#&&( when you look at me and the whole world fades ) → avery&&chris

[whiskeysfiresx]

Avery's tag dump!

[junker-town]

The 5 saddest NBA title defenses of the last 20 years

Dwyane Wade and Shaq had a lifeless title defense for the Miami Heat.

These are the NBA title defenses that never got off the ground floor.

At the onset of Mike Prada’s incredible and emotionally wrought plan to crown the best team in NBA history that never won a championship, several clubs that fell short of raising a banner were disqualified based on the exercise’s criteria. Specifically, teams coming off their own title run, only to have their defense cut short by inexplicable disappointment, bouts of bad luck, or some combination of both.

So while you peruse Prada’s list of 64 teams over the next two weeks, here’s a look at the five saddest title defenses of the last 20 years. For some teams, sadness emanates from fans who look back wondering what could have been, either thanks to a heartbreaking injury, the rapid and unexpected effect of age on a key player, or even an organization-wide arrogance that seizes everyone who just took a champagne bath.

Insecurities revolve around money and minutes. Pecking orders and hierarchical scoring options are called into question. Sometimes, for reasons that remain a mystery to this day, the team’s championship heart just stops beating, or a rival competitor simply “wants it more.” Who knows.

For the purpose of keeping this as concise as possible, no organization appears twice on this list, and anyone eliminated in the Finals or conference finals didn’t make the cut because losing that far along is less sad than never advancing there in the first place.

5) 2011 Los Angeles Lakers

Regular season record: 57-25

Key losses: Jordan Farmar

Key additions: Matt Barnes, Steve Blake

Everyone remembers how this team went out. Near the end of a blowout, Andrew Bynum was ejected for trying to murder a defenseless, airborne J.J. Barea. Anytime violence occurs on a basketball court it’s shocking; this particular incident felt more like the foreseeable release of a sharp frustration that had been bubbling for weeks.

When they dropped their very first game of the playoffs against Chris Paul’s New Orleans Hornets, Kobe Bryant didn’t mince words: “He’s not naturally aggressive,” Bryant said about Pau Gasol, who made two baskets in the whole game. “Even if I’m tired, I’m naturally aggressive.”

Then, earlier in that series against Dallas, Bynum all but confirmed LA’s locker room drama. “It’s obvious we have trust issues,” he said. “Unless we come out and discuss it, then nothing is going to really change.”

Winning one championship is hard. Winning two in a row — as these Lakers did — is a Rubik’s Cube. Three-peats are a first-class ticket to immortality. But for this particular team, one full of championship experience and Hall of Fame talent, to fall short without any tangible explanation ... it almost diminishes the impressiveness of that entire era.

I remember the end of Game 1 against Dallas, watching Bryant back rim a three at the buzzer that would’ve put the Lakers up 1-0 and thinking LA would shake off the cobwebs and win in five or maybe six. When the series ended, I kept going back to Bryant’s three that never was, how it couldn’t have missed by more than an inch, and what would’ve happened from that point on if it went in.

Several factors decide whether a talented team will surge or fizzle at various inflection points on any given playoff run. The psychological momentum held in that one fading three was immense. Had it gone in, the Mavs could have overcome its devastating toll and still won it all, but to do so before earning the collective confidence every champion must acquire would’ve been next to impossible. The Lakers were so close yet so far away.

Their collapse then led to the Dwight Howard-Steve Nash apocalypse, while simultaneously cheating us of a possible Lakers-Heat showdown in that year’s Finals. What a shame.

4) 2000 San Antonio Spurs

Regular season record: 53-29

Key losses: None

Key additions: Terry Porter

San Antonio’s first title defense ended before it began when 23-year-old Tim Duncan tore the lateral meniscus in his left knee during Game 78 of his third season. The Spurs limped into the playoffs as a 53-win, No. 4 seed, where they were swiftly handled by a Phoenix Suns team that didn’t have their own best player (Jason Kidd) for the first three games, thanks to a broken ankle.

