The DeAndr-ankings

There is a lot  going on in the basketball world here in Christmas week of 2020. The craziest story to me thus far is that James Harden, who skipped camp because he wanted to go to parties at strip clubs, then maybe attended another strip club DURING camp, is somehow not  one of the Houston Rockets who is going to be quarantined for one week due to COVID concerns.  Flummoxing defenses as only James Harden can. I don't get it. Anyway, the DeAnd'Rankings are back, and this season may feature a bit more general basketball talk and less in-depth rankings of the players, unless one is notably good or bad. One very exciting aspect of this year's rankings is the team aspect: Our 4 men of honor are all on good-to-great teams. The Nets are title favorites, the Suns have arrived and would be devastated to miss the playoffs, the Raptors are constantly in the top-5 in the east, and the Hawks are in the same boat as the Suns.  What a time to be named DeAndre (or some variation th...

A quick note: The DeAnd'rankings - the internet's definitive ranking of NBA players named DeAndre or variations thereof - will resume the weekend of Christmas. In addition to the rankings, the site will continue to serve as a place for me to write about basketball.   If sports have taught us anything, it's that we can't all be winners. It it's taught us a second thing, it's that rich people get preferential treatment.  With that first thing in mind, during a season that will surely be a complete mess of COVID absences, rescheduled games, pouting superstars, and LeBron James continuing his quest to be the first athlete to never actually succumb to "time" as a physical deterrent, I want to talk about the bad teams. Depending on which website you're looking at, the NBA has somewhere between 2 and 9 bad teams. From a gambling perspective, Bovada has Cleveland, New York, and Detroit as the least likely champions, with Charlotte, Sacramento, Chicago, Min...