The 2015-16 NBA All-Star game can officially start it’s countdown, as news has broken about the starters for this year’s mid-season NBA event. We already got our toes dipping into the All-Star talk about a month ago with the release of the custom basketball uniforms for the All-Star game, but now we really can start putting the puzzle together with the big names officially named to the Eastern Conference and Western Conference starting lineups.
It’s always a weird time during the NBA season, as there seem to always be an over the hill veteran or two that don’t really deserve the nod but get it based on respect or popularity. You have your “duh” picks like LeBron James that make total sense and can’t be disputed, and then you also have a few guys slide in that maybe don’t make much sense. On top of it all, no matter what, you also have your All-Star snubs.
As we gear up for another fun All-Star break, let’s take a look at both starting fives and assess which All-Star starters were spot on, which weren’t very deserving and which players stuck on the outside looking in got burned:
Western Conference Starting 5: Stephen Curry (PG), Russell Westbrook (PG), Kobe Bryant (SG), Kevin Durant (SF) and Kawhi Leonard (SF)
The starting lineups are always weird, as they’re based on voting and don’t necessarily factor in how a lineup should be put together for a game. One glance as these five stars and you notice a total lack of size, with zero power forwards or centers voted in right away. Zaza Pachulia (seriously?) and Draymond Green both narrowly missed being name as starters, but will at least certainly make the team in the end, as they rounded out the top five forward spots in terms of voting.
Green most certainly got hosed here a bit, while Bryant did not at all deserve a starting nod. You can’t even use the logic of needing a shooting guard in the starting five, either, as the other spots are occupied by two small forwards and two point guards. Chris Paul, Klay Thompson and James Harden would have been deserving and round out the voting for the other Western Conference guards, but ultimately were not voted in as starters.
Eastern Conference Starting 5: Kyle Lowry (PG), Dwyane Wade (SG), LeBron James (SF), Paul George (SF) and Carmelo Anthony (SF)
Again, if we’re talking about an actual starting five, this voting makes no sense, as there are three small forwards and not a single true power forward or center. James, Melo and George all can and have played the four spot, but none are capable centers and ideally all three man the three spot. That being said, all three are extremely deserving of being voted in as All-Star game starters.
Lowry and Wade definitely have had good season for very different reasons, but Wade and even Lowry getting the nod over one Jimmy Butler is a mild surprise. John Wall and DeMare DeRozan have also enjoyed terrific 2015-16 runs, but didn’t make the initial cut. All of these guys will still be named to the actual All-Star team and can play if they so choose, but the minor snubs are clear to see.
You could say the same down low for the Eastern Conference, as well, with Pau Gasol and Andre Drummond having huge seasons and not getting the starter nod.
Voting Issue
That brings up the dilemma: do you vote simply the best five players in, or do you fill positional slots? There is already abuse in the voting when guys like Bryant and Wade get voted in over other players that are clearly more deserving. If that is going to happen regardless, perhaps a good way to off-set that is to really have players fill precise positions, rather than just have the top vote-getters overall get in. After all, there isn’t a true, defined center slot for the All-Star voting, yet Gasol and Drummond would have had a tight race for the right to be the starting center in the Eastern Conference.
When you look at how close Gasol was behind Melo (not even 1,000 fewer votes), yet Melo was actually close to 500k below the leading small forward vote-getter (King James), it’s quite clear of the two who is actually more deserving of an All-Star starting spot.
That is obviously open for debate, but the All-Star voting process still feels a bit flawed. That won’t take anything away from the excitement of the mid-season break, however, and truth be told, it sure will be nice to see The Black Mamba enjoy one final ride as a starter in this year’s All-Star weekend.
Do you agree with the voters this year? Tell us in the comments below!
