All-Star Game Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Selecting The Eastern Conference All-Stars

January 22nd, 2019 at 11:23pm CST by ChrisCrouse

All-Star weekend is approaching and it’s time to dish out votes for each of the 24 spots. We’ll examine the Eastern Conference today, but be sure to check back later in the week for the All-Star selections from the Western Conference.

East Starters

G Celtics Kyrie Irving

G Sixers Ben Simmons

FC Raptors Kawhi Leonard

FC Bucks Giannis Antetokounmpo

FC Sixers Joel Embiid

Embiid and Antetokounmpo are legit MVP candidates and while Leonard has fallen from that status, the former Spur remains a full notch above any other frontcourt player in the conference.

Irving is an easy selection. Bradley Beal has the biggest case to unseat Simmons in the starting lineup. He’s the sole reason the Wizards are in arm’s reach of a playoff spot. Yet, Simmons is simply having a special season. Simmons carries a higher PER (21.1 to 19.3) than Beal. He is responsible for more victories than Beal, according to win shares (5.4 to 3.3), and he bests the 25-year-old shooting guard in nearly all traditional and advanced stats outside of points and three-point shooting.

Simmons is shooting 57.6% from the field, an absurd figure for a player who spends so much time on the perimeter and has nothing that resembles a jump shot. Much of his success can be attributed to talent, more so than to a scheme. Zach Lowe of ESPN.com recently detailed how the Warriors are utilizing Draymond Green with the ball in his hands when opposing defenders are allowing him to be all alone on the perimeter. When a defender sinks back, Green will toss the ball to a shooter around the arch and then sprint toward the shooter in order to screen that player’s man. The defender responsible for Green is left scrambling toward the shooter from closer to the paint and it’s too late; the look is clean.

Admittedly, the Warriors are on a different level. They are building beach houses while most of the league is negotiating rent. Still, opposing teams are defending Simmons without anything close to the threat of this kind of wizardry.

Teams know exactly what Simmons is going to do and most can’t stop it, akin to how opponents are struggling to contain the Greek Freek in Milwaukee. If Giannis is the Mona Lisa, then Simmons is the Vitruvian Man and 22-year-old should have his artistry on display with the starters in Charlotte.

East Reserves

Nikola Vucevic is having an outstanding season. He joins Anthony Davis, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Embiid as the only players averaging 20 and 12. He’s one of five players making at least 50% of his shots while averaging at least one block and a 3-pointer made per game. He’s propping up the Magic to appear like a real playoff contender.

Vucevic and Beal aren’t the only lead singers who are relying on backup dancers as their squads audition for a playoff spot. The Pistons and Hornets would be bottom-feeders if not for Blake Griffin and Kemba Walker on their respective teams, though both players have had highs and lows this season.

The Nets have been great and both Spencer Dinwiddie and D’Angelo Russell deserve consideration for their part in Brooklyn’s feel-good story but neither player makes the cut. I wanted to find a spot for Josh Richardson. He’s been Miami’s most important player, but he’s cooled off during the second quarter of the season.

In terms of talent, Jimmy Butler is among the best in the East. However, he’s missed time because of the weeks-long tantrum he threw in Minnesota, the resulting trade period, and the three minor ailments that have caused him to sit since joining the Sixers.

Kyle Lowry also missed a chunk of time. Same with Al Horford and Victor Oladipo. Injuries are unfortunate but how many players can be named All-Stars while missing close to 20% of their games? I’m designating one spot to this criteria and Oladipo has been the best of the bunch. (It kills me to leave out Lowry, a Philadelphia-native, but being available to play matters, especially when splitting hairs among quality players).

Eric Bledsoe is second on the conference-leading Bucks in win shares. He’s played well as both an isolation player when Milwaukee needed a bucket and within the flow of the offense. On defense, he’s done everything the team has needed and more. Stephen Curry is the only point guard with a higher net rating than Bledsoe this season.

My last spot goes to Pascal Siakam. Stability can be valuable – especially with Lowry and Leonard consistently shuffling in and out of the lineup – and the power forward has produced regardless of whoever has been on the court alongside him.

Siakam’s improvement since last season is remarkable. He can put on his Draymond Green hat and become a facilitator when needed. With his smooth lateral movement, he can be an impactful defender on the perimeter and the Raptors don’t skip a beat when teams switch him onto an agile guard. He does all of this in addition to providing solid interior defense and efficient scoring (shooting 57.1% on the year) while playing the most minutes for a legitimate title contender (at 1,490 minutes played, Siakam has played roughly 100 more minutes than anyone else on the Raptors).

The advanced metrics match the eye test. He’s in the top 10 in the league in Net Rating among those playing 25 minutes per contest. Only seven players in the Eastern Conference rank higher than Siakam in win shares; Only six rank higher in NBA Math’s Total Points Added metric.

