All-Star Game

Community Shootaround: Eastern All-Stars

February 18th, 2021 at 9:51am CST by Luke Adams

Before the NBA announces its 2021 All-Star starters on Thursday night on TNT, we want to get your thoughts on which players deserve to make the All-Star teams this season. After focusing on the Western Conference on Wednesday, we’re turning our attention to the Eastern Conference today.

There likely won’t be much debate over the Eastern frontcourt starters, as Sixers center Joel Embiid, Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Nets forward Kevin Durant are all playing like legitimate MVP candidates. Durant has been limited to just 19 games due to various health issues and COVID-19 protocols, but I think that’s enough — he has played big minutes (35.7 MPG) in those contests.

The Eastern backcourt starters are harder to nail down. You could make a legitimate argument for Nets guards James Harden and Kyrie Irving, Wizards guard Bradley Beal, and Celtics swingman Jaylen Brown. Beal is the NBA’s leading scorer and Irving isn’t far behind, but I actually favor Brown and Harden for the starting spots here.

Brown is the best defender of the group, and his scoring numbers (25.9 PPG on .506/.409/.768 shooting and a 31.4% usage rate) have been terrific. Harden, meanwhile, has been arguably the league’s best play-maker so far this season, averaging an eye-popping 11.8 assists per game to go along with his 24.3 PPG since arriving in Brooklyn.

All four guards belong in the game, so that leaves three frontcourt spots and two wild card slots to fill out the bench. I’d start with Tatum, a two-way star who is averaging career highs in PPG (25.8), RPG (7.0), and APG (4.7) to go along with his stout defense for the Celtics.

From here though, thinks get awfully tricky. Hawks guard Trae Young and Bulls guard Zach LaVine aren’t good defenders, but they’re enjoying elite offensive seasons. Young (26.5 PPG, 9.3 APG) has been the better play-maker, while LaVine has scored a little more, and has done so far more efficiently (28.5 PPG on .520/.437/.847 shooting). Both are strong candidates.

The fourth-seeded Pacers probably deserve to have a player in the game, and you could make a legitimate case for either Domantas Sabonis (21.5 PPG, 11.6 RPG, 5.7 APG) or Malcolm Brogdon (21.6 PPG and 6.6 APG).

Big men Bam Adebayo, Nikola Vucevic, and Julius Randle have been the most valuable players so far this season for the Heat, Magic, and Knicks, respectively. Adebayo anchors his team’s defense in a way the other two don’t, though his offensive numbers (19.9 PPG, 5.3 APG) don’t quite match Vucevic’s (23.4 PPG on .476/.414/.816 shooting) or Randle’s (23.2 PPG and 5.5 APG with a .407 3PT%).

Bucks forward Khris Middleton, Hornets forward Gordon Hayward, Pistons forward Jerami Grant, and Sixers guard Ben Simmons also deserve serious consideration as two-way impact players.

And while they probably won’t make the 12-man squad, Raptors guards Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet, Sixers forward Tobias Harris, Hawks big man Clint Capela, Bucks guard Jrue Holiday, Heat forward Jimmy Butler, and Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton each at least warrant a look and an honorable mention.

For now, my choices to fill out the Eastern squad would be LaVine, Young, Adebayo, and Middleton. LaVine is the East’s second-leading scorer; Young isn’t far behind him and his on/off-court numbers make a compelling case; Adebayo is one of the conference’s best interior defenders; and Middleton has been one of the NBA’s best shooters (.510/.442/.902).

Still, there are at least four or five other players whom I could comfortably sub into one of those spots and feel good about it. Leaving out guys like Randle, Grant, Simmons, and especially Sabonis (my last man out) is tough.

What do you think? Which 12 players would you pick for your Eastern Conference All-Star team? Which players would be the most difficult to omit?

Head to the comment section below to share your choices and your reasoning!

Northwest Notes: Diallo, KAT/D-Lo, MPJ, Lillard

February 17th, 2021 at 9:15pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Thunder wing Hamidou Diallo has displayed such improvement this season that he could be a leading candidate for Most Improved Player honors, argues Jenni Carlson of the Oklahoman.

