The Rotation: The Process has been trusted

The NBA regular season is a freight train that waits for no one. With multiple games nearly every single night, it can be difficult to keep up. As a solution, we humbly offerThe Rotation — a daily recap series sharing three big stories from the previous night, one focused on a player, one focused on a single play, one focused on the big picture.

Big men get bigger

By Brandon Jefferson, @pengriffey_jr

Anthony Davis might’ve done something never seen before, but my biggest takeaway from last night was the following: Myles Turner has arrived.

Turner went from a DNP-coach’s decision in last year’s season opener to a 30-point, 16-rebound, four block performance in the Indiana Pacers 130-121 overtime victory against the Dallas Mavericks. As the Pacers continue their evolution away from the Roy Hibbert era, the 20-year-old big man may be the biggest beneficiary of Larry Bird’s embrace of small ball.

The fascination with spreading the floor and the pace-and-space style of play that dominated the modern game has forced the evolution of the modern big man. Last year, a new generation of bigs entered the league ready to take the next evolutionary step. Throughout the 2015-16 season there was talk about the impact players like Karl-Anthony Towns, Kristaps Porzingis and Nikola Jokic would have on the game, now and in the future.

Turner, who was also a rookie last season, made a strong statement last night that he fully belongs in that class.

Like those three, Turner is multi-dimensional. He’s got a nice stroke that extends to beyond the arc. His pick-and-pops down the stretch with Paul George were impossible for the Mavs to defend. Turner also has a soft touch around the rim and has shown the ability to be effective finishing both above and below the rim. He’s also growing into a very capable defensive big with, with instincts, length, and quickness.

The Pacers hopes of becoming LeBron James’ biggest in-conference nemesis hinge on Turner’s ever-growing game. He’s already making quite the impression on basketball Twitter

Humble as they come, Turner isn’t letting one good night go to his head.

Bringing these type of performances nightly is the next step in his progression. Once this kid puts it all together it will be a scary sight.

This is not you father’s Grit-and-Grind

By Rob Wolkenbrod, @RealRobWolkey

For years, the Memphis Grizzlies have been about “grit” and/or “grind”. Their teams haven’t been perimeter-oriented, but will destroy the opposition in the mid-range and paint areas. Despite a head coach change, and some roster tinkering the Grizzlies still have a team that mostly fits “The Grindhouse”. They’re undergoing a youth movement with the likes of JaMychal Green (who supplanted Zach Randolph in the starting lineup), Jarrell Martin, and a handful of rookies to fill in on the bench, most of which fit that grittiness that this organization thrives on. This returned on in the team’s opener on Wednesday night when they beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 102-98.

Read More: The Rotation — Opening Night

About halfway into the second quarter, the Grizzlies trailed, 41-34, and looked to build an early comeback against Karl-Anthony “Everyone’s dark horse pick for MVP” Towns and Co. Usually, the Grizzlies would try doing this methodically, but 2016 first-round pick Wade Baldwin picked things up just a bit. He received a pass from Marc Gasol, waited a moment, and burst past Zach LaVine and Gorgui Dieng for the powerful one-handed slam.

Plays like this should be a breath of fresh air for the Grizzlies, who have been short on explosive athleticism for quite some time. Even though their team still fits the grit profile, someone like Baldwin is going to squeeze his way into the mix and change the pace. It could mean more highlight dunks like this, or just darting past the opposing defenders for a bucket.

The Vanderbilt product displayed this ability during his time in college. He flashed the athleticism and quickness to play the NBA point guard position, along with a freakish 6-foot-11 wingspan to help out with the Grizzlies trademark defense. It makes Baldwin an outlier, which is far from a bad thing for this team.

Baldwin will be one of a handful of players to watch for as the Grizzlies begin this youth movement. Over the past five years they’ve mostly played a group of Tony Allen, Mike Conley, Gasol, Randolph, and a revolving door at small forward, and even saw success in the playoffs. Last season seemed to spark a change of direction, though, with all the injuries and Dave Joerger being let go. Now, Memphis has Baldwin contributing, Green starting, and Andrew Harrison getting a game-high 38 minutes of playing time (something that may never be uttered again). Times are changing at the FedExForum.

Trust the Process

By Matt Rutkowski, @MontaWorldPeace

It’s tough to call this a story on its own. I don’t know if it’s even a chapter. Tolstoy’s War and Process is notoriously long, so it’s hard to say exactly what’s what. Let’s call this the beginning of Act Two.

After years of trading birds in hand for mystery bushes of unknown bird quantity, 76ers management finally said “Okay, that’s quite enough of that.” Hinkie is gone, but everything he brought with him remains. Joel Embiid, Dario Saric, Jahlil Okafor, and some other players who also had names were all on the court together last night. These dudes were no longer instagram videos and hope, they were a team. But was Philadelphia ready?

The 76ers averaged 4619 empty seats a game last season. At the end of last night’s game, they were all empty. It’s because people were standing. Attendance was fine.

Let’s back up a bit.

No, before the “Trust the Process” chants.

No, before the little jibby jabby step thing as well.

No, damn it. Before the “MVP” chants too. We need a new intern to post twitter links in my articles for me.

Whatever. That will do.

The man pictured in the above videos is Joel Embiid. This is his first regular season game that you’re seeing through repetitive pieces in Twitter form. He is “The Process.” Just ask him.

From the very beginning of the game, he was the story. The Philly crowd cheered when he rebounded, booed when he was called for fouls, and made inhuman shrieking sounds when he scored. Picture Bret Hart in Canada.

He finished his night with 20 points and seven rebounds. The number I liked best is 22, though, because that’s how many minutes he played. That’s ten more than his preseason cap and 22 more than the last two season combined. That’s 22 minutes of unrepressed joy from a crowd long-starved to feel it. They felt it. They made anyone watching feel it. Except Russell Westbrook, he got flipped off by some rude dude.

Beyond that, the 76ers looked like a competent, compelling NBA team for the first time in I don’t know how long. Stauskus was hitting shots. Jerami Grant was flying around with fervor. Sergio Rodriguez was seeing the court like some hyper-intelligent, Spanish court-seeing robot. The team played hard and played fun. They did it all without the guy who is probably going to be their primary playmaker in Ben Simmons.

Related Story: The Thunder did not watch basketball last night

The end of the game brought the crowd to their feet. Somehow everything was different now.

Gerald Henderson then rushed a stupid shot, and the 76ers lost. Oh well. Let’s turn the page.