Looking back, though, all that really matters are the circumstances that surrounded Duncan’s knee. It’s an overlooked what-if moment in NBA history, full of incredible foresight and head-shaking details that make the whole thing seem avoidable if the Spurs knew then what we know now.

On one hand, Duncan averaged 42.5 minutes in the 10 games before he was shut down, including 48 (!!) in his season finale against Sacramento — a six-point overtime win in which Duncan finished 6-for-22 from the field and was not subbed out at all in the first and third quarters. (To put this in context, Giannis Antetokounmpo has crossed the 40-minute mark twice in the last two seasons.)

On the other hand, Gregg Popovich was wise enough to put Duncan on ice. Who knows how his knee/career would’ve been affected had he played, or even if that year’s champion — the first of three straight for Kobe Bryant’s and Shaquille O’Neal’s Lakers — would’ve been too much for them to handle.

San Antonio swept LA from the playoffs the previous year. The Lakers were talented but unproven, nearly falling against Sacramento in the first round after a 67-win regular season. Eventually they needed a Trail Blazers collapse in Game 7 of the conference finals to finally break through; it’s fair to wonder how any of this would’ve gone down had the Spurs let Duncan loose.

”I don’t know if it was right or wrong,” Popovich said over a decade later. “But we did it.”

Looking back on it, the Spurs had 34-year-old David Robinson (who was still an all-star/monster) and Sean Elliot rounding into shape after a kidney transplant forced him to miss the first three quarters of the season. From there, Terry Porter, Mario Elie, and Avery Johnson (who made one three in 2,571 minutes) were on their last legs, long before Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili injected new life into the organization.

The Spurs famously never went back-to-back in the Duncan era. This was low-key their best chance to do so.

3) 2009 Boston Celtics

Regular season record: 62-20

Key losses: James Posey, P.J. Brown

Key additions: None

Kobe Bryant’s first ring without Shaquille O’Neal came on a 65-win, revenge-fueled Lakers squad that spent all season stewing over their miserable Finals experience the previous June. The wheelchair game. The 24-point comeback at Staples Center (in which Ray Allen made the biggest *layup* of his career). That listless 39-point beatdown in Game 6. In 2009 they weren’t the best Lakers team ever, but did have a healthy and mountainous 21-year-old Andrew Bynum back in the starting lineup. No team in the Western Conference stood much of a chance.

But on the other side of the bracket, the Celtics were their own machine, emboldened by a champion’s aplomb, benefit of continuity, and Rajon Rondo’s steady bloom into a stud. The Celtics started the season 27-2, including a 19-game win streak that was ended on Christmas Day by the 23-5 Lakers.

As every member of their fanbase is well aware, in Boston’s first game after the NBA All-Star Game break the 44-11 Celtics were decapitated when Kevin Garnett injured his knee trying to catch a lob against the Utah Jazz. He tested it out a few weeks later but the results were pitiful relative to Garnett’s usual standards: 9 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 16.5 minutes in four games. He wasn’t healthy enough for the playoffs.

Without the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Boston eventually scraped past Derrick Rose’s hungry Bulls in a classic seven-game series that included five games decided by three or fewer points before they blew a 3-2 lead against the Magic. (When it became clear Garnett would miss the entire postseason, Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck said this about the first-place Cavs: “They earned home court, they earned the best record, they are clearly a championship-quality team, and in my opinion they have the best basketball player on the planet right now: Mo Williams.”)

A series against the Cavs would’ve been a dog fight even if Garnett’s knee was 100 percent, but, as was made clear the following year, the Celtics were just about impossible to beat four times in seven tries when everybody was healthy. (Did you know their starting five never lost a playoff series? It’s true.)

This was before the three-point revolution, when physicality, size, and defense dictated wins and losses. On that end, Garnett and Boston’s defensive coordinator Tom Thibodeau owned the league with a back line overload concept that everybody else tried to copy. LeBron James was already the best player in the world, but Cleveland had yet to give him enough help.

Garnett’s knee robbed the Celtics of an epic Finals rematch. Instead, Courtney Lee missed a layup, Jameer Nelson forgot how to play transition defense, and the Lakers snuffed out Orlando in five.

