A massive Black Lives Matter mural was swiftly painted on the streets of Washington DC early Friday morning ahead of a planned protest this weekend in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. The capital — like all 50 states — was home to a week of protests held in response to the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police. The mural, which simply reads “Black Lives Matter” in bold yellow letters, spans two full blocks along 16th street leading straight toward the White House in its southward direction, was officially commissioned by Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser who contacted painters to begin work early Friday morning, according to CNN.

Mayor Bowser has also officially deemed the section of 16th street that houses the mural “Black Lives Matter Plaza.” Speaking at a press conference outside of the nearby St. John’s Church — the site of President Trumps bible-sporting photo-op from earlier in the week — Muriel told reporters “we simply all want to be here together in peace to demonstrate that in America — you can peacefully assemble, you can bring grievances to your government, and you can demand change.”

Saturday’s protest in Washington D.C. is expected to result in a large turnout, and while a mural won’t solve systemic issues, it is a message of solidarity with the protestors who are peacefully demanding nationwide change.

Entering the 2019-20 college basketball season and 2020 NBA Draft cycle, there were few people more excited about Cole Anthony as a prospect than me. He was the top-ranked player on my Big Board, placed in a tier of his own. In a preseason poll conducted by The Athletic, I selected Anthony as my National Player of the Year. Seven or so months later, following Anthony’s underwhelming, tumultuous freshman season at North Carolina, those decisions look foolish.

I was enthralled by Anthony’s statistical domination at youth levels, from high school to AAU to FIBA, and considered his intersection of skills and athletic profile to be the silhouette of a star ball-handler in the modern NBA. But what it seems I overlooked is the fact some of Anthony’s production stemmed from advantages in physical development over his peers. He’s already 20 years old, whereas guys like LaMelo Ball and Anthony Edwards won’t turn 19 until August. Age has proven to be a crucial factor for prospects and I failed to accurately acknowledge that in my evaluation.

As a result of his brief stay in Chapel Hill, Anthony’s draft stock has fallen significantly. Once among the top-5 on ESPN’s preseason mock drafts, he’s tumbled to the late lottery, around 12 or 13. While the raw numbers were there for him — 18.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 1.3 steals per game — the efficiency was not, as evidenced by his 50.1 percent true shooting (.380/.348/.750 split) and 88 assists to 77 turnovers. Despite these issues, there were encouraging moments from Anthony’s lone collegiate campaign. He’s not the sure-fire top prospect like I once envisioned, but the 6’3 guard remains fifth on my board and someone I firmly believe in as a second-tier prospect, well above where mainstream consensus positions him.

Many prospects are hurt by team context in college, but Anthony’s situation for the 14-19 Tar Heels was damaging to a degree most others cannot emulate. He was UNC’s lone legitimate shot creator — regularly tasked with hoisting late-clock prayers — and Anthony nor his teammates ever harmonized within the offense, often mistiming cuts, drives, and screens. And yet, he displayed rare shot-making abilities for a 19-year-old, finishing in the 72nd percentile off the dribble and sustaining the pull-up shooting skills he touted before college.

All of the NBA’s top perimeter initiators — Stephen Curry, James Harden, Luka Doncic, Damian Lillard, Trae Young, Chris Paul, etc. — excel as pull-up maestros. Anthony, while short on many of the other gifts those stars enjoy, looks the part of another lethal live-dribble shooter. Self-creation comes in many forms and he’s adept at turning stalled possessions into buckets (92nd percentile on 61 isolation possessions). Anthony has a patented step-back jumper going left, is undeterred by tight contests, and can rise quickly or use his strength to create space in the midrange. He’s an incredibly advanced pull-up shooter and among underclassmen-aged prospects in this class, and for now, nobody rivals him — the aforementioned Edwards might eventually, but his pull-up shooting is flash over substance right now.

Pull-up shooting will help simplify the rest of Anthony’s offensive workload. Defenders can’t sag off of him, which will ideally open up some driving lanes, even in spite of his limited burst (more on this later). Drop coverage in pick-and-roll won’t be tenable. Big men and other shooters will experience less stress with the opposition fixated on the elite off-the-dribble shooter directing the offense. Anthony boasts off-ball skills as well, ranking in the 86th percentile on catch-and-shoot jumpers and having exhibited aptitude as a movement shooter, both at North Carolina and before college.

