Build Your Own NBA All-Star Team!! ESPN GAME MODE!!
I recently came across an online game mode on ESPN.com where you can build your own All-Star Team and it calculates the score against CPU. In Today’s article, I will be drafting a team and seeing if I can beat CPU!
P.S. This is based on the 2018 All-Star list not projecting 2019.
Team Captains: Lebron James and Stephen Curry
I chose Lebron as my team captain so CPU gets Stephen Curry.
Starters: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Davis, Demar DeRozan, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, Paul George, James Harden, Kyrie Irving
I got first to pick for the starters and here is how the draft went:
Me: Anthony Davis
CPU: James Harden
Me: Kyrie Irving
CPU: Giannis Antetokounmpo
Me: Joel Embiid
CPU: Kevin Durant
Me: Demar DeRozan
CPU: Paul George
With my first pick, I selected Anthony Davis and through this screen, you are screaming at me but Anthony Davis has won All-Star MVP before that he knows how to perform in the All-Star game. My next pick was Kyrie Irving and again you guys are screaming at me for not taking Giannis but Kyrie and Lebron have that dynamic duo feel and I already had a Giannis type of player in Lebron. My next pick was Joel Embiid, my plan here was to take the last standing big man for the starting lineups so the CPU team had nobody to defend Anthony Davis or Joel Embiid. My last pick was Demar DeRozan, last year Demar DeRozan was a baller and he will show that. Paul George is cool and all but me personally had to select Derozan over George.
Bench: LaMarcus Aldridge, Bradley Beal, Jimmy Butler, Goran Dragic, Andre Drummond, Draymond Green, Al Horford, Damian Lillard, Kyle Lowry, Victor Oladipo, Klay Thompson, Karl Anthony-Towns, Kemba Walker, Russell Westbrook.
Me: Russell Westbrook
CPU: Damian Lillard
Me: Jimmy Butler
CPU: Victor Oladipo
Me: Draymond Green
CPU: Bradley Beal
Me: Kyle Lowry
CPU: Kemba Walker
Me: Andre Drummond
CPU: LaMarcus Aldridge
Me: Klay Thompson
CPU: Karl Anthony-Towns
Me: Al Horford
CPU: Goran Dragic
My first pick out of the bench players was no surprise at all, Russell Westbrook was the obvious snub of the starting lineup and it would’ve made 0 sense to pass up on him. My next selection was Jimmy Butler, unlike Mike D’Antoni I am going to give Jimmy Butler playing time, he is the best defending guard in the league other than Chris Paul and he will match up very well against Victor Oladipo and Bradley Beal. My next selection was Draymond Green, staying with the defensive platform my goal is that the CPU team doesn’t score above 100 points now that is very unlikely but with defenders such as Jimmy and Draymond off the bench I have reason to believe that is capable. Kyle Lowry was my next choice, We drafted DeRozan in the starters round so it only made sense to pick up has backcourt partner they will mesh together very well. Andre Drummond was brought in to keep up the intensity of bringing in defenders and big men. Klay Thompson, unfortunately, dropped very far in this draft but if we get to the point where we are down by a lot of points he will be great to put in and knock down some easy 3 pointers. Last but not least Al Horford, pretty self-explanatory I had to choose between Horford and Goran Dragic, Dragic should’ve even come close to being an All-Star in the first place taking Lou Williams spot.
1st quarter comes to a close and the CPU team is up the score is 34–37. Halftime comes around and CPU is now up by 7, 80–87. At the end of the 3rd quarter, Lebron James had 46 points putting the team on his back to tie up the game 107–107. But unfortunately, the CPU team beat us 137–140.
With Damian Lillard claiming the All-Star Game MVP award!
I found this game very fun although I didn’t win I think you guys should try it out yourself here is the link http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/22345151/build-your-own-nba-all-star-team