One year later, Boston and LA met again, but by then the Celtics were on fumes. Garnett wasn’t the same player, and, even for a team that routinely struggled to score points throughout their time as a championship contender, the 2010 Finals were a particularly bumpy rock fight.

The Celtics emerged from the Garnett era with one ring, which is impressive by itself. But his injury in 2009 stole an opportunity everyone in Boston wished they could have back.

2) 2012 Dallas Mavericks

Regular season record: 36-30

Key losses: Peja Stojakovic, JJ Barea, Tyson Chandler, Corey Brewer, DeShawn Stevenson

Key additions: Vince Carter, Lamar Odom, Delonte West, Brandan Wright

Poor Dirk Nowitzki. It’s either recency bias or the deflating way Dallas allowed its only champion to implode overnight, but this team inspired me to write this article more than any other. The only championship team in franchise history was kind of like a sturdy Jenga tower, if that makes any sense. So long as every piece was in the right place, they had a breadth of complementary skill-sets who all belonged — an embodiment of the idea that the sum can be greater than its individual parts.

Unfortunately, six guys were free agents that offseason, and the only one Dallas retained was Brian “The Janitor” Cardinal, whose three-point percentage dropped from 48.3 to 20.4. Not great!

One particular decision still pains Mavs fans to this day. At the time, with the lockout sewing a modest amount of confusion into every team’s long-term strategy, Mark Cuban sided with long-term flexibility over the 29-year-old defensive anchor Tyson Chandler. Instead of keeping a good thing (with a narrow window of contention) going, they fell in love with the idea of pairing another free agent star with Nowitzki. One in the hand is worth two in the bush, etc.

Hindsight is 20/20, but even at the time this felt icky. Since, the Mavericks have advanced past the first round precisely zero times; in 2012 the Mavs were swept in Round 1 by Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden’s Oklahoma City Thunder. It’s fair to look at the talent in Oklahoma City and say Dallas capitalized on its one and only chance, but Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, and Jason Terry deserved an opportunity to sustain their magic against LeBron James’ Heat one more time.

Chandler went on to win Defensive Player of the Year during his first season with the Knicks, and eventually came back to Dallas in 2015. By then the landscape had shifted. Golden State was starting a dynasty and Nowitzki was 36. “Obviously it would have been better if we could have kept him, right?” Cuban said at Chandler’s press conference in 2014. “But our hand was dealt with all the changes. All’s well that ends well. I think it turned out just the way we wanted, just the way I planned.”

A year later, Chandler was in Phoenix. The Mavs, having thought DeAndre Jordan was in the bag, were left in the cold once again.

1) 2007 Miami Heat

Regular season record: 44-38

Key losses: None

Key additions: None

For these Heat, “sad,” as it’s described in the introduction of this article, equals “pathetic.” This team was as mediocre as it was forgettable as it was disappointing. For just a moment, try and get past the fact they were the first defending champion in over 50 years to get swept from the first round, and instead focus on how they made zero essential changes to their championship roster during the offseason and then lost their season opener by 42 points!

Getting demolished in the playoffs was embarrassing but could at least be blamed on a regular season that was ravaged by injuries (Dwyane Wade missed 31 games and Shaquille O’Neal sat out 42). But to no-show your own ring ceremony? And only score 66 points!? Needless to say, this was officially the worst loss in league history by a defending champ on opening night.

Now, when you throw in the controversy that still surrounds Miami’s 2006 title — Oprah Winfrey might as well have stood on the baseline shouting “You get a whistle, and you get a whistle!” every time Wade drove into the paint — is there any title from the last 25 years that feels more random if that postseason were simulated 100 times? I’m not trying to disparage a championship run, but the league had no boogeyman in 2007, and the Eastern Conference was wide open once again.

