Cuts » and No. 24 Michigan State lurking in the bracket.LECO

For the sixth season in a row, ESPN.com is ranking the top players in the NBA. Who will be the best player this season?To get the final ranking, we asked our expert panel to vote on pairs of players.LeBron James vs. Stephen Curry. Russell Westbrook vs. Kevin Durant. Damian Lillard vs. Chris Paul.We asked, Which player will be better in 2016-17? To decide, voters had to consider both the quality and the quantity of each players contributions to his teams ability to win games.Well roll out the rest of our top 200 players over the next week. If you want to get involved in the discussion or just follow along, #NBArank is the Twitter hashtag to use. You also can follow along @ESPNNBA and on Facebook.On to the list ...35. Marc GasolGrizzlies | C?| @MarcGasolLast years rank: 102016-17 projected RPM:?1.05Insider profile:?Even when healthy, Gasol wasnt the same player in 2015-16 as in his previous All-Star campaign. At 31, Gasol may simply be slowing down. His offensive decline can be traced to an unprecedented inability to finish around the rim. Gasol made a career-low 59.5 percent of his shots inside 3 feet, according to Basketball-Reference.com, down from 69.9 percent the year before. Gasol remained good as ever in the high post, where hes both an excellent midrange shooter (43.5 percent on 2-point attempts beyond 16 feet) and one of the best passing 7-footers in the league.?Read more ?#NBArank 31-4031: Carmelo Anthony32: Hassan Whiteside33: Kristaps Porzingis34: Gordon Hayward35: Marc Gasol36: Steven Adams37: Rudy Gobert38: Kemba Walker39: Derrick Favors40: Dwyane Wade William Perry Chicago Bears Jersey . -- Former San Diego Chargers safety Paul Oliver was found dead at his Atlanta-area home Tuesday night, and a medical examiner said Wednesday that the ex-player committed suicide. Chicago Bears Jerseys For Sale . Bjorn, who had a 36-hole total of 8-under 134, made a testing six-foot putt to save par on the 16th and a birdie on the 17th before bogeying the final hole after a misjudged approach shot. American Kevin Streelman was in second place after shooting a 69. http://www.chicagobearsshoponline.com/khalil-mack-bears-jersey.html . Paul Pierce couldnt believe he missed at the end. Young scored a season-high 26 points to spark a huge effort from the leagues most productive bench, and Los Angeles beat the Brooklyn Nets 99-94 on Wednesday night after blowing a 27-point lead. Chicago Bears Apparel Clearance ., and Rudi Swiegers of Kipling, Sask., took sixth spot on Saturday in pairs at the NHK Trophy ISU Grand Prix figure skating competition. Mike Singletary Jersey For Sale . -- Canadian Andrew Wiggins got the ball on the wing, made a nifty spin move and then let go with a soft floater from about 10 feet that swished through the net in Allen Fieldhouse. PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas -- Baylor couldnt get Johnathan Motley going early, Manu Lecomte was fighting his shot and the 20th-ranked Bears found themselves trailing for one of the few times this season.Their response? Cut down on turnovers, frustrate VCU defensively and grind out the tough baskets, a formula that helped Baylor hold off the Rams 71-63 on Wednesday in the opening round of the Battle 4 Atlantis.When youre shooting well and the games coming easy on the offensive end, its easy to have that carry over on the defensive end, Baylor coach Scott Drew said. It takes the mentally tough players when theyre not making shots they normally make to make sure it doesnt carry over and affect that on the defensive end.Motley scored 14 of his 19 points after halftime. Al Freeman scored 15 points, hitting three baskets during a critical second-half sequence for the Bears (4-0).In addition, Lecomte shook off a rough shooting game to finish with 16 points, including a hanging layup while being knocked to the ground for a three-point play to go with several key free throws in the final minute.You needed toughness to play in this type of game, Freeman said.JeQuan Lewis had 21 points for the Rams (3-1). They went without a basket for roughly 6 1/2 minutes during the second half.VCU used a late-half burst to lead 36-28 at the break and shot 58 percent in the opening half, but it cooled in the second half as the Bears defense tightened. VCU shot just 35 percent after halftime.I think we played really well for about 25 minutes, VCU coach Will Wade said. It got away from us the last 15 minutes.BIG PICTUREVCU: The Rams just couldnt find someone to step up and make a big basket as the empty possessions mounted during the critical second-half stretch. That included a run of six straight misses with a few turnovers during that field-goal drought.We have to play a full, complete game to be beeat the best teams on our schedule, Wade said.dddddddddddd We werent able to do that today.Baylor: Drew could at least feel good about his teams response after falling behind late in the opening half and then trailing through the first 9 minutes of the second half, especially with how it had just five second-half turnovers after committing 11 in the first 20 minutes. Baylor had led for 94 percent of game time through its first three games.I liked the way we fought back, Motley said.POLL IMPLICATIONSThe Bears entered the AP Top 25 this week after upsetting Oregon at home last week. Baylor could only help its standing in the three-games-in-three-days event, especially with No. 10 Louisville and No. 24 Michigan State lurking in the bracket.LECOMTES DAYLecomte had made just 2 of 11 shots before that three-point play with 51.1 seconds left. He also went 10 of 11 from the line, including a 7-for-7 effort in the final minute.I was struggling shooting so my job was just to find the hot man ... and they did a great job finishing, he said.FREEMANS FINISHESFreeman, a 6-foot-3 junior from Charlotte, North Carolina, hit a driving shot then followed with a big 3-pointer off a crosscourt feed. His third big basket came when he drove by Jordan Burgess for a score to push the lead to 60-53 with 3:07 left.UP NEXTVCU: The Rams will play St. Johns, which lost to Michigan State, on Thursday on Day 2 of the three-day tournament.Baylor: The Bears will play No. 24 Michigan State in the semifinals on Thursday.---This story has been corrected to show the first name of Motley is Johnathan, not Jonathan.---Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap---More AP college basketball at http://collegebasketball.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-Top25 ' ' '