Let’s repopulate Dion Waiters Island

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

MAGIC > BIRD: In exploring my All-1980s team, I argued that the Magic is much more important than Bird and discussing them as basketball players only in tandem does a disservice to Johnson. Paul Flannery and others disagreed. I also had to defend putting Dominique Wilkins higher on the All-80s hierarchy than Kevin McHale, and I swear Boston, I don’t hate the Celtics (all the time).

BREAKOUT: We picked 10 breakout candidates for the 2015-16 campaign. That’s right, I’m BACK on Dion Waiters Island. The team blogs have some good choices, as well.

ABRAMS ALERT: Jonathan Abrams checks in on the historic Kentucky draft class to see how the pro transition is going.

WOW: In his spare time, Rick Carlisle has learned how to fly airplanes.

ALL PROK: Mikhail Prokhorov has a deal to acquire all the outstanding minority shares in the Nets and Barclays Center. It is expected he will soon sell the team and arena. He will likely have made a(nother) fortune.

BWAHAHA: Deron Williams is excited about the Mavericks because he’s looking for stability. A) That says something about Brooklyn. B) He may not want to look at the Mavericks’ roster turnover rate.

ALRIGHT THEN: Markieff Morris is tweeting that his “future is not in Phoenix.” Future is actually from Atlanta. I thought that was common knowledge?

Happy Friday. I’m disappearing for a week, so Mike Prada will check in to basketball with you a couple times. See you in a little while, my friends.