In 2008, O’Neal was traded and Alonzo Mourning retired. They won 15 games and were awarded the second pick in the draft, which meant Michael Beasley instead of Derrick Rose. Eventually LeBron James saved Miami from the wilderness and forever altered how that organization is perceived. But back in 2007 they were, as Pat Riley said in early January — when he announced his own indefinite leave of absence to deal with personal health issues — ”We have a championship team that is sideways right now, so this is going to be a great challenge. Keep your notebooks open. We’ll see how it plays out.”

Narrator: It played out like a complete and total catastrophe. Some might point to the injuries and the age-related decline, but that’s kind of an excuse. This team is remembered as a defending champion that had no interest in wanting to do it all over again. That’s not what you want.

[hemcountry]

A NASHVILLE AND DUBLIN LOVE STORY....

Where does one even attempt to begin when setting out to review the recent Nashville concert in Dublin? That’s the question that’s been troubling me this past week. You see, thinking back on what transpired in the 3Arena on June 19th last, all I can do is smile. And I’ll be damned, but it turns out that too much smiling can be quite the distraction when you’re trying to write!

Let me put it to you guys this way, Nashville in Dublin wasn’t just a concert. To label it as simply that would be doing Charles Esten, Clare Bowen, Sam Palladio, Jonathan Jackson and Chris Carmack, not to mention their magnificent band, a world of injustice. What happened in the 3Arena on June 19th was a love story, a Nashville and Dublin love story.

  The first memory to flash back into my mind is also the one that I’ve been sharing with everyone (and by everyone, I mean ANYONE who’ll hear me out) when I’ve been trying to sum up in one image what this remarkable night was like. It’s also the moment that, for me at least, defined the night. Clare Bowen, while singing with Charles Esten, suddenly disappeared off to the side of the stage, only to take everyone by complete surprise by coming back into view as she walked right out into the audience while still singing away! And Charles was doing the same thing on the far side of the Arena at the same time. Nobody expected it, but my word, everybody loved it! Clare shook hands while she walked (still barefoot all the while, as is her preference when she performs), paused for photos, and even hugged people.

Charles Esten Nashville in Dublin © Ken Cassidy

But then it happened. And though it didn’t last long, it didn’t need to. The fact that it happened at all was what mattered. Right below where I was seated (although I was standing at this point, as was everyone, to follow Clare’s path), Clare, still singing remember, embraced a fan….and they danced! Right there in the middle of the show, in the middle of a song, in the middle of thousands and thousands of fans, they danced. And we were all that lucky fan for that moment, and it really felt like Clare was dancing with all of us. That’s how close the connection was between Clare and everyone who had come to hear her, and Charles, Sam, Jonathon, and Chris. It was that kind of night in Dublin. Sound crazy? Maybe. But only if you weren’t there.

  Clare Bowen dances with a fan in Dublin

  So here’s the thing, right, I’ve been to a fair few country shows over the years, and to be honest, I can’t remember even one that I haven’t enjoyed. And that’s because first and foremost, I’m a country fan. I go to shows to have a good time. I go wanting the artist to be amazing and to have one of the best nights of their lives so that it’s something special for them, too. I look for and focus on the positives. And when that’s what you look for, and what you focus on, that tends to be what you find. But for the life of me, I can’t remember ever knowing a show as spectacularly wonderful as this one before. In fact, I’ll go further, and this should offer some kind of clearer context for what I’m saying. I can honestly say that not since Garth Brooks played Croke Park back in 1997 have I ever experienced the kind of feelings I did at the Nashville concert in Dublin. And Garth was a God in Dublin that night! And still is to me, and to millions of country music fans.

