Your 2017 NBA All-Stars
THE RULES
Two guards and three frontcourt players for both starters and reserves, plus two wild cards of any position. I picked who I feel are most deserving for this year.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Starters
G: Isaiah Thomas (Boston)
G: Kyle Lowry (Toronto)
FC: Jimmy Butler (Chicago)
FC: Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee)
FC: LeBron James (Cleveland)
Reserves
G: DeMar DeRozan (Toronto)
G: John Wall (Washington)
FC: Paul Millsap (Atlanta)
FC: Paul George (Indianapolis)
FC: Joel Embiid (Philadelphia)
WC: Kemba Walker (Charlotte)
WC: Kyrie Irving (Cleveland)
Eight of the players on the East’s roster are no-brainers to me: the starting five, as well as DeRozan, Wall and Walker. That top-five Eastern guards list (the three I mentioned along with Thomas and Lowry) is stunningly deep, and shows how much of a guard-driven league the NBA is.
Thomas is a classic rags-to-riches story (the shortest player in the NBA, as well as being the last pick of the 2011 draft), but his play has outclassed his background. Leading the East in scoring at 28.0 points per game is no small feat, and his clutch play late in games has led the Celtics (26–15) through Al Horford’s absences.
At this point in their careers, Lowry and DeRozan are inseparable players: cornerstones of a franchise that coexist to form one of the NBA’s five best teams. DeRozan has been getting more appreciation this season, especially after that scorching-hot start to the year, but it’s been Lowry who has blitzed teams no matter what supporting cast he has around him. The Raptors outscore opponents by 11.2 points per 100 possessions when Lowry is on the floor, but plummet to minus-5 when he sits. By comparison, the Raptors are actually 10 points better when DeRozan sits. The difference in player quality isn’t that huge, and part of it is DeRozan playing more minutes with rookie power forward Pascal Siakam, but still: it’s clear Lowry is the best player on the Raps.
Wall and Walker are head-and-shoulders above the second-best players on their respective teams, leading them to records right around .500. Walker’s massive leap forward in shooting has helped the injury-stricken Hornets stay afloat, and Wall’s athleticism and passing helps the barren Wizards bench keep it close. Wall and Walker make their respective teams 13 and 12 points better per 100 possessions when they play, so their impact shouldn’t be overlooked in a stacked guard lineup.
LeBron is LeBron, and he will sneak in some MVP votes this year after last year’s unanimous Stephen Curry victory. He’s been the best player in basketball this year. One note that might surprise some people: James has been third in the NBA in minutes per game this year, only behind Lowry and our next name, Giannis Antetokounmpo. Antetokounmpo has made The Leap this year. A 24/9/6 stat split is pretty damn impressive, especially when you consider that he hadn’t even yet celebrated his 22nd birthday when the season started. The 7-foot point guard hasn’t hit his peak, and yet he’s still an All-Star starter and an All-NBA contender.
Jimmy Butler has been the only bright spot on a mostly awful Bulls team, single-handedly willing his team to victory recently. 25/7/5 splits on a team with literally no spacing is no easy accomplishment. My only gripe is his placement as a frontcourt player; he’s clearly a natural shooting guard and actually plays most of his minutes there.
Seriously, NBA: The league has been utilizing PG-wing-wing-frontcourt-frontcourt lineups for decades now, and players like Butler and Antetokounmpo fit much better as wings than alongside players like and Millsap that mostly operate inside. Fix this!
I’m not sure how wise the Hawks (24–17) are in deciding to keep Millsap this season rather than trade him. Let’s face it: there’s a very small chance he comes back next season and they are no contest against the Raptors and Celtics, let alone the Cavaliers. He’s also in the midst of one of the best years of his career, so that would skyrocket his trade value, as well as an All-Star selection.