Diallo’s output has dramatically increased across the board. The third-year swingman out of Kentucky is averaging career-highs in points (12.7), rebounds (5.5), assists (2.4), field goal percentage (48.9%) and minutes (24.2) for a chippy Thunder squad. “I would say the biggest thing is just opportunity,” he said of his progress this year. “Sometimes, when you have opportunity and you have people around you that believe in you, it just makes the game much easier.”

There’s more out of the Northwest Division:

A variety of health and injury problems have conspired to limit marquee Timberwolves players Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell to just five games together since Minnesota acquired Russell last season. Towns recently vented his frustration, as Chris Hine of the Star Tribune details. “Obviously we want to play with each other,” Towns said. “I finally come back [from a COVID-19 absence] and now he’s out [with a knee injury], so he was emotional too because it’s been bothering him, wanting to play together.” Britt Robson of The Athletic wonders if the Towns-Russell tandem, light on defense, will live up to fan expectations once it finally does appear more consistently.
Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. has shown off his impressive scoring abilities this season, but his defensive flaws (especially at the rim) are clear too, writes Michael Pina of Sports Illustrated. Porter, 22, is averaging 13.6 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.1 APG, 1.2 BPG and 1.0 SPG this season. He is also shooting well, with a slash line of .475/.379/.786.
Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard is set to compete three-point shooting contest at this year’s Atlanta All-Star Game, sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. Haynes notes that Lillard currently ranks third in the league when it comes to made three-pointers this season. Lillard’s 105 made triples rank behind only Buddy Hield (106) and Stephen Curry (140).

Community Shootaround: Western All-Stars

February 17th, 2021 at 1:37pm CST by Luke Adams

Voting for the NBA’s All-Star starters has now closed, and the league will reveal on TNT on Thursday night the 10 players who have been named starters for this year’s game, with an announcement on the All-Star reserves to follow next Tuesday.

Before that happens, we want to get your take on which 24 players deserve to make this year’s All-Star Game, starting today in the Western Conference.

This year’s Western Conference All-Stars, who will be represented by Jazz head coach Quin Snyder, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN, have six clear frontrunners for the five starting spots.

Lakers star LeBron James, Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, and Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard are the odds-on favorites to claim the three frontcourt openings, while Warriors guard Stephen Curry, Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, and Mavericks guard Luka Doncic will vie for the two backcourt spots.

While it remains to be seen which five players will earn starting spots, it’s safe to say that all six will safely make the team. That leaves six other spots up for grabs.

The general consensus among Marc Stein of The New York Times, Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, and Josh Robbins of The Athletic – all of whom made their picks this week – is that four of those spots will be claimed by Anthony Davis, Paul George, and the Jazz duo of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, which would make sense, given those players’ importance to the top three clubs in the conference.

After that, there’s little consensus. Stein and Robbins have Jazz guard Mike Conley nabbing one of the last two spots, while Stein and O’Connor each penciled in Suns guard Chris Paul. O’Connor also has Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander making his team, while Robbins opted for Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan.

Suns guard Devin Booker, Pelicans forwards Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, Kings guard De’Aaron Fox, Rockets big man Christian Wood, and Grizzlies guard Ja Morant all merited consideration and/or honorable mention from Stein, O’Connor, and Robbins. Beyond that, it’s hard to find legitimate candidates whose cases haven’t been hurt by injuries or COVID-19, as is the case for Blazers guard CJ McCollum, among others.

Following the format of four guards, six frontcourt players, and two wild cards, my picks would be Curry, Doncic, LeBron, Jokic, and Kawhi in the starting lineup, with Lillard, Mitchell, Davis, George, Gobert, Paul, and DeRozan on the bench. If Davis remains sidelined through the All-Star break due to his calf injury, picking a frontcourt player to replace him would be tricky, but for now I’d lean toward Williamson.

What do you think? Which 12 Western Conference players would be on your All-Star squad for the 2020/21 season?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in!