Charles Esten emotional at Nashville in Dublin © Ken Cassidy

At most shows, the audience is made up of fans who are there because they know the artist and like their music. And so, naturally, you can really feel the appreciation for the artist’s ‘live’ performance as a result. But this, THIS was something else altogether. This, like Garth twenty summers ago, was sheer love flowing towards the stage from every heart in the crowd, from when the first chord was played until the last note faded. When Charles Esten, in an Elvis-mania like moment, brought the roof down simply by walking out on stage, without even saying a word – or needing to – but just flashing that smile and with a wave of his hand, well, the scene was set! And I don’t think many would disagree with me when I say that love flowed right back out into the audience as well. Irish audiences have a reputation for not holding back in their praise and warmth, so if it’s on display, it’s because we’re feelin’ it. It’s not the kind of thing we fake just for the sake of being nice. Not that we’re mean just for the sake of it, either. My point is, that when we cheer you on, and roar for more, and stomp our feet, and sing-a-long, it’s real. And thousands of us cheered on Charles, Clare, Sam, Jonathan, and Chris, and thousands of us roared for more, and we stomped our feet, and we sang along. And it was real, and it was love. And it was love both ways, being given, and being given back.

Chris Carmack Nashville in Dublin © Ken Cassidy

I’ve been a fan of the Nashville tv show right from the get-go, and with all ten volumes of the show’s soundtracks to date in my collection at home (and a boxset, because you always need to have the boxsets, too!), the ‘live’ concert was a night I’d been excited about ever since the date was announced. I think it’s safe to say that the show has surprised, if not confounded, many potential critics in that its music has been every bit as impressive and outstanding as its acting and storylines. Where it may have been feared, possibly expected in some quarters, that one might have let down the other, thus reducing the whole, such worries have proved to be unfounded and unwarranted. In fact, the show has managed to seamlessly conjoin its dramatic and musical elements. And that’s something which shouldn’t be taken for granted, shouldn’t be overlooked, and for which great credit is due to all concerned, most notably the show’s Academy Award winning writer Callie Khouri, and executive music producers T Bone Burnett, Buddy Miller, and most recently, Tim Lauer.

Sam Palladio Nashville in Dublin © Ken Cassidy

  So, I had no doubts that a great night lay in wait. But what I could never have imagined is just how much the concert was going to exceed my expectations. For that, my friends, it most certainly did. Fans of the show will already be well aware of how supremely talented Charles (Deacon Claybourne), Clare (Scarlett O’ Connor), Sam (Gunnar Scott), Jonathan (Avery Barkley), and Chris (Will Lexington) are as far as acting goes. And we know they can sing, too, of course. Because they sing in the show. But let me tell you, NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING, can prepare you for seeing with your own eyes and hearing with your own ears, and yes, feeling it with your own heart, just how damn good these guys are when they sing and perform ‘live’.

  Una and Sam Nashville in Dublin © Ken Cassidy

  I could have gone for a song-by-song review of the night’s set, but there’d have been little to be gained from that approach. Every song was brilliant, absolutely top class. The standard was impeccable in every way, and I for one was awestruck by the night’s end. This was a show of one beautiful moment after another. You can see from some of the images so fabulously captured by my buddy Ken Cassidy, from the expressions on the faces of Charles and Clare and everybody else, that they had fun in Dublin, too.

Jonathan Jackson Nashville in Dublin © Ken Cassidy

  Standout moments for me? So many to choose from! First of all, Clare coming into the audience and dancing with a fan while still singing. The reception Charles got when he walked out on stage to get the show underway. Jonathan Jackson’s spine-tingling rendition of ‘Love Rescue Me’, and ‘Unchained Melody’, dedicated to his wife, who was in the audience, and with the whole of the 3Arena on backing vocals. Chris Carmack playing the blues, and then the saxaphone! Sam Palladio’s gorgeous duet with Una Healy for ‘Stay My Love’, and then ripping up the drums later on! Clare again, sitting on the edge of the stage, wearing her wings, backed only by guitar (I was so lost in the moment, I can’t recall the song), and not a single other sound to be heard while she sang, just total silence and respect from the thousands in attendance. And Clare singing with her husband Brandon. And the group finale of ‘Danny Boy’…, perfect. It was love all round in Dublin.

Chris Carmack Charles Esten Nasville in Dublin © Ken Cassidy

The truest reflection of the show’s highlights would require a minute-by-minute account of what happened from start to finish. Because every single moment, from start to finish, was a highlight. Every single moment was memorable. Every single moment was beautiful.