Many voters will leave Siakam off their list, as he doesn’t have the track record of other All-Star candidates. He hasn’t proven he can sustain this level of play; he hasn’t put in the time. Regardless of the lack of experience, he’s showcased his worthiness during the first half of the season. With his hustle and grind, his efficiency, and his ability to deliver night after night for the Raptors, he’s proven he deserves to be called an All-Star this season.

Recap of Eastern Conference Reserves

Magic Nikola Vucevic

Wizards Bradley Beal

Pistons Blake Griffin

Hornets Kemba Walker

Pacers Victor Oladipo

Bucks Eric Bledsoe

Raptors Pascal Siakam

Do you agree with the selections above? Are there any changes you would make to the list? What 12 players would you vote into this year’s All-Star game? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below. We look forward to what you have to say!

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Community Shootaround: All-Star Selection Format

January 21st, 2019 at 9:25am CST by Luke Adams

Monday is the last day to submit your votes for 2019’s NBA All-Star starters. Once the fan vote has been closed, the league will also take into account the picks made by players and media members in order to determine this year’s starters.

While the All-Star Game itself no longer pits the Western Conference against the Eastern Conference, the selection format still dictates that five starters must come from each conference. Given a somewhat underwhelming crop of star guards in the East this season, that format ensures that Kyrie Irving will likely be joined by one of Ben Simmons, Bradley Beal, or Kemba Walker in the Eastern backcourt.

Those players are having strong seasons, but there will be reserves in the Western Conference more deserving of a starting nod. Due to the conference and position restrictions, two players out of the five-man Western frontcourt group of LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Paul George, Nikola Jokic, and Anthony Davis won’t crack the starting lineup.

The two frontcourt stars in that group who miss out on starting spots will still end up on the All-Star roster. However, there may be other deserving players who don’t make the cut — even though the rules on positions are less restrictive for the reserves, coaches are still limited to picking seven players in each conference, rather than simply choosing the next 14 best players, regardless of position or conference.

As Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer details in a column on his All-Star picks, he spoke to a number of people around the league – including executives, coaches, and reporters – about their own All-Star selections, and all of them admitted that if they were just asked to pick the NBA’s 24 best players, they wouldn’t get to 12 in the East. According to O’Connor, everyone he polled chose between eight and 11 Eastern players in that hypothetical scenario — the most common response was nine, with the other 15 coming from the West.

Given how many players around the NBA have All-Star bonuses and incentives in their contracts, the league won’t be able to unilaterally alter the selection format without some pushback from the players. Still, it’s an idea worth considering.

If the actual All-Star Game no longer features Eastern Conference players vs. Western Conference players, does it make sense to still require an even number of representatives from each side? And now that we’re in an era of so-called “positionless” basketball, would it make sense to further loosen the restrictions on positions in the selection process?

What do you think? Should the All-Star selection format be changed and modernized to better identify the NBA’s 24 best players, or is it fine as is?

NBA To Televise All-Star Draft On February 7

January 17th, 2019 at 2:19pm CST by Luke Adams

February 7 is shaping up to be an eventful day on the NBA calendar this season. Already the date of the 2018/19 trade deadline (at 2:00pm central time), Thursday, February 7 will also be the day on which the NBA televises an All-Star draft for the first time.

The league confirmed today in a press release that the 2019 All-Star draft will air on TNT on February 7, starting at 6:00pm CT. As was the case last season, the top vote-getter in each conference will be an All-Star captain, and will draft a squad of four starters from a pool of eight players selected by fans, players, and media members. The captains will subsequently select seven players apiece from a 14-player pool of All-Stars named by NBA coaches.

This year’s All-Star starters will be announced on January 24, with the remaining All-Stars revealed on January 31. Based on the latest voting results, released today by the NBA, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo project to be the All-Star captains this season — LeBron (3,770,807 votes) is ahead of Luka Doncic by about 469,000 votes in the West, while Giannis (3,626,909 votes) leads Kyrie Irving in the East by approximately 440,000 votes.

This is the second time the NBA has used this All-Star format. James and Stephen Curry were captains last season, but the draft was conducted privately. After talking things over with the players, the NBA has decided to make that event public this time around, which should make for an entertaining broadcast.

Community Shootaround: All-Star Starters

January 4th, 2019 at 3:58pm CST by Luke Adams

The first returns on fan voting for the 2019 NBA All-Star Game were announced on Thursday, and most of the results weren’t too surprising.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard, and Joel Embiid lead the frontcourt voting in the Eastern Conference, while Kyrie Irving is the top vote-getter among Eastern guards. In the West, LeBron James and Stephen Curry – last year’s All-Star captains – have received the most early votes.

