The All-Star Game apparently no one wants to play, got its official rankings on Tuesday night. The NBA announced on March 7 the seven reserves in each conference that will join the 10 entrees in Atlanta on March 7. In the West, Chris Paul, Paul George, Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Zion Williamson and Anthony Davis are named All-Stars. (Davis will likely be replaced due to injury.) James Harden, Julius Randle, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Zach LaVine, Ben Simmons and Nikola Vucevic will join them. Here are some thoughts on the final choices …
Who hurt?
The first thing people want to talk about when the timetables are mentioned is who has been left out of the list. LeBron James fired the first salvo, tweeted his support for Devin Booker. I do not know that there are serious snubs. Someone is always going to stay off the list. In the West, De’Aaron Fox and Mike Conley (besides Booker) had good business … but who would replace them? The conference remains loaded despite the recent exodus of talent. Davis’ Achilles injury creates room for at least one more person. A Conley pick would give the Jazz three All-Stars, a good reward for their surprising boom in first place during the first half of the season.
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In the East, people are likely to be aware of Nikola Vucevic’s inclusion. It is important to note that coaches vote on the reserves. Vooch may not get national attention, but he has been an incredibly productive player in a Magic team for several seasons now, always a few degrees fresher than he is recognized for. His teammate Aaron Gordon may have stolen more news from the All-Star Weekend in his career, but Vucevic is the better player. All that said, it is amazing to see that Bam Adebayo is not in the team. Maybe Adebayo pays the price for the Heat-up-and-mostly-down season, but he would have been a worthy choice in this place. (His teammate Jimmy Butler missed too many games.) Another player with a strong argument for inclusion is Bucks teammate Khris Middleton. a 50/40/90 season. But especially since the East have been so put together this season and thus mostly take away the qualifying “team success” qualification, these choices can mostly stand the test of time.
Julius Randle! And Zach LaVine!
Two players who have upset the apple cart this season are Randle and LaVine, who have put up a huge amount for two franchises (the Knicks and Bulls) that have had no highlights in the last few seasons. They are both more than deserving choices after coming in without hype this season. The Knicks and Bulls would both be in the playoffs if they started today, and Randle and LaVine are the biggest reason why. If anything, it’s a scam that their first All-Star games are being compromised in a product. The two players have seasons that deserve the normal calls and whistles with the All-Star Weekend. Hopefully they have more choices in their future.
Jaylen Brown of the Celtics will also go to Atlanta for his first All-Star appearance. Although Boston is in the midst of a slide that is going to be almost every Oriental time this season, it is also hosting a spectacular season. It would seem that this should be the first of many times that both Brown and Tatum go to the All-Star Weekend as a couple.
In addition to the above three, the Williamson of the Pelicans will likely make the first of many games in this game. In his second season alone, Zion averaged 25/7/3 at 61.6% off the field. If there’s a basketball god, we’ll see LeBron and Zion throw step-openers at each other in Atlanta.
So should the rules change?
For people who are upset about players quitting, there is a decent argument to expand the number of choices. NBA’s active schedules are 14 players (compared to only 12 for the All-Star teams.) And with the two two-way contracts awarded per club, more guys are playing night and night than ever, especially compared to when the rules are determined. Personally, I like the limited grids! Usually I’m all for players to be included, after all this game is mostly meaningless. But the smaller number of choices makes the honor so much greater. If I were to make adjustments, I would start by a) eliminating the distinction between the conferences, especially considering the team captain format, and b) perhaps adding a specialist role for each team as a 13th player. I have no idea how this specialist thing will work in practice, as opposed to choosing the next best man, but it would be nice if a shooter like Duncan Robinson or Joe Harris or a dunker like Gordon in the mix thrown to just imagine some chaos. No matter what the NBA decides, you will pay much less attention to it on March 8th.