This was a Nashville and Dublin love story, and I can see it being a lifetime long affair.

Cast Finale Nashville in Dublin © Ken Cassidy

* Nashville is broadcast in a remarkable 225 territories worldwide. Soundtrack album sales have topped a million, as have sales of single tracks to date.

Note: All photos by KEN CASSIDY, unless otherwise stated.

A NASHVILLE AND DUBLIN LOVE STORY…. was originally published on HEM COUNTRY

[junker-town]

2021 NBA player rankings, Nos. 90-81: Will players like DeAndre Jordan be valuable in 4 years?

We argue about the Clippers’ center’s place in the game in four years, plus gamble on some young players for not the first time.

This was the point in our countdown of the 101 best players in the NBA in four years where strategies began to diverge. Some of us chose established players today that we think will age decently. Others swung for the fences with rookies and other younger players.

The end result was a lively section of the countdown, concluding with a fascinating discussion at No. 81.

90. Dario Saric

We don’t really know what will happen in four minutes, let alone four years. But we can make educated guesses — and totally outlandish ones.

I’d like to think that it’s a safe bet to forecast a 23-year-old, 6’10 forward who averaged 13 points, six rebounds, and two assists per game en route to All-Rookie first-team honors as one of the league’s top 100 players in four years.

— Chris Greenberg

Our reactions

TIM CATO: I bet in 2021, Saric is better than at least one of the Sixers we picked ahead of him. There’s too much of a boom-or-bust with Simmons and Embiid for that not to be true.

I don’t even know if I actually believe that, but making grandiose predictions like that is what this exercise is designed for, so let’s do it.

TOM ZILLER: If I start calling Saric the Croatian Gallinari, will Sixersland get mad again? Or is that a compliment?

89. Dennis Schroder

If Dennis Schroder isn’t the safest pick at No. 89 in this draft, he did something wrong.

— Kristian Winfield

Our reactions

JEFF SIEGEL, PEACHTREE HOOPS: Already one of the top 101 players in the game, has Schroder topped out as a low-tier starting point guard, or will he make another leap? Better shooting and creating for others would go a long way to pushing him up the list.

TIM CATO: He’s fine. This pick is fine. I like his hair.

MATT ELLENTUCK: Aggressively fine, still probably picked too late in this draft. Anyway, yeah, great hair.

TOM ZILLER: Barring a trade, he’s going to spend at least the next few years on an atrocious team that no one outside of Atlanta watches in the best of times. Are we going to remember Dennis Schroder’s name in four years?

CHRIS GREENBERG: Provided he gets heated with a more famous opponent during the Hawks’ unremarkable playoff appearances, we will certainly remember his name. For about three weeks every April.

88. Hassan Whiteside

Whiteside will be 32 in 2021 but the Miami sunshine is going to preserve him a little longer. Plus, he didn’t really start the NBA grind until 2015, so he’ll have some legs left. I have more confidence that Whiteside, king of NBA Snapchat, will be more relevant in the NBA in 2021 than Snapchat will be.

— Whitney Medworth

Our reactions

MIKE PRADA: Four years is plenty of time to discover that parrot’s true killer.

I suspect Heat fans will be mad about this ranking, but it seems about right to me. Tough to know how much longevity he’ll have.

MATT PINEDA, HOT HOT HOOPS: Whiteside risks getting left behind by centers that can shoot and even guard the perimeter. Luckily for him, he already got his payday.

TOM ZILLER: I am disappointed in myself that I didn’t pick Whiteside in the top 25.

TIM CATO: Remember when he was reportedly favoring the Mavericks in free agency last summer? El em ay oh.

MIKE PRADA: Did you really just spell that out?

87. Donovan Mitchell

As frequently and liberally as we picked from these 2017 rookies (FORESHADOWING!), I’m surprised Mitchell didn’t get snapped up earlier than this. He was a steals machine in Louisville who thrived shooting tons of threes and has a bit of an inside game, too. He’s a more athletic Damian Lillard if he hits his peak, albeit maybe without quite the same scoring knack. He showed all those skills off in summer league, and it really looks like Utah has their point guard of the future here.