George and Irving have been having pretty run-of-the-mill seasons by their standards, and that means All-Star berths. I thought about Kevin Love, Hassan Whiteside, Carmelo Anthony, Kristaps Porzingis and Dwight Howard for the final frontcourt spot, but I couldn’t resist giving it to my new favorite player, Joel Embiid. The 76ers have, incredibly, been a plus-12 team when Embiid plays, as opposed to being a minus-238 team when he sits. Granted, Embiid has played a ton of his minutes against second units, but with that roster, that’s an incredible showcase of his value.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Starters
G: James Harden (Houston)
G: Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City)
FC: Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio)
FC: Kevin Durant (Golden State)
FC: Anthony Davis (New Orleans)
Reserves
G: Stephen Curry (Golden State)
G: Chris Paul (Los Angeles Clippers)
FC: Draymond Green (Golden State)
FC: Marc Gasol (Memphis)
FC: DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento)
WC: Gordon Hayward (Utah)
WC: C.J. McCollum (Portland)
Nine of the West’s twelve players are non-negotiable: the starting lineup, plus Curry, Paul, Green and Gasol. Westbrook and Harden are probably going to be fighting it out for the MVP award this season, and for good reason; Westbrook averaging a triple-double and willing his team to the postseason and Harden’s revelatory transition to point guard that’s somehow made an even better version of Stan Van Gundy’s pace-and-space Suns. Those guys will be starters.
Durant and Leonard have locked up two of the frontcourt positions, and they’re compelling as a potentially budding rivalry, as their games are inverse of each other: Durant is a world-class scorer with underratedly fantastic defense; Leonard is the world’s best defensive player with a budding arsenal of scoring techniques. These are easily two of the league’s five best players.
The only starter that’s not a no-brainer is that final frontcourt spot, which has about four great choices to choose from in Davis, Green, Gasol and Cousins, who I put slightly behind the first three. Green has had an identical season to last year’s first-team All-NBA result, so there’s nothing to complain about there. Gasol has fought through a slew of Grizzlies injuries (including Mike Conley) to lead them to a playoff spot, expanding his offensive game into his thirties.
But I gave the spot to Davis, whose greatness is forgotten as his awful supporting cast continues to lose games for the Brow. But look at this: 29/12 splits, as well as leading the league in blocks at 2.5 per game. The Pelicans are outscored by nine points per 100 possessions when Davis sits, which would easily be the worst mark in the league. Here’s hoping Davis gets some semblance of a supporting cast in the future.
Cousins, like Davis, has been lighting up the stat sheet, and their on/offs have essentially been identical. But in terms of doing more to help his team be competitive to win, Davis has the edge; he doesn’t take possessions off or get technical fouls. Still, Davis’s monster 28/10/4 stat line is easily enough to earn him an All-Star nod.
Curry and Paul would be starters in most other years. Curry’s stats have been very similar his 2015 MVP campaign; he’s just not the best player on his team anymore, and that hurts his All-Star standing.
Paul is an incredible player, criminally underappreciated. Anyone who says he isn’t a first-ballot hall-of-famer doesn’t watch basketball. He easily outclasses all of the other Western Conference guards on this list in defense, and his passing and scoring is just as solid as ever. The gap between the starters and Paul/Curry isn’t as great as you might think.
The wild-card spots were tough for me. Leaving off Rudy Gobert (leads the NBA in Defensive Real Plus-Minus), Klay Thompson (one of the league’s 20 best players), Karl-Anthony Towns (doesn’t have the defense yet), most difficult, Damian Lillard (one of the league’s very worst defensive players this year) was hard. But I feel as if McCollum and especially Hayward have elevated their play above those others this year.
Hayward is the lone reliable offensive presence on the playoff-bound Jazz (27–16); his workload on that side of the ball this year has been exhausting. The Jazz score 111 points per 100 possessions when Hayward is on the floor, an incredible number for a team with so few offensive options. They’re best when Hayward operates as a combo guard and primary ball-handler, and it’s been encouraging to see his growth since his Butler days.
McCollum is a surprise, I know. But the Blazers have been better with him on the floor on both offense and defense than with Lillard, who’s descended into a 2014 Harden-level turnstile on the defensive end. Plus, it’s not like McCollum has been a slouch on the stats end of things; a 24/4/4 line would be a lot harder to ignore if he didn’t have a far more famous teammate averaging 26/5/6. But McCollum has been the better, much more efficient player, and for that, he’s earned the final spot in a very competitive field.