Because of his perceived baseline as a high-level shooter, I’m rather optimistic about Anthony’s potential as a scorer. His most glaring statistical pitfall, however, is finishing at the rim. He ranked in the 12th percentile around the basket this season and had a tendency to force up shots amid the trees, miss kick-out passes to shooters, settle for ill-advised floaters, or insert himself into precarious spots with nowhere to turn. Regardless, North Carolina’s spacing did not lend him any favors and dramatically altered his efficiency in the paint.

It’s a tough proposition to bank on guards becoming better finishers at the next level — defenders are bigger, longer, smarter, and more athletically gifted — but Anthony seemed uniquely situated to struggle mightily and flashed high-level finishes on a semi-regular basis. His blend of strength, balance, craft, body control, and ambidexterity give me optimism that he can yield adequate rim-scoring numbers relative to other NBA guards moving forward. There were too many encouraging plays to believe otherwise.

Anthony still struggled with decision-making as a driver before college to a notably lesser degree, though, and the long spells of barreling into a congested paint last season are discouraging. But NBA spacing and a modern offensive ecosystem should expand his margin for error. Kick-outs to actual shooters — UNC had one player aside from Anthony shoot better than 34 percent from three on 10-plus total attempts — will be available. Midair contortions around rim protectors won’t produce another rim protector waiting to block him or contest shots. The finishes shown above should become the norm, not serve as outliers. So many of his attempts were altered because of immensely poor spacing.

Anthony has the athletic tools to thrive at the bucket. Discretion is the swing skill and I’d rather bet on that improving under the proper guidance than another prospect experiencing vast functional strength and balance gains.

While I consider Anthony to materialize as a passable finisher, the degree to which he creates shots at the rim is a pressing issue. Only 18.7 percent of his attempts in the half-court occurred around the basket, an indictment of his underwhelming burst and agility. UNC’s poor spacing primarily hindered his efficiency, not his rim frequency, as Anthony often wandered in to a crowded key when he did beat defenders off the dribble.

Lacking the requisite burst to enact advantages against the defense quells some of his potential as a lead guard. The ability to blaze past defenders, force help rotations, and compromise the opposition is a highly valuable trait. Anthony’s versatile and high-level shooting upside will threaten defenses, but that’s only a portion of the advantage creation puzzle. Perhaps his burst as a driver was hindered by the partially torn meniscus in his right knee, but it was a problem all season, even before the injury sidelined him for 11 games.

Anthony simply doesn’t have the standstill quickness or stride length to zip by defenders on the ball and his rim pressure/gravity won’t ever reach that of Edwards, Kira Lewis, or Tyrese Maxey, three guards also inside my top-10. Too often, he was stonewalled against non-NBA-caliber athletes and resigned to tough shot-making. That’s certainly a headlining skill of his, but physical limitations are partially responsible for it needing to be. As someone who projects to carry and flourish with a heavy workload at his peak, capable perimeter defenders should be able to mute his dribble-drive game, a paramount factor in breaking down defenses.

Amplifying his issues as a downhill scorer is the unrefined handle he sports. His high handle allows for him to succinctly transition into his pull-up jumper, but it also makes for loose dribbling sequences that leave him susceptible to turnovers or having driving lanes stymied. Anthony fails to eat up space with each step and brandishes a handle short on dynamism, both of which are concerning for his on-ball equity in the NBA.

Poor ball-handling, burst, and stride length as a driver will considerably cap the degree to which Anthony frequents the paint as an individual creator. However, improved floor spacing should permit him to keep the defense on its toes in ball-screen actions and populate the rim because of his swift change-of-direction skills, which have been a hallmark of his slashing repertoire for years now. To spring free inside the arc, Anthony relies on a sharp between-the-legs dribble move or hesitation crossover.

It’s a novel and impactful asset, and one that should ensure he’s not entirely devoid of rim pressure as a potential lead guard, but it won’t overcome all of his deficiencies. This standout change-of-direction ability primarily manifests in pick-and-rolls, when the impending challenge of a screen flummoxes defenders and empowers Anthony to manipulate the way they disperse their weight and momentum. Or, big men have to respect his pull-up threat — helping to illuminate the ripple effects of his shooting — and can’t sit back in the paint to gift a proficient live-dribble gunner open jumpers. As such, Anthony, with a head of steam, can knife his way into the key and turn a profit.

One of the longstanding criticisms of Anthony’s game is his struggles in merging playmaking and scoring. To this point, it’s looked as though he’s programmed to embrace one or the other, predetermining his decisions on a given possession. If he wants to score, he’s going to shoot. If he wants to create for someone else, he’s going to pass. Establishing the proper balance still escaped him for stretches in college, but it’s an area he made concrete strides in by the end of the season. Early in the year, he didn’t let plays develop to the degree they needed; he was a scoring guard in a point guard’s body. By the end of the year, he was more in control of the offense, making proper reads and showcasing improved decision-making.