-Tim Cato

Our reactions

TOM ZILLER: Yeah, why wouldn’t you be surprised that a fringe lottery pick who will be coming off his rookie deal in four years and hasn’t played a single minute in the NBA went behind a few dozen All-NBA and All-Star performers in their primes in an every-player draft? A real shocker.

(Yes, I’m salty about how many 2017 draft picks went in this exercise. As Cato says: FORESHADOWING.)

TIM CATO: FINE, BE A HATER. Riding or dying with Mitchell myself.

MYCHAL LOWMAN, SLC DUNK: This ranking is too low. Mitchell will have turned into one of the league's top 30 players by 2021, jumping the depth chart and taking over Rodney Hood's starting spot in his rookie year.

MATT ELLENTUCK: Will he be a point guard, though? Or will he stay on the wing? Finding his position will take some time, though there’s a lot to like about a long-wingspanny defender.

86. Julius Randle

Julius Randle has the physical tools to be a nightmare on both sides of the court. It will come down to how much he can improve his game over these crucial years.

The good news is that he’s only 22. I’ve been going off optimism this whole draft and I’m not stopping here. I think the ceiling is the roof and that we haven’t seen the best of Randle just yet.

-Kofie Yeboah

Our reactions

DREW GARRISON, SILVER SCREEN AND ROLL: Randle being this low is disappointing. It reflects a clear lack of confidence in his ability to progress to much beyond what he is today.

ZITO MADU: I just really hope he stops running head-first into defenders as a way to create separation. I understand playing bully basketball, but he needs to add some finesse.

TIM CATO: But I thought Randle was already the 17th-best player in the NBA? (Sorry, Prada, you get to make fun of my picks in 2021.)

MIKE PRADA: Ahem, 14th. Get it right.

I remain skeptical of power forwards that lack shooting range and can’t protect the rim. It’s just too hard to create the right kind of lineup to mask both of those flaws, and Randle isn’t nearly good enough to earn the privilege of a team reconstructing itself around him. I want him to be good because he’s fun to watch, but I don’t see it.

TOM ZILLER: Oh now Prada is skeptical of Young Carl Landry!

MATT ELLENTUCK: I want Randle to grow like two inches and suddenly protect the rim. I just don’t see it happening. Maybe he’ll be a top-100 2K player, though.

85. Harrison Barnes

Barnes was actually quite solid in Dallas last year and should play even more at power forward (his best position) with Dirk Nowitzki retiring someday. A No. 85 ranking puts you at essentially 17th-team All-NBA level, which seems about right for him for the next few years.

-Mike Prada

Our reactions

TOM ZILLER: Readers will not believe some of the names that went higher than Harrison Barnes.

TIM CATO: I should have drafted him a while ago. This is way too low for someone who’s a gym rat’s gym rat, enough that Dirk has said how impressed he is by it. He’ll maybe never shoot enough free throws or threes to be a top-50 player, but he’s only 25 and he certainly still has room to grow.

MATT ELLENTUCK: I feel guilty that Barnes slipped this low. But I just love my next pick too much.

MIKE PRADA: OK let’s settle down a second. Barnes, even at his best last year, was decidedly “fine.” We kinda know that’s who he is at this point. That puts you around this range and maybe a little higher, but not like 30 spots higher.

ZITO MADU: But is he Kevin Durant? No? That’s all that matters.

CHRIS GREENBERG: The real Harrison Barnes will never live up to the possibility of Harrison Barnes.

84. Robert Covington

THIS IS MY FAVORITE PICK IN THIS ENTIRE DRAFT.

How can you not love the Robert Covington story? The man played college ball at Tennessee State, went undrafted, and is a better-than-league-average player in 2017. The Process gave him a chance and he took it and ran.

It’s not that wild to think that in four years, at 30 years old, Covington will have it all figured out. He was seventh in RPM among small forwards last season, and he’ll be playing beside Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz next year.

I believe in RoCo.