And-Ones: Newly-Scheduled Games, AmeriCup, All-Star Game

February 16th, 2021 at 2:20pm CST by Luke Adams

In the wake of a series of postponements related to both COVID-19 and severe weather in Texas, the NBA is adding a pair of new games to its schedule for this week. The Nuggets and Cavaliers will play in Cleveland on Friday, according to an official announcement. Meanwhile, the Bulls will host the Pistons on Wednesday in Chicago, per Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The Bulls were initially scheduled to play in Charlotte on Wednesday, while the Pistons were supposed to play in Dallas. However, the Hornets were affected by coronavirus contact tracing and the Mavs are dealing with a weather-related state of emergency in the area, so Chicago and Detroit will instead play each other.

Meanwhile, the Nuggets had been scheduled to play in Charlotte on Friday night, but that Hornets game has been postponed as well due to contact tracing. The Cavaliers, whose Wednesday contest vs. San Antonio was postponed, were scheduled to be inactive until Sunday, so a Friday game easily fits into their schedule.

Neither new game is a makeup of an earlier postponement, but playing those games this week will allow the NBA to avoid having to schedule them in the second half.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Veteran NBA forward Brandon Bass has joined Team USA’s roster for the upcoming FIBA AmeriCup qualifying games in Puerto Rico, tweets Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. Meanwhile, Canada’s roster for those qualifiers is headlined by former No. 1 overall pick Anthony Bennett, as Blake Murphy of The Athletic relays (via Twitter).
In the wake of Jalen Johnson‘s decision to forgo the rest of the NCAA season and enter the draft, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (Insider link) and Sam Vecenie and Brendan Marks of The Athletic examine the implications of the Duke freshman’s opt-out. Givony hears from sources that a foot injury Johnson suffered in mid-December never fully healed and still isn’t 100% — sitting the rest of the season should give the projected lottery pick an opportunity to get healthy.
Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has issued a statement asking fans not to travel to Atlanta for this year’s All-Star Game, which won’t be a ticketed event, writes Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Although the game won’t be open to the general public, some family members of All-Stars, local health-care workers, and students and staff members from local HBCUs are expected to be in the arena, according to Spencer, who estimates an attendance of about 1,200 to 1,500 people.

NBA To Resume Play March 10 After All-Star Break

February 15th, 2021 at 4:25pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The NBA schedule will resume on March 10 after the All-Star break, one day earlier than originally planned, Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press tweets.

Games on that date will likely includes teams that have few or no All-Stars, giving the clubs with more All-Star players an extra day or two to prepare for the second half of the season, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. As previously reported, all players must return to their home markets two days prior to their team’s first post-All-Star break contest (Twitter links).

The league is trying to squeeze in the remainder of the regular season games prior to the postseason, which is slated to begin on May 18 with the new Play-in Tournament. Resuming play the Wednesday after the All-Star break could help the league reach that goal. The Spurs-Pistons postponement this Tuesday is the 24th this season due to COVID-19, as we noted earlier today.

Earlier this month, the NBA and Players Association reached an agreement to hold an All-Star Game in Atlanta on March 7. The usual skills competitions will also be held but they will occur on the same day as the game. The 3-point event and Skills Challenge will be held prior to the game and the dunk contest will take place at halftime, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.

Wolves Notes: Towns, Edwards, G League Bubble

February 12th, 2021 at 8:46am CST by Luke Adams

After suiting up and taking the court for the first time in nearly a month on Wednesday, Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns admitted he endured a “rough journey” during his absence as he battled COVID-19.

“I am a high-risk case,” Towns said, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “COVID did not treat me well whatsoever. A lot of scary nights. One of the things that I told my sister when I got COVID was that, ‘Hey, I got it, and I don’t got a good version of it. I got a lot of COVID in me, but I am going to fight and beat it.'”

While Towns acknowledged that many players around the NBA have experienced few symptoms – or none at all – after testing positive for the coronavirus, he noted that everyone’s experience is “totally different.” Several of Towns’ family members have died of complications from COVID-19, including his mother, to whom Towns said he is most “genetically connected.”

