As promised, I’m back with my choices for who will be representing the western conference at this year’s all-star game. If you didn’t read my eastern conference piece, I will reiterate some ideas from there to help sort confusion over my selections, if there is any at all. All-Star Weekend is supposed to be fun. It’s the time in the season where team records are forgotten for a few days. Because of that, I tend to stress player’s individual stats and accomplishments throughout the season rather than focus on how their team is performing. A player’s career resume is judged heavily by team accomplishments, but being an all-star should be the opposite. This is an opportunity for both the league and its bright young stars to make a name for themselves and gain some popularity. Now that that has been said, my western conference representatives.
West Starter – LeBron James
Now into his 17th season, the #WashedKing has shown some very slight signs of slowing down. That being said, he remains king and will continue his streak of all-star appearances and make it 16 in a row this season. LeBron is not only leading the number one team in the west, but he is also leading the league in assists per game as he is the only player averaging double figures. Now that he is paired with Anthony Davis, he is looking unstoppable yet again, but will take a brief detour to All-Star Weekend. Punch his ticket.
West Starter – Anthony Davis
I figured I might as well get the other Laker out of the way. While Davis’ numbers might have taken a small hit due to him not having to carry an entire franchise, he is still the same immortal force that we saw in New Orleans prior to him sitting out of games. There’s not too much to say for his case as he has been a top player in the league for some time now. If LeBron has been the facilitator, then Davis has been the bucket getter in the Lakers’ offense and, if you ask me, that’s a damn good combo to have. Punch his ticket.
West Starter – Kawhi Leonard
While a lot of fans are unhappy with Kawhi and his resting schedule, as he has missed a lot of games when they fall on the second half of a back-to-back, (hmmm, maybe we just get rid of those? @NBA) Kawhi is very quietly averaging career highs in PPG, RPG, and APG. One of many players to join a new team this offseason, he has been the leader for an injury riddled Clippers team that, although they have been slightly underperforming, are still very much a threat to make noise come April. Kawhi is a big reason for that. Punch his ticket.
West Starter – James Harden
NBA media darling James Harden has been in a bit of a slump over the past few weeks. He’s seen his league leading points per game average drop from over 37 to only 36.6. Although he is a very polarizing player due to his style of play, there is no doubt that Harden deserves to yet again step foot on the court with the rest of the league’s superstars. He’s a triple double threat whenever he laces the shoes up and, when he’s on, he can be one of the most exciting players in the league to watch. Punch his ticket.
West Starter – Luka Dončić
The Wonderboy is truly a wonder. My personal favorite player in the league right now, Dončić has done well to prove his doubters wrong as he has already joined MVP discussions while only being in his second year. Luka is top five this season in both points and assists per game and his step-back daggers are only rivaled by James Harden. But the thing that puts Luka in another level when compared to other young players is the amount of success that he has already brought to Dallas, along with the bright future he has placed in the minds of every Maverick fan. This was a team staring down NBA purgatory but by trading up for Dončić, they have skipped the entire rebuilding phrase. For that, punch his ticket for the first, and most certainly not last, time in his young career.
West 6th Man – Damian Lillard
So I’m writing this post-61 point performance from Lillard and, all I can say is, that definitely solidified him into a high bench spot for me. Unfortunately for Lillard though, the Blazers have been heavily underperforming this season, after reaching the western conference finals a season ago. They’re now dealing with multiple long term injuries that are not helping, but what is helping is the fact that Lillard is averaging career highs in points and assists per game. I hope he can eventually find success in Portland but for now, punch his ticket.
West 7th Man – Devin Booker
Devin Booker’s numbers haven’t necessarily changed much, although he has been playing much more efficiently than ever before in his career. So why does he make the all-star game this year? He’s finally becoming a leader for the Suns. I know I said earlier that team success isn’t as big of a factor for me, but the Suns are currently a few wins away from matching their win total from all of last season. It’s understandable that the Suns also acquired lots of other talented players in the offseason and that impacts the record, but Booker has been on an absolute tear this year after being ridiculed in the offseason for complaining about double teams in pickup games. Punch his ticket.
West 8th Man – Brandon Ingram
There has been a lot of hype from NBA fans over Ingram making the all-star game. And it’s well deserved. He has fully taken advantage of being a top scoring option for one of the highest paced offenses in the league. He’s averaging career highs all over the place as the Pelicans have relied on him so far to be their go to guy. Ingram has delivered. He’s slowly becoming the player everyone imagined he would be coming out of college and I am so ready for it to finally happen. Punch his ticket.
West 9th Man – Rudy Gobert
As a player, Gobert is close to hitting his full potential, he’s currently in the prime of his career but he is yet to make an all-star game. That’s no slight on the two-time defensive player of the year, he just always seems to get unlucky with the fact that there are always two to three bigs who are outperforming him every year. That is not the case this season. This season, Gobert is playing like a top two to three big in the west and it’s time for his play to be recognized. Punch his ticket.
West 10th Man – Russell Westbrook
It’s the first time in four seasons that Westbrook isn’t averaging a triple double, mainly in part due to him trying to figure out his role within the Rockets’ offense. While the team has been underperforming and losing many games they have been favored heavily in, Westbrook has been on a tear over the past couple of weeks as he is slowly getting back to his stat sheet stuffing form. Not to mention, all-star game Westbrook is an all-time performer. He always shows out. Punch his ticket.
West 11th Man – Donovan Mitchell
Donovan Mitchell’s case for being an all-star is much like Devin Booker’s. While there hasn’t been a huge jump numbers wise, it’s been Mitchell’s ability to become a better leader for a Jazz team that has only added a few more players from previous seasons. Not to mention that Mike Conley was expected to help carry the load for Mitchell at the guard spot and not only has Conley not performed up to expectations, but he has also been hurt for a large portion of the season so far. Mitchell has the Jazz sitting near the top of the conference and because of that, we punch his ticket.
West 12th Man – Nikola Jokić
After a rough start to the season, there were many fans questioning if Jokić was the real deal. While he still hasn’t shown us the same level of play that he was at last year, Jokić is still such a unique talent for a seven-foot player as he remains a top passer in the league due to his insane vision on the court. He’s another player that is a constant triple double threat and although he might not be able to keep up with the typical high pace play of the all-star game, he will make some passes that leave your jaw dropped. Punch his ticket.
Players On The Bubble – Montrezl Harrell, DeMar Derozan, Karl-Anthony Towns
I’ll start with Towns. He’s averaging career highs in points and assists per game but he has missed too many games to qualify in my opinion. If it weren’t for that, I think he makes it over Jokić easily. Montrezl Harrell makes this lists for a reason similar to what I said for Rudy Gobert. The talent at the big position in the western conference is thinner than in recent years which makes Harrell an enticing name. It also helps that Harrell has been a very consistent bucket getter for the Clippers. He just hasn’t done enough to beat out the competition. And lastly, DeMar DeRozan has been on a tear lately as the Spurs are climbing back from a horrid start. He’s averaging over 20 points per game while shooting above 50% which is already great, but even better when you take into account that DeRozan very rarely extends out to the three point line. He takes a majority of his shots from midrange, which is unusual for today’s league, but DeRozan is very much above average at making those shots. Much like Harrell though, there is simply too much competition that is out performing him as of now.
And with that, my choices for who will be representing each conference during All-Star Weekend. Again, injuries can happen, things can change, but these are my choices for now.
(All stats used come from basketball-reference.com)
-Noah Kokkinos
thesplitcutwrites.water.blog 