Predicting the East Starters & Reserves for the 2018 All-Star Game

Reserves: Frontcourt

Joel Embiid, Kevin Love and Al Horford.

Kevin Love - Cleveland Cavaliers

Joel Embiid - Philadelphia 76ers

Al Horford - Boston Celtics

Numerous storylines are discussed in Cleveland - LeBron's MVP case, Isaiah Thomas' return date, improvement in the team's bench and so forth - but very few talk about Kevin Love. He's played in 33 of the team's 34 games and has been more than just serviceable. He's averaging 20.1 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists on 47.2% shooting from the field and 41.6% from beyond the arc. Other than the rebounds and assists, all other numbers are his career-best while representing the Cavaliers. For this spot, it was a toss-up between Love and Detroit Pistons' center Andre Drummond but the latter's contributions proved to be just far more vital (win shares) than the latter.

Joel Embiid has played 25 of the team's 33 games so far, which is a far higher percentage of games played as compared to last season. So far this season, he's averaging 23.8 points (+3.6 from last season), 11.1 rebounds (+3.3 from last season), 3.4 assists and 2.0 blocks at 48.6% shooting. A major reason for that is the increase in his minutes per game - 31.2 (+5.8 from last season). It's only the second season of his career but it's difficult to ignore a player who is a majority of the times, unguardable when he is on the court.

These are Al Horford's average through 34 games so far - 13.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 5.4 assists. Numbers that are certainly not worthy of being in the All-Star game right? Probably not but Horford is going to make it anyway. His numbers might not show that but he is more important to the Celtics than Irving. Not to mention the fact that he is ranked 10th in the league in Win Shares, according to Basketball Reference.