“You hear those stories where people get COVID,” Towns said, according to Youngmisuk. “And they’re like, ‘Oh, for four days, five days, I didn’t feel well, and then I turned the corner magically one day and I was feeling great.’ That did not happen with me.”

Towns was solid in his return to action, putting up 18 points to go along with 10 rebounds, but he admitted to reporters that he didn’t feel mentally ready for the game. It may take a little more time before the 25-year-old back to his usual dominant self.

Here’s more on the Wolves:

As Youngmisuk relays, Towns also became the latest star player to question the logic of holding an All-Star Game in 2021. “I personally don’t believe there should be an All-Star Game, but what the hell do I know?” Towns said, sarcastically adding: “S–t, I obviously haven’t dealt with COVID, probably a guy who has some insight into that. What should I know about COVID, right?”
Anthony Edwards got off to a slow start during his rookie year, shooting just 34.4% from the floor and 27.4% from beyond the arc through his first 16 games. However, he has come on lately, averaging 16.9 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 3.1 APG on .435/.400/.800 shooting in his last nine, and entering Minnesota’s starting lineup during that time. The No. 1 overall pick is just getting started, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, who says the Wolves drafted Edwards knowing he was raw and not expecting him to dominate right out of the gate.
The Iowa Wolves – Minnesota’s G League affiliate – have been penalized for violating the health and safety protocols at the NBAGL bubble at Walt Disney World. As Adam Zagoria of Forbes tweets, the club was fined $10K, while Charlie Brown, Ashton Hagans, Jaylen Johnson, Ade Murkey, and Dakarai Tucker were all suspended without pay for two games. Iowa added Isaiah Briscoe and Jaylen Morris from the bubble’s available player pool to temporarily fill the holes on its roster, tweets Adam Johnson.

NBA Planning To Add Dunk Contest, Other Events To All-Star Game

February 10th, 2021 at 4:27pm CST by Arthur Hill

Progress is being made toward holding a dunk contest, 3-point shootout, and skills competition on the night of the NBA All-Star Game, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

The plan is for the dunk contest to take place at halftime, per Wojnarowski. It’s not clear whether the other competitions would also happen then, or if they’d take place earlier in the night.

Negotiations are continuing with the players’ union, and sources tell Wojnarowski that an agreement is expected to be finalized later this week, along with health and safety protocols for the event, which will take place March 7 in Atlanta.

Officials from the league and the NBPA are planning a condensed version of All-Star Weekend, which normally stretches events out over three days, culminating with the game on Sunday night. This year’s festivities will take place in a much smaller window, with participants expected to arrive on Saturday in private planes. They will be kept in private accommodations away from hotel crowds and will leave after the game is over.

Several prominent players have spoken out against holding the game this year because the league is operating under strict guidelines to contain the spread of COVID-19.

And-Ones: G League, Lin, All-Star Game, Sloan, ABA

February 10th, 2021 at 11:33am CST by Luke Adams

A trio of G League Ignite prospects – Jonathan Kuminga, Jalen Green, and Daishen Nix – headline Jeremy Woo’s SI.com list of players to watch during the 2020/21 NBAGL season, which tipped off this morning. Kuminga and Green are widely considered top-five prospects for the 2021 draft, and Kuminga and Nix got off to hot starts in their professional debut today.

Kevin Porter, Aleksej Pokusevski, Jontay Porter, and Malachi Flynn are among the G League players on assignment from NBA teams who will be worth keeping an eye on during the next few weeks, according to Woo.

Woo’s list also features Jeremy Lin, an NBA veteran who decided to play in the NBAGL this season rather than accepting more lucrative offers to spend another year in China, as he tells Shams Charania of Stadium (video link). Lin’s Santa Cruz Warriors are in action against the Ignite in today’s opener.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Sam Amick of The Athletic explains why the NBA is holding an All-Star Game this year despite the objections of many of its biggest stars. As Amick details, league officials feel that the modified event can be pulled off safely and believe that fans want to see the game played. Scrapping this year’s All-Star Game may also have required the league to go back to the negotiating table with Turner/TNT to figure out how to make up for the loss of one of the network’s marquee NBA events.
Veteran guard Donald Sloan, who appeared in 218 regular season NBA games from 2011-16, has been granted his release by the Adelaide 36ers of the Australian Basketball League, the club announced. The 36ers indicated that Sloan asked to be waived to pursue other opportunities internationally.
The NBA is in talks with the Dropping Dimes Foundation about potentially assisting more than 100 remaining American Basketball Association players, many of whom are struggling financially and are in need of pensions, a league spokesperson tells Dana Hunsinger Benbow of The Indianapolis Star.

