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open fire. We are prepared to take harsh criticism.
For the third NBA season in a row, we’re pretty masochistic in naming our All-Star Game picks for each conference. In 2021, readers left over 300 comments on our articles, some of which were a bit… cough cough ……stiff. Last year, readers bombarded us with 500 comments.
Jokes aside, we appreciate your perusing our work, we understand how emotional this topic can be, not only for our readers, but for the players themselves.
Know this: In a league with so many skilled and talented players, trying to narrow it down to the 12 most All-Star-worthy candidates in each conference is excruciating. This task is even more challenging this season, scoring throughout the NBA. Consider this: Last year around this time, 33 players averaged at least 20 points per game; this year, 55 players gave up at least 20 points per game.
Anyway, we’ll pass it again here. The deadline for fans, media members and players to vote is January 21 at 11:59 pm. We have seriously considered this issue. Fan votes account for 50 percent of each league’s five starters (including the two captains), while all active players and the media team each account for 25 percent.
The league will announce the starters on Jan. 26. The reserve teams selected by league head coaches will be announced on February 2.
Before we name it, let’s explain the basic rules we follow:
• As required by league rules, each league’s five starters must consist of two backcourt players and three frontcourt players, and the league determines how each player is classified. For example, we all know that Jaylen Brown is a wing who can play both shooting guard and small forward, which in theory should give us enough leeway to consider whether he starts in the frontcourt or the backcourt. However, the NBA’s voting system strictly classifies Brown as a backcourt player. So when we consider the starting five in the Eastern Conference, we can only consider Brown as a backcourt player.
• There are no legacy choices here. Our selections are based solely on players’ performances so far this season, not past achievements or reputations.
• Injuries are important, but we also don’t want to overreact. A player missing 10 or 15 games might seem like a big deal now because it’s been such a large portion of the season so far, but by April, it seemed like a blip. For example, we won’t disqualify Stephen Curry or Devin Booker for missing a few weeks.
• For the sake of transparency, we’ve listed the players who barely made the cut, highlighting the 11th man on each 12-man team (aka “second-to-last”) and our 12th man (aka “the last player in each conference”). Last Person”). We also identified players who were near elimination, labeling them as our “Top 3 Outs” and “Bottom 3 Outs”.
We encourage debate. If you don’t like our picks, please say so in the comments section and let us know why we made a mistake. Please be kind to it.
One final note: All statistics, league standings and team records quoted in this article are as of Monday 9 January.
Eastern backcourt starter
Tyrese Haliburton, Pacers: Halliburton? Yes, Tyrese Haliburton. With Jayson Tatum on the ballot as a frontcourt player, Haliburton is the clear starter in the East’s backcourt. He led a supposedly underperforming Pacers team to the sixth seed in the East while leading the NBA in assists and becoming a more capable one-on-one player than anyone imagined, averaging 20.3 points per game . In terms of efficiency, Haliburton isn’t quite in the hallowed 50-40-90 territory, but he’s not far off either: 48.0 percent from the field, 40.2 percent from 3-point range and 88.5 from the free-throw line. %.
Donovan Mitchell, Cavaliers: Mitchell didn’t disappoint after the Cavaliers traded a ton of young players, picks and draft picks to the Jazz in a blockbuster offseason trade. Averaging 28.8 points per game, he provides the offense the Cavaliers need. His 71 points in the Cavaliers’ 145-131 overtime win over the Bulls on Jan. 2 were the most in the league since Kobe Bryant scored 81 on Jan. 22, 2006 Highest score in the field.
Eastern Conference starters
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks: The “Greek Freak” will be in contention for his third league MVP trophy. He ranks third in the league in scoring at 31.7 points per game — despite injuries limiting the Bucks’ usual No. 2 scorer, Khris Middleton, to just seven games this season. at this point. Antetokounmpo continues to have a positive impact on defense as a true two-way player; he leads the league in defensive rebounds, averaging 9.5 per game.
Joel Embiid, 76ers: The runner-up in the league’s MVP voting last season is bidding again for the award year. Like Antetokounmpo, Embiid is a two-way threat. Ranked second in scoring with 33.5 points per game and sixth in blocks with 1.68 per game. His 59 points in a Nov. 13 win over the Jazz were the NBA’s most in non-overtime this season.
Kevin Durant, Nets: Durant’s numbers are amazing, we’ll get to that in a moment. But his impact on Brooklyn has never been as evident as it was during Kyrie Irving’s eight-game suspension last November. Brooklyn was 2-6 when the team suspended Irving, and with the team seemingly on the brink of collapse, Durant kept things going, leading Brooklyn to a 5-3 record over the next eight games. As for Durant’s numbers, it’s not just 29.7 points per game. That’s his efficiency on the court (56 percent from the field) and at the free-throw line (a career-high 93 percent). Durant sprained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee on Sunday, an injury that will keep him out for several weeks. But he played in 39 of Brooklyn’s first 40 games and dominated in that stretch, leading Brooklyn to a 27-13 record.
Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum helped the Celtics have the best record in the NBA. (Winslow Townsend/USA TODAY)
East’s top five reserves (in alphabetical order)
Jalyen Brown, Celtics: On the most dominant team in the NBA so far, Jayson Tatum’s 1B and 1A (in terms of winning percentage and net rating), Brown has been very good, even if he has been overshadowed by Tatum at times. Brown’s 26.8 points per game is a career high. He scored all of those points despite shooting a career-low 32.5 percent from beyond the arc. Just imagine how effective he would be if he could regain his usual reliable three-point shot.
Jimmy Butler, Heat: Remember when we left Jimmy Butler out of the 2021 All-Star team because he missed some games and the Heat got off to a disappointing start? Yes, let’s not do that again. Butler only played 27 games, but he ranks 10th in the NBA in PER and remains one of the game’s best two-way forces, a free-throw magnet on one side and a lock on elite wings on the other. he belongs.
DeMar DeRozan, Bulls: DeRozan is continuing his remarkable late-career revival. Now in his 14th season, he is averaging 26.1 points per game. He’s scoring the way he’s done for most of his career, with a genius at creating free throws and hitting 47 percent of his mid-range shots from 14 feet and beyond the arc. The Bulls had a disappointing season, going 19-22, but where would they be without him?
Pascal Siakam, Raptors: Siakam has been a standout for Toronto this season. His scoring total speaks for itself, but we’ll paraphrase it here: He’s averaging a career-high 25.7 points per game. For the second straight season, he rebounded at a prodigious rate, collecting nearly 5 percent of all potential offensive rebounds and 18 percent of all potential defensive rebounds, according to advanced analytics database Cleaning the Glass. The Raptors are coming off a disappointing 17-23 season, but their struggles aren’t Siakam’s fault.
Jayson Tatum, Celtics: “Damn.” There are no other words to describe how we felt as we considered who the East’s three frontcourt starters should be and ultimately decided that Tatum, while totally deserving of a starter, didn’t quite rise to Giannis. Durant and Durant’s overall level. Embiid. Given how Tatum spent most of his minutes on the wing when he was small forward with the Celtics, we’d be tempted to resolve the deadlock in the Eastern Conference’s frontcourt by relegating him to shooting guard, allowing We named Tatum a starter in the backcourt. But the league designated him as a frontcourt player.
We admit that not naming Tatum as a frontcourt starter would make people nervous, especially since we think he’s a legitimate MVP candidate, the best player on the league’s best team. But the All-Star Game focuses on personal achievements. Among the difficult choices between Antetokounmpo, Durant, and Embiid, Tatum’s resume ranks fourth.
the penultimate man in the east
Jrue Holiday, Bucks: It’s hard to believe that Holiday only made one All-Star team, a feat he accomplished in 2012-13, his fourth season. Perhaps we can explain this by saying that his numbers, while consistently good, are rarely eye-poppingly good, and often flashy, numbers that land people on All-Star teams. Talking to NBA head coaches, however, uncovered nuances in Holiday’s game that the statistics couldn’t capture: excellent perimeter defense and smart offensive decision-making. There’s no question his numbers this season — 18.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 1.4 steals — are good, but in a season of bloated offensive numbers in the league, it’s Holiday’s other qualities. Put him in All-Star territory.
the last man in the east
Julius Randle, Knicks: As they say, the best ability is availability, and Randle more or less achieved what he called a fluke year in 2020-21 (shooting the same 45.6 percent from the field) while playing minutes in the NBA. Ranked No. 4 So far, the Knicks’ performance in the Eastern Conference has been slightly unexpected. Some New York fans might argue that Randle’s teammate Jalen Brunson is just as valuable, but Randle controls a larger share of the Knicks’ possessions with similar efficiency.
Top 3 out in the East
Bam Adebayo, Heat: Adebayo is averaging a career-high 21.4 points per game, but what puts him on the verge of earning an All-Star berth is his stellar defense. He’s a versatile, tenacious big man who’s been the backbone of the Heat’s defense. Adebayo’s steal, block and rebound rates are down from a year ago, and on the sidelines, those and a few games missed are enough to put Randle ahead of him, but letting him go is the toughest oversight in the East.
James Harden, 76ers: Harden is still an All-Star caliber player, but it’s hard to say he was one of the 12 selected because he only played 24 games and Doesn’t offer much value on the defensive end. If the 33-year-old is not selected, it would end a 10-year All-Star streak despite averaging more than 20 points and 10 assists for the third straight season.
Jalen Brunson, Knicks: Brunson gets recognition over the other two small guards you’d normally consider here (Trae Young and Kyrie Irving) because he’s more or less on par with them statistically, while defending more than Young and offering more acrobatics than Owen less. Alas, that still doesn’t put him ahead of Holiday or Harden in an East backcourt impasse, but he’d be our hypothetical team’s first call if injured.
East’s next three outs
Myles Turner, Pacers: Several centers in the East are having good years, but it doesn’t seem to be reciprocating with an All-Star berth. Turner’s year may be the most underrated…
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