This is crucial for his development. With any prospect, we’re projecting growth and evolution. Nobody walks into the NBA primed to immediately reach their assumed ceiling. Anthony emerging as a more natural initiator bodes well for his continued maturation. And it’s not as though he was simply a play starter, kicking off possessions with standard, run-of-the-mill passes. Anthony is a talented facilitator and maximizing the scoring gravity he’s going to command is essential for actualizing his ceiling. There are many reasons to be discouraged by his freshman year, but I certainly believe he’s better prepared to direct an offense now than I did amid his early season woes in November and December.

He’s an adept interior facilitator, hits pocket passes, feeds the roll man over the top, and leaves drop-off dishes to bigs. North Carolina’s dearth of shooting muted much of this feature in his game, but Anthony is a capable kick-out shooter. He needs to refine it — tunnel vision plagues him — but a baseline exists and is evident, both from college and pre-collegiate film. There aren’t many complex reads in his bag; while guys like Ball and Killian Hayes substantially outpace him, Anthony is a good passer. His potential as a scorer will alter the way defenses approach him and if his decision-making maintains a positive trajectory, he should be a well-rounded playmaker, given the aptitude he already boasts.

Anthony’s defensive skill set is one that requires nuance to examine and explain. He’s advanced in some facets, conveying his IQ and awareness, while poor effort, understanding, and physical tools hinder him in others. At the point of attack, his underwhelming lateral quickness and burst enable blow-bys far too frequently. For a 6’3 guard with a 6’4.5 wingspan, Anthony’s inability to contain dribble penetration is concerning. Unlike some of his other defensive deficiencies, this doesn’t seem like one that’s correctable with the proper guidance and coaching staff. The athletic gains he’d have to experience laterally just seem too lofty for me to put much stock in. There are instances in which he slides well and relies on his strength to thwart drives, but generally, I thought he was a negative at the point of attack, an issue moving forward against NBA athletes/ball-handlers.

Versus teams with like-sized primary initiators, Anthony’s defense will often set the tone for a possession (to be fair, wing-sized ball-handlers are becoming increasingly common and maybe he’ll guard off the ball more than anticipated). His drawbacks will stress the defense, as teammates are thrust into important help situations, leaving room for breakdowns.

NBA spacing is going to benefit his finishing numbers, but it will have an inverse effect on his defense. In a few of the clips above, the defense caves on Anthony’s assignment and prevents a bucket. At the next level, it’ll be far more dangerous to abandon shooters on the perimeter. One man can help off, but he’s still likely to expose a hole elsewhere. Many college teams don’t roster more than a few players capable of capitalizing on defensive miscues. NBA teams employ a host of them. This is why Anthony’s point-of-attack defense and slow lateral movement is troubling. If small-ish guards can’t be hidden somewhere, they’re generally tasked with the point of attack and it seems as though he’ll struggle to offer enough resistance to be a plus in that role.

The potential impact of Anthony’s off-ball defense is murkier. He is a good interior off-ball defender, one who is cognizant of when to tag rollers, had a knack for rotating to draw charges, properly timed dig-downs in the post, and generated a healthy steal rate of 2.1 percent. As a perimeter off-ball defender, though, Anthony failed to grasp the nuanced responsibilities. He poorly positioned himself, inviting cutters and not preparing himself to efficiently navigate through screens, and wrestled with stunt-and-recover scenarios, failing to eliminating driving angles when closing out back to his man.

Those sequences are less than ideal, but I deem these sorts of off-ball issues to be relatively low-hanging fruit with regards to improvement. It’s not Anthony doesn’t want to play defense. Instead, he doesn’t effectively toggle between man and ball due to poor positioning, which can be refined under the right development staff. Some of the problem is awareness — an aspect harder to erase because it’s sometimes part of one’s internal wiring — but the primary hurdle for him is mastering off-ball positioning. Identifying low-hanging fruit for prospects is vital and I consider this to fall under that category, meaning Anthony could, in time, be a positive off-ball defender on the perimeter.

Anthony is not the caliber of prospect I once considered him back in October. His burst and on-ball defense are clear warts. But the 20-year-old has laid the foundation to be a dynamic pull-up shooter with enough playmaking juice to capitalize on the defensive attention he’ll induce. While his perimeter off-ball defense and offensive decision-making currently stand as flaws, they both can become pluses if he ends up on the right team.