Southeast Notes: Young, Magic, Wizards, Biyombo

February 9th, 2021 at 10:01pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Unlike some other probable All-Stars who have expressed reluctance about playing in a potential March 7 All-Star Game in Atlanta, Hawks point guard Trae Young has said he would relish the opportunity to participate if he earns a second straight All-Star berth, according to Sarah K. Spencer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“I understand both sides,” said Young, who is averaging 26.7 PPG, 9.2 APG, and 4.0 RPG for the 11-12 Hawks. “Obviously, it’s in Atlanta, I’d love to be a part of it, if there is a game.”

There’s more out of the Southeast Division:

Magic assistant general manager Matt Lloyd spoke with Josh Robbins of The Athletic about how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Orlando’s scouting process. “We’ve gotten to the point with technology where we have so much to study,” Lloyd acknowledged. “Every game is on film… But there is still an advantage of being able to see how prospects look in person. There’s always going to be that one element of being in an arena or in a gym and being able to size players up to get some sort of sense of their real physicality, their size, their length and how fast they are.”
The Wizards have been performing better when $41.4MM point guard Russell Westbrook sits, according to Fred Katz of The Athletic. In a somewhat alarming trend, Washington is 4-3 without Westbrook and 2-12 with him this season. Washington is 7.7 points per 100 possessions worse when Westbrook plays for the club this year.
Hornets center Bismack Biyombo is relishing his role as a mentor with a scrappy Charlotte team, according to Kurt Helin of NBC Sports. Biyombo has become a key advisor to rookie guard LaMelo Ball, the No. 3 pick in the 2020 draft. “I was telling LaMelo when I first got to the league I was his age because I came from overseas as well,” Biyombo said. “The transition, how far you grow from playing overseas versus when you see kids who come out of college, it’s totally two different mindsets.”

Community Shootaround: Do We Need An All-Star Game?

February 6th, 2021 at 9:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

The NBA has a literal all-star team opposed to playing the All-Star Game this year.

Since an agreement was announced Thursday between the league and the players union to hold the game March 7 in Atlanta, LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, James Harden, Kawhi Leonard and De’Aaron Fox have all spoken out against it.

Their objections are obvious. Twenty-three games have already been postponed due to COVID-19, and players are required to submit to frequent testing and follow a regimented lifestyle to make sure they haven’t been exposed to the virus. League personnel are even being forbidden to gather outside of their homes to watch the Super Bowl. But the NBA is planning to bring players from all over the country into Atlanta for the game and possibly skills competitions as well.

Leonard offered the best explanation for why the league insists on going through with the event.

“We all know why we’re playing it,” he said Friday. “It’s money on the line; it’s an opportunity to make more money. Just putting money over health right now, pretty much. … We’re playing games now, and it’s still a pandemic, doing all these protocols and rules, so it doesn’t really surprise me.”

The NBA has a serious need for revenue after going through nearly an entire calendar year with no paying customers, apart from severely limited capacity in 11 arenas. One of those is in Atlanta, which is why the city was chosen to host this year in place of Indianapolis, which will be given the 2024 game.

NBPA president Chris Paul is among the strongest advocates for holding a game and hopes to have proceeds benefit historically Black colleges and universities and COVID-19 relief efforts, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Still, prominent players continue to express their opposition, and the league may have to rethink its position if the outcry grows strong enough. Opt-out clauses are believed to be part of the discussions, Wojnarowski reports, so no player would be forced to participate.

We want to get your opinion. Should the NBA hold an All-Star Game under the current conditions? Please leave your responses in the comments section.

Load More Posts