The All-Star Game looks like no one wants to play on their official charts on Tuesday night. The NBA announced the seven reserves from each conference that will join the ten Atlanta headlines on March 7th. In the West, Chris Paul, Paul George, Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Zion Williamson and Anthony Davis were 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 join the East. Here are some thoughts on the final selections …
Who got discarded?
The first thing you want to talk about when people are named lists is who was left off the list. LeBron James fired the first salvation, tweeting his support for Devin Booker. I don’t know if there are flagrant beetles. Someone will always be off the list. In the West, De’Aaron Fox and Mike Conley (besides Booker) had good cases … but who would they replace? The conference continues to be loaded despite the recent exodus of talent. Davis ’Achilles injury will create room for at least one more person. A selection of Conley would give the Jazz three All-Stars, a nice reward for their amazing rise to first place during the first half of the season.
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In the east, people are likely to be armed by the inclusion of Nikola Vucevic. It’s important to keep in mind that coaches vote on reserves. Vooch may not receive national attention, but he has now been an incredibly productive player for several seasons on a Magic team that always has a few more frantic degrees than has been awarded to them. His teammate Aaron Gordon may have stolen more All-Star Weekend headlines in his career, but Vucevic is the best player. That said, it’s a bit surprising to see that Bam Adebayo is not part of the team. Maybe Adebayo is paying the price for the high season and mostly low, but it would have been a decent option at this place. (His teammate Jimmy Butler has lost too many games.) Another player with a strong argument to include is Bucks swingers Khris Middleton, who basically averages 6/20/6 at night and is a few free throws from a 50/40/90 season. But particularly because the East was so focused this season, which is mostly the knockout for “team success,” those options are mostly time-tested.
Julius Randle! And Zach LaVine!
Two players who bothered the apple cart this season are Randle and LaVine, who have added a large number of two franchises (the Knicks and Bulls) that have been without maximums in recent seasons. Both are more than deserved options after entering this season without hype. The Knicks and Bulls would be in the playoffs if they started today, and Randle and LaVine are the top reasons. In any case, it’s a nuisance that his first All-Star games come in a compromised product. Both players have seasons that deserve all the normal bells and whistles that come with All-Star Weekend. We hope they have more selections in their future.
Jaylen Brown of the Celtics will also head to Atlanta for her first All-Star appearance. While Boston is in the middle of a slide that will almost apparently have this season every time in the East, it also offers a spectacular season. It looks like it should be the first of times both Brown and Tatum will head to All-Star Weekend as a couple.
In addition to the previous three, Williamson of the Pelicans will likely make the first of many appearances in this game. In his second season alone, Zion is averaging 7/25/3 on his knee with 61.6% shooting from the field. If there’s a basketball god, we’ll see LeBron and Zion throwing each other in Atlanta.
So do we need to change the rules?
For people annoyed by the remaining players, there is a decent argument for expanding the number of selections. The active lists in the NBA are 14 players (as opposed to only 12 for All-Star teams). And with the two two-way contracts assigned by club, there are more guys than ever playing night and night, especially compared to when the rules were set. Personally, I like the limited lists. I’m usually included for players who are included, after all, this game doesn’t make much sense. But the smaller number of selections makes the honor much greater. If he offered modifications, he would start by a) removing the distinctions from the conference, 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 specialized thing would work in practice instead of selecting the next best guy, but it would be fun if a shooter like Duncan Robinson or Joe Harris or a dunker like Gordon were thrown into the mix just to introduce some Chaos. No matter what the NBA decides, on March 8 they will care much less.