Goran Dragic, hailing from Slovenia, caught the attention of NBA scouts when he led his club team, Union Olimpija, to the 2008 league championship and earned the Finals MVP recognition. The Phoenix Suns picked him in the Second Round of that year's draft, and he made his way to the United States.

However, Dragic didn't get much playing time during his two-and-a-half seasons with the Suns, averaging less than 20 minutes per game. He only got his chance to start when he was traded to the Rockets.

In 2012, Dragic became a free agent, and the Suns re-signed him to be their starting point guard. He had his most successful season in the NBA in 2013-14, where he won the Most Improved Player award, was named to the Third Team All-Star, and averaged 20.3 points per game with a career-high PER of 21.3.

The Suns later traded Dragic to the Miami Heat, where he continued to perform well as a point guard. He was named to his only All-Star game in 2018, but a few years later, his age became a factor, and he was relegated back to the bench. He ended his career with stints in Toronto, Brooklyn, Chicago, and Milwaukee.

If Dragic were to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, his best chance would be through the International Committee, thanks to his outstanding performances representing Slovenia in the 2017 EuroBasket and the Slovenian League.

The story of Carmelo Anthony is long and arguably complicated, but it should end with a Hall of Fame induction. Anthony was a one-and-done player in college, but he is one of the most impactful players in NCAA history. The Brooklyn native led Syracuse to the 2003 Championship, where he was named the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player. He was taken by the Denver Nuggets Third Overall in one of the most loaded drafts in history, which also included LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh.

Melo was an instant offensive sensation, averaging 21 Points per Game and beginning a streak of 13 consecutive seasons where he scored at least 20 per contest. He was the runner-up to LeBron for Rookie of the Year, but Denver had their top gun. Anthony earned his first All-NBA Selection (Third Team) in 2005-06 and broke the 26.5 mark. An All-Star for the first time in 2007, Anthony had his best scoring season (28.9 PPG) and again was Third Team All-NBA. Notably, he received MVP votes for the first time, finishing 15th. The next year, Anthony was 13th in MVP voting and added a second All-Star. Accolades continued to fall in Melo’s lap, with another Third Team honor in 2008-09. This was also the closest that Anthony came to an NBA Championship as Denver reached the Western Conference Finals, where they fell to the eventual champions, the Los Angeles Lakers. The Nuggets were good, and Anthony was great, but if you had told him or any fan that Melo was never going to reach another Conference Final, they would not have believed it. It was much the same in Denver in 2009-10. Anthony was sixth in MVP voting and was an All-Star again. For the first time, he was named a Second Team All-Star. However, the Nuggets reverted back to a first-round exit, and the team had a frustrated superstar. Anthony did not sign a contract extension, and it was clear he wanted out and knew where he wanted to go: Home.

During the 2010-11 Season, Denver traded Anthony to the New York Knicks, and he was there to bring them a title. His popularity and profile rose, and though they were swept in the first round (Chauncey Billups and Amar’e Stoudamire were injured), it was believed that the best was yet to come. In Anthony’s second full season in New York, he won his first scoring title (28.7) was again a Second Team All-NBA player and finished third for the MVP, a career-high. They made it to the Second Round, but as much as it looked like they could build on it, this was Melo’s high-water mark with New York. Anthony was still a top scorer and going to All-Star Games (he went to ten in total), but the Knicks were not serious contenders, and he left his prime; his lack of defence was becoming a problem. New York could not build a team around him, and Anthony was not the player that elevated others. He was still regarded as one of the best, but the bloom was off the rose in Gotham. Anthony and Team President Phil Jackson were in constant conflict, and Anthony demanded a trade, which he obtained when he was dealt to Oklahoma City.

In OKC, Anthony was not the same player. Scoring was down, and the holes in his game grew wider. He became a journeyman, playing for Houston in 2019-19, but that lasted only 10 Games, and he had no suitors for the rest of the year. The Portland Trail Blazers signed him a year later, and he played well that season, arguably in a year that could be best described as a redemption tour. Anthony had two more seasons in the league, one more with Portland and another with the Los Angeles Lakers, retiring with an impressive 28,289 Points.

Anthony has the career numbers and the accolades of a Hall of Fame inductee, especially considering he was named to the 75th NBA Anniversary Team. While he did not win as a pro, remember he does own a College Championship and three Olympic Gold Medals. He is not the perfect HOF candidate, but there are a lot of warts in Springfield.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the top 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out, and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post-2023 revision of our top 50 Seattle Mariners.

As for all of our top 50 players in baseball, we look at the following:

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in Major League Baseball.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles that are not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, Seattle was unable to make the playoffs despite having built a lot of momentum from the previous year.  Nevertheless, there was one major new entrant and a couple of rank alterations.

As always, we present our top five, which saw no changes:

1. Ken Griffey Jr.

2. Edgar Martinez

3. Ichiro Suzuki

4. Felix Hernandez

5. Randy Johnson

You can find the entire list here.

J.P. Crawford had a nice gain, going to #31 from #45.

2022 American League Rookie of the Year, Julio Rodriguez, explodes on the list at #35.

Pitcher Marco Gonzalez, who is now with Pittsburgh, fell a spot to #36 based on a poor 2023.

We thank you for your continued support of our lists on Notinhalloffame.com.

1957 SEMI-FINAL RESULTS:

Thank you for all of your participation in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project. If you are unaware of what that is, simply, we acted as if the PFHOF had its first class in January 1946.

We have completed the years up to 1956.

For “1957,” a Preliminary Vote with over 130 players whose playing career ended by 1951. We are also following the structure in that players have 20 years of eligibility, and if they do not make it into the Hall, they are relegated to the Senior Pool.

Each voter was asked to select 25 names from the preliminary list, and the top 25 vote-getters were named Semi-Finalists.

A week later, the voters were asked to pick 15 names from the 25 Semi-Finalists, and next week, they will pick five from the remaining 15. We will continue this process weekly until we catch up to the current year.

30 Votes took place, with the top five advancing.

This is for the “Modern Era”

Bold indicates they advanced to the Finals:

Notably, there was a tie, meaning that 16 men advanced to the Finals, as opposed to 15.

This is for the “Senior Era”

*Bold indicates they advanced to the Finals:

We also had a run-off vote to break a tie on Senior Candidate Parameters, in which you voted 18-12 to keep it as is. This means that for the next three years until another vote, the top vote-getter MUST gain 50% of the vote.

Next Saturday, we will be posting the Class of the 1957 Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project.

Thank you to all who contributed, and if you want to be a part of this project, please let us know!