However, several of the other names near the top of those lists may have inspired a double-take. Rookie of the Year frontrunner Luka Doncic has the second-most votes among Western frontcourt players, ahead of Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, and Paul George, among others. In the backcourt, Derrick Rose ranks No. 2 in fan voting, ahead of James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Damian Lillard, and others.

In the East, fans apparently want to see Dwyane Wade in the All-Star Game once more before he retires — he ranks second in votes among guards, ahead of Kemba Walker, Ben Simmons, Victor Oladipo, and others.

All-Star voting will remain open for two and a half more weeks, so the current order can – and almost certainly will – change. Plus, fan votes only make up 50% of the consideration for the All-Star Game’s starting lineup, with players (25%) and media (25%) also receiving a portion of the vote. So the early results don’t mean that we’ll see Doncic, Rose, and Wade starting in Charlotte next month.

Still, given the popularity of Doncic, Rose, and Wade early in the process, there’s a discussion to be had here.

Has Doncic shown enough in his 36 NBA games to earn an All-Star spot? Does it make sense to reward Rose for his bounce-back season or Wade on his farewell tour? Or would you rather just see the best first-half players in the starting lineups? And, if that’s the case, which five Eastern and five Western players do you believe deserve those spots?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts on this season’s All-Star lineups.

And-Ones: All-Star Game, White, Holland, Carmelo

November 19th, 2018 at 9:48pm CST by Dana Gauruder

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he would discuss holding a future All-Star Game in the city of Detroit with Arn Tellem, the vice-chairman of the Pistons, Gregg Krupa of the Detroit News reports. The Pistons are playing their second season at Little Caesars Arena, which is also the home of the NHL’s Red Wings. “I’m sure we’ll be talking about it,” Silver said during a business trip to the city. The state of Michigan hasn’t seen an All-Star Game since 1979, when it was held in the Pontiac Silverdome. The Pistons’ former home, The Palace of Auburn Hills, never hosted the event.

We have more news from around the basketball world:

Former Heat and Cavaliers big man Okaro White is close to signing with Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv, according to a Eurobasket.com report which was relayed by Sam Amico. White appeared in six games with Miami last season after seeing action in 35 games with the Heat the previous season. The Cavaliers signed him to 10-day contracts last season but he didn’t play. He was waived by Cleveland in August and then by the Spurs in October after joining them for training camp.
The G League’s Austin Spurs acquired the returning rights to guard John Holland and a 2019 second-round pick from the Canton Charge, the Cavs’ affiliate, in exchange for small forward Jaron Blossomgame, according to a press release from the G League club. Holland had a two-way contract with the Cavaliers last season and played 24 games, posting an average of 2.3 PPG in 7.3 MPG. Holland appeared in one game this season with the Cavaliers before being waived on November 9th. Blossomgame, the Spurs’ second-round pick in 2017, spent the last two seasons with Austin but has yet to make his NBA debut.
The Warriors, Sixers, Lakers and Pelicans are the most likely landing spots for Carmelo Anthony once he’s waived by the Rockets, Matt Eppers of USA Today opines. Anthony could help each of those teams to varying degrees, mainly as a second-unit player.

NBA To Televise 2019 All-Star Draft

November 7th, 2018 at 12:14pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA and the players’ union have reached an agreement to televise the draft for this season’s All-Star Game, according to a report from Marc Stein and Kevin Draper of The New York Times. Sources tell Stein and Draper that a date for that draft has yet to be scheduled, but January 30 and January 31 are candidates.

The league changed the format of its All-Star Game last season, moving away from the traditional Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference format. Instead, the top two All-Star vote-getters (LeBron James and Stephen Curry in 2018) were named as captains of the two teams and were tasked with filling out their rosters by conducting a draft of the other 22 All-Stars. James and Curry first selected from a pool of eight fellow starters before moving on to the 12-man bench pool.

For the 2018 All-Star Game, the draft was conducted privately, though the order of most of the picks leaked out eventually. This time around, we’ll be able to see that draft take place, as the league and the players’ union are now both on board with turning it into a broadcast event.

The 2019 All-Star Game will take place on February 17 in Charlotte.

Cleveland To Host 2022 NBA All-Star Game

October 30th, 2018 at 2:17pm CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers will host the 2022 NBA All-Star Game in Cleveland, league sources tell ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. Kevin Kleps of Crain’s Cleveland Business first reported that an upcoming All-Star Game will be played at Quicken Loans Arena, adding that an official NBA announcement could happen as soon as this Thursday.

Cleveland had been a candidate to host the league’s 2021 All-Star weekend, but renovations on Quicken Loans Arena ran into some roadblocks, resulting in a delay. With a deal for those renovations now completed and construction underway, the league appears comfortable committing to the Cavs for the 2022 event. As Kleps notes, the arena renovations are expected to be completed before the start of the 2019/20 season.

