Goeiedag, enchantée and welcome to this week's episode of Eight 2 Four presents: All-NBA Team of the Week. The biggest news this week came on Friday, when the All-Star starters for both conferences were announced. In this episode we break format a bit because we will take the time to discuss the 10 players selected by the fans, media and players. The All-star reserves will be unveiled on Tuesday but you can have our selection today. Before we dive into all of that, let's recap some great performances this week. On Monday, Julius Randle of the Knicks and Ben Simmons of the Sixers both put their application in for the All-Star team reserves. Randle blew away the Hawks with 44 points and 9 rebounds and Simmons made 42 points, gave 12 assists and grabbed 9 rebounds against the Jazz. On Tuesday, Jokic laid in 43 points in a loss against Boston. On Wednesday it was Dame-time. Lillard made 43 points against the Pelicans, pushing the Blazers to a six game wining streak and the fourth spot in the Western Conference. All this with 2 of their most important players out with injuries. And on Friday, Joel Embiid of the Sixers made it clear that LeBron has major competition in the race for MVP. He made 50 points in a win against the Bulls, grabbed 17 rebounds and scored 15 out of 17 free throws. His scoring stats are off the charts this season and because of it, Philly sits comfortably in first spot in the East. What a difference with last season! Those were some of the biggest storylines of the last week. Now, let's get into the All-Star selections. An important thing to remember, the selections are from the Eastern and Western Conference but we will not see an East versus West game this season. Like last year, the two captains get to pick their teams from the whole selection.
EASTERN ALL-STAR STARTERS
First we'll take a look at the starters in the Eastern Conference. Kevin Durant immediately reclaimed his spot among the most popular players in the league, after not playing basketball for 18 months because of an Achilles injury. He was voted as captain of the Eastern Conference All-Stars, because he received the most fan votes of all East Coast players, which counted for 50% of the total number. The other 50% is divided between media votes and active player votes. KD is having a great season, putting up stats that eclipse his career averages, and playing a huge part in Brooklyn's successful start of the season. The 32 year old is the leader on that team of superstars, one of the best players in the league and very deserving of his 11th All-Star selection. He is currently out with a hamstring injury but he has 2 weeks get back on his feet.
The other four starters from the East are: Bradley Beal from the Wizards, Kyrie Irving from the Nets, Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Bucks and Joel Embiid from the Sixers. No big surprises there, these are four of the biggest names in the league. Personally, I would have preferred to see James Harden in the starter's list over his teammate Kyrie, because since his move to the Nets, James has been really entertaining to watch. Of the East Coast starters, Kyrie is the only player that hasn't made one of my Team of the Week selections but he is definitely deserving of his seventh selection. Bradley Beal returns to the All-Star game for the third time after being snubbed from the game last season. Giannis, captain last year, has to take a step back in his fifth selection but is still one of the most dominant players in the league. And Embiid is just having an amazing season and is already up to his fourth All-Star selection in his young career.
WESTERN ALL-STAR STARTERS
Is it a surprise that LeBron James received the most votes in the West? It shouldn't be because it is the seventh time in his seventeen selections for the All-Star game that he receives the most votes in the whole league. Only Michael Jordan does better, he was the most popular vote nine times in his career. LeBron leads the West, just like he did last year when he was picked captain as well. His team won the game, one of the best All-Star games we have seen in recent history. Changing the game format to the "Elam Ending" was one of the better ideas the league implemented over the years. Both teams compete to win each quarter, after three quarters their total scores are added and in the final quarter both teams play, untimed, until one of the two teams makes the total score of the winning team plus 24 points, an homage to Kobe. The result last year was fantastic, let's hope we get a similar game this season.