Understanding the rectifiable weaknesses of prospects and those that necessitate outlier development is key in analyzing their ceiling. Cole Anthony has many of the former and in conjunction with his live-dribble shooting — a supremely valuable skill for NBA guards — projectable finishing improvements and growing comfort as a lead decision-maker, I firmly believe in him as a top-five player in this class.

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This week, DaBaby found himself in hot water with fans. The rapper had posted a photo to social media that depicted him cozying up with a freshly-purchased bag of Chick-Fil-A. Fans called the rapper out for supporting the business, which in the past has donated millions of dollars to anti-LGBTQ organizations, while simultaneously remaining silent about the ongoing protests against police brutality. DaBaby clearly took his fans’ outrage into consideration, as the rapper has shared a new verse he wrote for his No. 1 track “Rockstar” with Roddy Ricch.

DaBaby shared a video of himself rapping alongside a new “Rockstar” verse in his studio, which arrives at the track’s hook. Through his lyrics, rapper details injustices he’s previously faced by the hands of the police, which have been fairly frequent: “Number one on the charts, I’ma live vicariously / Oh there they go / Bias and pushing negative narratives / I’m ready though / Cops wanna pull me over, embarrass me / Abusing power / You never knew me, thought I was arrogant / As a juvenile, police pulled they guns like they scared of me,” DaBaby raps.

Listen to DaBaby’s brand new verse on “Rockstar” above.

Roddy Ricch is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

On multiple occasions in recent months, DIY music distribution platform Bandcamp has designated days where their waive the fees they collect from sales and pass that money on to artists. Today is one of those days, and to capitalize on that, Phoebe Bridgers has shared Inner Demos, which will go to benefit bail funds.

The three-track collection, which can only be listened to after purchase, features “voice memo” versions of “Garden Song” and “Kyoto,” and a “spire demo” of “I See You.” Although Bridgers didn’t mention specifically which organization this collection would benefit, it feels fair to assume she is talking about The Bail Project: Yesterday, all profits from her merch store went to benefit the organization. She also did a livestream for DIY yesterday, which also benefited The Bail Project.

Bridgers was also the subject of a recent Rolling Stone interview, and in the piece, she revealed that it might take a while for her to really know what her upcoming album, Punisher: “I won’t know, truly, what [this] record’s about until like, a year from now. It’s like when you go through a breakup and then five years later you’re like, ‘Oh, sh*t. That’s what was going on at that time.’”

Listen to Inner Demos above.

One of the most controversial match results from this year’s WrestleMania was Charlotte Flair defeating Rhea Ripley for the NXT Women’s Championship. Fans had issues with several different aspects of the angle, some thinking the addition of the Flair to the NXT women’s division was unnecessary, some taking issue with the treatment of Bianca Belair and Io Shirai as side characters in the feud, and some just being tired of Flair title reigns and not enjoying her presence on multiple WWE brands per week. Someone who is a fan of Flair’s title reign, however, is Triple H, and he explained why in a recent interview with talkSPORT.

HHH thinks that much of the criticism of Flair can be chalked up to her famous dad:

For me, I’ve been thrilled with this whole thing and I think this speaks to Charlotte as a performer. And I know sometimes she’s bashed because of her dad and her name and everything else. No matter what she does sometimes, it’s criticized. But to me, it just speaks to her as a performer that she would want to do this. That she would work across all the brands if she could, that she would want to carry that torch when it was put in front of her and to do this.

He also said losing her title to Flair will be good for Ripley in the long term:

The long term on this is to build up other talent and as spectacular as a moment as Rhea Ripley had and then going into WrestleMania, I wish they could have had that in the stadium. I wish they could have had that in front of fans… For Rhea to have that moment and to have it with Charlotte in that stadium would have been a making moment for her.

For me, that loss almost helps her as a character get to where she needs to be for the longterm arc of who she is. You know, the burnout factor in stuff is quick and intense with short attention spans and everything else, so, to me, this is phenomenal.

Triple H went on to promote the NXT Women’s Championship match this Sunday by saying that fans will see Ripley and Shirai step up to the “unbeatable” aura that Flair has as a champion.

While using her social media presence to support #BlackLivesMatter, Riverdale actress Vanessa Morgan took her activism one step further by making a bold stand for Black actors in Hollywood.

In passionate Twitter post, Morgan criticized how Black actors are too often cast in one-dimensional, stereotypical roles that are pushed to the side to keep the focus on more fully developed white characters. Morgan also made a brave move by including Riverdale in her criticism and revealing that the show pays her less than her white co-stars. After receiving a wave of support for speaking out, she vowed to no longer accept roles that don’t properly represent Black lives.