-Matt Ellentuck

Our reactions

TIM CATO: This is a good sleeper pick for a really underrated player.

MIKE PRADA: Settle down, Matt. It’s Robert Covington. He’s fine and this is fine.

TOM ZILLER: Odds are he’ll be a starter because of his skills and the Sixers’ need for shooting around Ben Simmons. The downside is that we’ve seen plus two-guards fade away after an injury or a down season before. I will remember you, Kelenna Azubuike and Brandon Rush. It’s the most easily replaceable position. There’s a risk here.

83. Jonathan Isaac

Isaac might never a big scorer, but he’s the type of player who just helps you win games. He can defend anyone, hit a spot-up jump shot, and has the athleticism to get out in transition. The world demands an Aaron Gordon-Isaac front court in Orlando.

-Ricky O’Donnell

Our reactions

MATT ELLENTUCK: I love Isaac as a prospect, and think he should have been in top-three consideration in this year’s draft. He’s a real project, though, and I don’t think four years from now he’ll be this good.

CORY HUTSON, ORLANDO PINSTRIPED POST: This feels about right for an offensively limited, defensively outstanding forward, if that turns out to be his destiny.

TOM ZILLER: This is the second 2017 draftee picked in our draft. Don’t worry, there will be plenty more.

82. Avery Bradley

Avery Bradley will only improve now that he plays for a Detroit team giving him an even bigger role. He’s a solid role player who will be able to give a lot of teams what they need, even several years down the line.

-John Ketchum

Our reactions

LAZARUS JACKSON, DETROIT BAD BOYS: Pistons fans are happy with Avery Bradley, but when 2021 rolls around, they'll wish he'd been showing Donovan Mitchell the ropes for the last four years.

CHRIS GREENBERG: Bradley’s perimeter defense may be less notable on a lesser team (sorry Pistons) than the Celtics, but he also developed into Boston’s low-key best spot-up shooter before being traded. Watch for his offense to get more attention in Detroit.

TOM ZILLER: I’m on board with Avery Bradley for the long term.

81. DeAndre Jordan

Jordan is a 29-year-old All-NBA center. He’s missed eight games in the past seven years. He does certain things very well, and he knows what they are. Some team is going to have to decide to pay him next summer, and I think it’ll be a good investment.

-Tom Ziller

Our reactions

LUCAS HANN, CLIPS NATION: This is a fair (or even high) spot for Jordan, who will be 33 in 2021 and will likely follow a similar athletic decline to Tyson Chandler's.

MIKE PRADA: A safe pick, but will the NBA be a friendly place in 2021 for centers with no range and abhorrent free-throw percentages? If yes, this is too low. If not, it’s possible players like DAJ will go extinct like traditional low-post scorers are today.

TIM CATO: I don’t think rim protection is going anywhere, though.

MIKE PRADA: Is DeAndre even that amazing at that, though? He allowed 50.1 percent shooting at the rim last year, which is good, but well behind the elite players. He was higher two years ago, but closer to his 2016-17 levels the two years before that. I’m not saying he’s a bad rim protector, but that’s where Jordan derives most of his current value. That’s why I am curious to see how he evolves as the league continues to change.

TIM CATO: In regards to his shot blocking, that’s fair. But even the most modern offenses don’t require constant five-out lineups. More centers will shoot threes, but I don’t believe all the best centers will need to as a requirement. Four-out with a big-man roller is still a perfectly acceptable offense that I really don’t think is headed towards extinction.

To steal an Erik Spoelstra term, the vertical spacing that bouncy, lob-finishing big men provide can still be just as important as a dead-eye shooter in the corner.

MIKE PRADA: Yeah, there’s a good chance it still will. Seventy-thirty in his favor, I’d say. Just remember how much the game changed stylistically from 2013 to 2017. We could see another revolution.

INTRO | FULL LIST | TOP 100 OF 2017 | HOW WE DID IN 2013 | SNUBS | 101-91 | 80-71 | 70-61 | 60-51 | 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11 | 10-1 | THE CASES FOR NO. 1