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Toronto’s own Drake will be courtside for the first All Star game in his hometown With voting opening up last week for the All Star game, it is time to take an early look at who might be the 12 who represent the Eastern Conference in the game in February. The team will consist of two backcourt and three frontcourt starters. Position distinctions were dropped a couple of years ago, as well as seven reserves that can come from any position.As it looks right now, the East is going to have some interesting competition in the backcourt, while the centers will have to duel it out to see if they can get three representitives from that one postion.The forwards’ spots seem to be almost decided already, as there doesn’t seem to be anyone who will come up with a season good enough to challenge the usual suspects. At this time, I will only be looking at each group by position (point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, and center), while not making any call on who I think should or will be starting. So, with further ado, let’s take a look.
#5 Center
The center spots, while not as juicy as either of the backcourt positions, will offer some intrigue over the next two months as we get closer and closer to All-Star weekend. There seems to be four players vying for no more than three spots that could go to centers, especially if each of these four are in top six Eastern Conference teams.
What makes this race very unique is that each of the players represent a different type of player. Hassan Whiteside is the late bloomer who took the league by storm last year with an array of dunks and blocked shots. He still isnt totally fundamentally sound, and sometimes seems to look like a square peg (destined for a wide open attack) trying to fit into a round hole (the Heats tight, slowed down offense).
Al Horford, is continuing his steady two-way play, able to punish defenders from all over the court, while providing solid rim protection despite being a little undersized for a center. If the Hawks start playing a little better as a team, he could be a shoo-in.
Nikola Vucevic of the Magic is leading one of the better turnarounds in the conference, helping anchor the offense and providing some defense inside. He is the classic post player who has developed a decent mid-range game, but still needs to improve his defense to become asurefire All-Star.
The lone lock of this group is Andre Drummond, who has taken to coach Stan Van Gundys four out/one in offense and thrived. With pick and roll partner Reggie Jackson, they have helped turn the Pistons around and seem to have them primed for a playoff spot.
Drummond has been a devastating athletic force, throwing down dunks and grabbing rebounds at an incredible rate. If he can refine his defense and learn to hit foul shots even close to 55%, he is going to be unstoppable.
1. Andre Drummond
2. Al Horford
3. Nikola Vucevic
#4 Power Forward
Another position group where there is a clear cut group and no one else to talk about. Kevin Love is starting to be used in a more productive way after spending way too much time as a glorified spot up shooter last year.
Coach David Blatt has been using him more and more all around the floor, and Love has responded by putting up one of the best seasons when you combine three point shooting percentage and offensive rebounding percentage. If he can keep this combination up, he could put up one of the most unique seasons of all time.
The other two guys on the list are last years power forward All-Stars, Paul Millsap and Chris Bosh. They havent been quite as good as they were last year, but are still showing off the multifaceted inside/out games that have made them mainstays in the All-Star conversation over the last few years.
They are unique in their ability to provide strong midrange to three point line shooting while also playing heady, above average defense that sometimes allows their team to play them as centers for a few minutes in a pinch.
1. Kevin Love
2. Paul Millsap
3. Chris Bosh
#3 Small Forward
Not much to talk about here. We have two of the top five candidates for the MVP award in this position group in Paul George and LeBron James who are playing some truly great basketball.
I give George the slightest of edges here because he is doing a stellar job of playing two-way basketball, serving as the fulcrum of both the offense and defense for the Pacers. His shooting has put him into true MVP consideration now, and it will be interesting to see if he can keep up this shooting pace for the whole season.
LeBron might jump through the computer and stalk me down for this ranking, but if you have watched LeBron for his whole career, you can tell when hes conserving energy and this seems to be the case right now.
Its not that I even think LeBron isnt as good as George, but I do think he has been slightly below Georges play this season simply because he knows he needs to save his energy for a potential sixth straight Finals run.
The final spot was almost impossible to pick as I dont think anyone has really done enough to deserve an All Star nod this year, but after looking through the players and watching some games, I am going with Carmelo Anthony over Giannis Antetokounmpo because he serves as the unquestioned number one option in his teams offense.
1. Paul George
2. LeBron James
3. Carmelo Anthony
#2 Shooting Guards
Another position that is seeing some tight competition is at shooting guard, where five players are putting up a season worthy of All-Star consideration. Five of the eight current playoff teams have their shooting guards who are helping lead their teams in the muddled East, and the determining factor could come down to which teams place higher in the standings as in this race.
The toughest omission for me at this point is Nicolas Batum, who has had an amazing bounce back year for Charlotte after a disastrous season for the Portland Trail Blazers last year that prompted his trade. Now he is shooting 39% on six threes a game while playing great all-around basketball for the surprise team of the East.
Another guy who came close to crashing the party was Avery Bradley, who has played a great all-around ball for a Celtics team that has a top 10 net efficiency rating. Jimmy Butler is the rich mans Avery Bradley, as it sometimes seems like he is the only player who can consistently bring it every night for the Chicago Bulls.
He shows up every night playing defense, knocking down clutch shots, and getting to the line to save the team. Meanwhile, DemarDeRozan, fresh off an Eastern Conference Player of the Week award, has been teaming up with Kyle Lowry to brutalize the East by getting to the free throw line time after time.
And Dwyane Wade, is continuing to thrive despite an inability to hit three-pointers. However, each guy who is currently pencilled into the All-Star team should work hard to continue and improve their play, because if they dont they will most assuredly be passed over.
1. Jimmy Butler
2. Demar DeRozan
3. Dwyane Wade
#1 Point Guards
The point guard position is one that is starting to gain more and more depth, especially due to the moves Isaiah Thomas and Reggie Jackson made from Western Conference to Eastern Conference.
These two left the East to lead guards who are dynamic and able to function as the lead guard on teams looking to make the playoffs. They have meshed very well with their teams, the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons respectively, after coming over as mid-season trade acquisitions.
With the rise of Kemba Walker, who is having a career year shooting and leading the surprise team of the Eastern Conference in the Charlotte Hornets, two All Star guards from last year, John Wall and Jeff Teague, have fierce competition to make the squad again this season.
It hasnt helped, especially in Walls case, that he and his Washington Wizards have underachieved while trying to implement an uptempo, pace and space offense, while the AtlantaHawks and Teague have seem to come back down to earth a little after their 60win season last year.
These two guys have ample time to right the ship and put themselves back in All Star position, but, as it stands right now, they look to be on the outside looking in. The one player from this group we havent talked about is Kyle Lowry, who is helping lead the second placed Toronto Raptors who currently sit at sixth in offensive efficiency and net efficiency, per NBA.com.
Lowry, who looks skinnier than last season, has been a catalyst on both sides of the ball for the Raptors, and, in perhaps the upset of the year, has scored more points than everyone, including the esteemed Stephen Curry, from the top of the key three point area.
1. Kyle Lowry
2. Reggie Jackson
3. Isaiah Thomas