The other four starters in the West are: Steph Curry, Kawhi Leonard, Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic. No Damian Lillard, the guy that has been carrying the Blazers on his own for over a month. This is where the fan voting can be a bit unfair. Luka has not been playing that great this season but he has the European votes behind him. Lillard, playing in a small market like Portland, has no chance in a popularity contest against an international star like Luka. But Luka is still a fantastic player and deserves to be in the All-Star game for the second time. The other guys are no surprise, Steph is having one of his best seasons ever and is rewarded with his seventh selection. Kawhi has been doing what he always does, quietly dominating his opponents, and he receives his fifth selection. And Jokic, third most popular player in the West this season, is selected for the third time.
EASTERN ALL-STAR RESERVES
Those were the All-Star starters, the reserves are picked by the coaches on Tuesday. In the meantime, we'll go into our favourites for the final 7 spots on each team. To me, the All-Star is game is for the fans, it is about entertainment. I don't mind that flamboyant players get picked over better but more boring players. The best example I can bring up here is Khris Middleton. He is a great player and invaluable for the Milwaukee Bucks. Yet, I have not picked him to be part of my reserves because there are other, worse players that are a lot more exciting to watch. The three All-NBA Teams at the end of the season reward the best players but All-Star selection should go the most exciting players.
In my selection for the Eastern All-Star reserves, there were 5 guys that I didn't have to think twice about: James Harden of the Nets, Jaylen Brown of the Celtics, Julius Randle of the Knicks, Ben Simmons of the Sixers, and Jimmy Butler of the Heat. These guys have been playing exceptional basketball and deserve to be part of the selection. That left me 2 spots to fill and I had 9 players shortlisted. The first ones to drop off were Trae Young of the Hawks and Jerami Grant of the Pistons. Both players are playing well but not quite at the same level as my picks. Bam Adebayo was an easy cut because Miami doesn't really deserve a second All-Star this season. The next three cuts were Nikola Vucevic, Domantas Sabonis and Khris Middleton. Each of them so important to their team but you don't change your channel to watch them specifically and that's why they miss out this year. Finally, I dropped Jayson Tatum because the Celtics, just like Miami, don't deserve a second All-Star at the moment and Jaylen Brown has been playing so well this season. This leaves me with Zach LaVine of the Bulls and Gordon Hayward of the Hornets that make the selection.
WESTERN ALL-STAR RESERVES
My selection for the Western All-Star reserves was a lot easier than picking the reserves in the East. Six spot were filled up very quickly but the final spot gave me a slight headache. I considered seven players: Demar DeRozan of the Spurs, Devin Booker of the Suns, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Thunder, De'Aaron Fox of the Kings, Mike Conley of the Jazz, Christian Wood of the Rockets and Ja Morant of the Grizzlies. Quite frankly, I'm still not 100% sure of my selection at this point and might likely change is during this podcast. Of those seven players, I ended up with DeMar DeRozan because he has been very important to the great start of the Spurs this season something that nobody expected. But all of these guys have been playing amazing basketball so far this season and deserve a spot on this roster.
Next to DeRozan, my other picks are Damian Lillard of the Blazers and Donovan Mitchell of the Jazz, both great guards and they have led their teams to a much higher spot in the West than anticipated. I picked Paul George of the Clippers because, just like his teammate Kawhi, he has kept quiet and proved himself on the court. Rudy Gobert of the Jazz is another pick because he is the best big man in the West, after Jokic. My sixth pick was for Chris Paul of the Phoenix Suns, maybe the biggest surprise of the season so far. Booker has been great for the Suns but Paul is the engine for that team and is the main reason for the turnaround. Finally, my last pick is for Anthony Davis of the LA Lakers. Davis hasn't been playing as well as he could be and now he is out injured but he deserves the selection nonetheless. I don't want to wish harm on anyone but honestly, I'm hoping that AD will knock back his invitation for the All-Star game to take extra time to recover from his injury, making room on the team for Zion Williamson of the Pelicans. Zion has finally started to play well in the last few weeks and is so spectacular that you can't imagine an All-Star game without him.
These are our selections for this season's All-Star reserves. Please share our podcast and give us 5 stars. If you have any questions, you can contact the show on eight2fouroffice@gmail.com. Thank you for listening, ballers out!
Comments