upsidemotor.com/2016/09/09/playmaking-powe...

4) Why Is There A Trend Toward Extinction Of The Traditional Center?

Summary: Here are some theories for why that’s happening.(from Jesus Gomez) http://www.sbnation.com/2016/9/9/12847610/shaquill...

5) Guess The Shot Chart: Big Man Edition

Summary: There can be a disconnect between what our eyes see when watching a basketball game and what the numbers reflect. There can be a third aspect to this distortion — the data visualization. Even if we can reconcile our observations of a player’s shooting characteristics with the hard numbers, seeing those numbers splayed out on a shot chart can create incongruity with both statistics and the eye test.

Here is another game of Guess the Shot Chart: five player shot charts from the 2015-16 season, each with the player’s name blacked out. In this edition, all five shot charts are from big men. (from Ian Levy) http://nyloncalculus.com/2016/09/13/guess-shot-cha...

6) Don't Panic About Your Favorite NBA Rookie

Summary: There will be slow starts and hot takes, but give them time (from Kevin O'Connor) https://theringer.com/2016-nba-rookies-dont-panic-...

7) Mike D'Antoni and Jeff Bzdelik Have Grand Plans For The Rockets

Summary: Houston's head coach and his long-time assistant hope to pair his future-is-now offense with playoff-worthy defense. (from Ian Thomsen) http://www.nba.com/2016/news/features/ian_thomsen/...

8) Every Team's Most Versatile Player

Summary: The age of the NBA specialist is over.

As positional designations blur, the call for multiskilled players is louder than ever. Ruthless schemes—NBA coaches increasingly looking to pick off the sickest and weakest of the pack, especially in the playoffs—often render one-dimensional talents unplayable. (from Grant Hughes) http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2663389-every-n...

9) How The Hawks Offense Will Be Different With Dwight Howard

Summary: The Hawks offense is going to be different this season.It has to be.

In the first three seasons under coach Mike Budenholzer, the Hawks’ ball-movement offense worked with Al Horford in the middle. The center stretched the floor by eventually extending his range out to the 3-point line and pulling the opposition’s big man away from the basket. Now comes change. Dwight Howard joined the Hawks as a free agent and Horford left for the Celtics this summer. Howard is a traditional center who will play in and out of the post.

Will the Hawks offense be better? That remains to be seen. However, there is no question it will be different (from Chris Vivlamore): http://www.myajc.com/news/sports/basketball/how-th...

10) Unleashing Kristaps Porzingis

Summary: Porzingis looks like a unicorn big with hints of playmaking, who if utilized correctly moving off screens to shoot and operating as a pick-and-pop gravitational force, could really explode into a “no. 2 or co-no. 1 player on a championship team” type of talent; if the shooting is real. Giving him as many minutes at the 5 with Noah sitting, will only unleash his current impact and more importantly his long-term development. His surrounding situation and developmental success are definitely two components to track over the course of the season.(from Cole Zwicker) http://upsidemotor.com/2016/09/16/kristaps-porzing...

11) Brian Freeman's Journey To Playing Pro Ball Overseas

Summary: This is the first in a three-part series detailing how we went from being an undersized high school freshman, to a Division-1 college player and finally to earning steady work playing professionally in Europe. (from Brian Freeman) http://www.blazersedge.com/2016/9/15/12266758/brai...