With the potential far greater than it was the last time Barnes was a Clipper

"In my career, it's never been anything like 'You're a starter' or 'You're the second guy off the bench,'" Barnessaid. "I've had to work with everything. I knew this is no different than that. Really, when I talked to Vinny [Del Negro], I just asked for an opportunity. I didn't need anything promised to me, I just needed the opportunity to compete and he's given me that. It's worked out well."

With the potential far greater than it was the last time Barnes was a Clipper, he sees one thing the team needs to really focus on in order to live up to expectations and be serious contenders.

"Play defense," Barnes said. "To me, it's play defense. With Chris at the point and in transition, our offense will be fine. If we commit to the defensive end and close that paint up and slow people down in transition and limit their threes, we're going to be hard to beat."

Greg Hochstedler, who owns the 160-acre Boondocks Farms

But despite a less brilliant landscape and lack of apples, she expected bustling fall business in an area often called the "Art Coast of Michigan" because of Saugatuck and Douglas' art galleries, shopping and bed and breakfast inns along Lake Michigan.

"I don't think it's going affect our business at all, but it always adds to it if there's really beautiful foliage," Fairchild said.

Others in the industry took steps to ensure their fall seasons weren't a total loss.

Greg Hochstedler, who owns the 160-acre Boondocks Farms about 30 miles east of Indianapolis, canceled his corn maze this year because the June planting time coincided with sweltering 100-degree days and the worst drought in decades.

"It was too dry, too dusty. It would have been a waste of seed," Hochstedler said.