The NBA All-Star Game hasn’t taken place in Cleveland since 1997, back when the Cavs’ building was known as the Gund Arena.

The next three NBA All-Star Games are set to take place in Charlotte (2019), Chicago (2020), and Indianapolis (2021).

Eastern Rumors: Embiid, Wade, Kander, Magic

August 15th, 2018 at 12:25pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Joel Embiid‘s ability to work out this summer without restrictions may turn out to be the Sixers’ biggest offseason improvement, as Derek Bodner of The Athletic details. Embiid has always been in rehab mode from foot or knee injuries during his previous offseasons, Bodner notes. This summer, Embiid has been working with renown skills coach Drew Hanlen to refine his offensive game, which could vault Embiid into a greater level of dominance and consistency, Bodner continues. Hanlen has put a great emphasis on making Embiid virtually unstoppable in the low post while also creating more open looks for his teammates and committing fewer turnovers, Bodner adds.

We have more from around the Eastern Conference:

If Dwyane Wade returns to the Heat, he’ll be part of the rotation, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Adding Wade to the backcourt would create a logjam that would likely cut dramatically into Tyler Johnson‘s minutes, Winderman adds. Wade has indicated if he plays next season, it will be with the Heat.
Former Pistons strength and conditioning coach Arnie Kander has turned down a position with the franchise but will remain in a consultant’s role, Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press tweets. Kander, who worked with the team for 23 seasons, has given the front office input on its search for a new medical director and has also been involved in Reggie Jackson‘s offseason training, Ellis continues. Last season’s director of sports medicine and head trainer, Jon Ishop, is no longer with the organization, Ellis adds.
The Magic will not host the All-Star Game until at least 2024, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reports. The franchise put in a bid to host the 2023 All-Star Weekend and were informed by league officials that another location will be selected, Robbins continues. The sites for the next three All-Star Games have already been set, starting with Charlotte next season, and Orlando can’t host in 2022 because of a major convention in the city, Robbins adds.

And-Ones: All-Star Draft, Team USA, G League

February 21st, 2018 at 11:51am CST by Luke Adams

While it’s not clear how much the new format was responsible for the NBA’s best and most competitive All-Star Game in years, commissioner Adam Silver was happy with the result, telling ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne that he was appreciative of the players and thought the game was “incredible.” Silver also suggested that fans’ biggest complaint about this year’s All-Star draft format will likely be addressed for next year’s event.

“When we sat with the union and we came up with this format, we all agreed, let’s not turn something that’s 100% positive into a potential negative to any player,” Silver said. “But then … maybe we’re overly conservative, because then we came out of there, and the players were, ‘We can take it. We’re All-Stars. Let’s have a draft.’ So it sounds like we’re going to have a televised draft next year.”

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

With another World Cup qualifying event set to begin this week in California, Team USA has officially announced its roster for games against Cuba and Puerto Rico. Jeff Van Gundy‘s squad will feature foremr NBA players such as Alonzo Gee, Aaron Harrison, and Larry Drew II.
In an interesting and in-depth piece, Keith Smith of RealGM takes a closer look at the evolution of the NBA G League and explores the next steps for the NBAGL, which should only continue to grow.
International basketball reporter David Pick passes along a pair of updates from overseas, tweeting that former NBA guard Donald Sloan has rejoined China’s Guangdong Tigers for the CBA playoffs. Pick also tweets that Lokomotiv Kuban sharpshooter Ryan Broekhoff, who went undrafted out of Valparaiso in 2013, is being scouted by some NBA officials.
The latest mock draft from ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (Insider link) doesn’t include any major changes at the top. Givony still projects Luka Doncic to go No. 1, followed by Deandre Ayton, Mohamed Bamba, Jaren Jackson, Marvin Bagley III, and Michael Porter Jr.

Kemba Walker Replaces Kristaps Porzingis On All-Star Team

February 8th, 2018 at 4:55pm CST by marksuleymanov

Hornets point guard Kemba Walker has been named as a reserve from the Eastern Conference for the 2018 NBA All-Star game, the team announced in a press release. Walker joins Team LeBron, replacing Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis, who suffered a season-ending torn ACL on Tuesday.

Walker, 27, is in his seventh NBA season and will appear in his second consecutive All-Star game. In 51 games this season, Walker has averaged 22.6 PPG, 5.8 APG, 3.4 RPG for Charlotte. Walker’s name circulated in trade rumors leading up to Thursday’s trade deadline but he ultimately stayed put with the Hornets.

Injuries have hit Team LeBron hard as Walker is now the fourth replacement to join the squad. Kevin Love (broken left hand) was replaced by Heat guard Goran Dragic; DeMarcus Cousins (torn Achilles) was replaced by Thunder forward Paul George; and John Wall (knee surgery) was replaced by Pistons center Andre Drummond.