Now, Riverdale creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has responded. Not only does he voice support of Morgan voicing her criticisms, but he openly admits that she’s right and that the show must do better:

“We hear Vanessa. We love Vanessa. She’s right. We’re sorry and we make the same promise to you that we did to her. We will do better to honor her and the character she plays. As well as all of our actors and characters of color. CHANGE is happening and will continue to happen. Riverdale will get bigger, not smaller. Riverdale will be part of the movement, not outside it. All of the Riverdale writers made a donation to @BLMLA, but we know where the work must happen for us. In the writers’ room.”

You can see Aguirre-Sacasa’s full statement below.

As of this writing, Morgan hasn’t publicly responded to Aguirre-Sacasa’s promise to improve Riverdale‘s treatment of Black actors, but she did retweet it to her followers. Judging by the replies, they’ll be keeping a close eye on whether the showrunner stays true to his word.

(Via Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa on Twitter)

Even Cade Cunningham couldn’t deny the expectations that he’d end up committing to Oklahoma State last fall. His brother, Cannen, had just taken a job on the coaching staff, and Cade himself was born in Arlington, which is about a four-hour drive from Stillwater. “Blood is always thicker than water,” wrote Cunningham on Instagram when he announced his decision. Regardless of what steered Cunningham toward the Cowboys, the program will have a vastly different 2020-21 campaign than it expected after the NCAA announced violations on the part of former associate head coach Lamont Evans.

The NCAA said Friday the Cowboys’ men’s basketball program would be banned from the postseason in 2021 after finding Evans’ acceptance of bribe money from two recruits’ financial advisors violated ethical conduct rules. It was already a leap of faith for Cunningham to join his brother at a school that isn’t even an annual lock to make the NCAA tournament out of the Big 12, and now his future with the Cowboys will come under further scrutiny.

In the interim, Oklahoma State will file an “immediate” appeal with the NCAA, according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports.

Meanwhile, Larry Parkinson, chief hearing officer for the panel and director of enforcement for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, justified the postseason ban by saying “It’s almost always going to be the case that some innocent parties that had nothing to do with the violations are going to be adversely impacted.”

It is worth mentioning that Evans’ tenure in Stillwater largely occurred during the year that Brad Underwood, who has since left for Illinois, was in charge. While current head coach Mike Boynton was an assistant on the same staff as Evans, the now-former assistant left Boynton’s staff before a game could ever be played, and the infractions in question occurred during Underwood’s tenure as head coach.

The closest comparison to Cunningham’s situation prior to this week was that of Michael Porter Jr., who followed his father, an assistant coach, from Washington to Missouri back in 2017. At least for Porter, though, the Tigers squeaked into the tournament and he was able to show that he could play before the NBA Draft. Without the chance to get into the postseason at all, there’s not much tying Cunningham to Oklahoma State except family at this point.

The idea that Cunningham could find greener pastures elsewhere was compounded when Jeff Goodman of Stadium reported Cunningham had already turned down a high-dollar offer to join the G League Select Team in southern California this fall.

Add in the uncertainty around the college athletics calendar in 2020 and 2021, and one can argue it makes even less sense for Cunningham, who was at the top of ESPN’s most recent 2021 mock draft, to stay at school. Why not sign with an agent now and spend the next 12 months with access to endorsements and state-of-the-art facilities, rather than wading through what is bound to be the most bizarre and disjoined college basketball season in recent memory?

Cunningham was not only a silky jumbo point guard at Montverde Academy but also a high school quarterback who idolized Tony Romo. He’s a natural, and it shows. Prior to signing with Oklahoma State, there was talk of Cunningham reclassifying and being eligible for this year’s draft, especially after a dazzling performance in the U19 World Cup team last fall. At the bare minimum, he likely would’ve been in the conversation for the No. 1 overall pick in 2020.

But what of 2021? It must be mentioned that the Pokes’ attempt at fighting this ruling could be successful, at which point staying in Stillwater makes the most sense. If not, perhaps Cunningham could ask for waivers to re-sign with a different college program, and he would immediately become the most highly-sought-after recruit in America. Or maybe he would decide to forgo college altogether, even if the G League Select offer is not still waiting for him. Nothing has come out yet indicating he’s even looking into leaving, but after several tough breaks for college basketball (the Oklahoma State president said it will host in-person classes in the fall but has offered few details) and the state Boynton’s program due to someone who hasn’t been a Cowboy in years, there may be fewer chances for Cunningham to flourish in the NCAA than by blazing his own trail.

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Today I learned that I’ve been cooking all wrong.

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