The Most Exciting 2022 NBA All-Star Game: Pick a Reserve for the Eastern and Western Conference

It’s everyone’s favorite time of year!

That’s right, the chance to argue to the ends of the earth and lose sleep over drawing the line between the 12th and 13th players in the Eastern and Western Games.

Reservations for the 2022 NBA All-Star Game will be announced tonight at 7 p.m. ET on TNT ahead of the Suns vs. Hawks game. Seven players from each conference chosen by the league’s coaches – two backrunners, three front runners and two wild cards – will join the 10 starters announced on Tuesday. last week later this month in Cleveland.

THAN: A deterministic stat per starter in the All-Star Game

It wouldn’t be like February without dipping our toes into the heated All-Star debate…with a catch.

I firmly believe that All-Star weekend has nothing to do with real basketball. It’s a celebration of the game – an outstanding tour just for the fans and not taken too seriously. When was the last time you saw a sharp defensive spin, critical defensive stop, or single-digit shot meter in an All-Star game? That’s what I think.

All-Star teams must reflect the best on the field – the right combination of statistical prowess and maximum entertainment value. If we’re celebrating the best that gaming has to offer in an event built on top-notch competition and supernova demonstrations, the listings should reflect that.

The following All-Star picks are neither predictive nor most deserving in the traditional sense. Instead, they are reflections of the players who will deliver the most exciting and exhilarating exhibit possible…which should be the goal of every All-Star game.

NBA League Pass: Sign up to unlock live out-of-market games (7 days free trial)

Eastern Conference

Backcourt: James Harden, LaMelo Ball

Frontcourt: Zach LaVine Bridge, Jayson Tatum, Miles

Wild Cards: Darius Garland, Jimmy Butler

OK, so a few things.

Zach LaVine… the journey? CORRECT.

So what if he was a defender throughout his career? The fact that he’s logged in 82% of his minutes are ahead in a pint-sized Bulls team. He is a padlock regardless of position, but hitting him as a forward player opens up another defensive position. And let’s be honest… the more guards in All-Star games, the better.

If this were all about the achievement element of the team’s record, I wouldn’t be eyeing excluding Tatum, who despite being a top 10 talent, has had an underwhelming and tedious season. pale in an inferior team. But the All-Star game is simply better with Boston’s 23-year-old walking team in it.

THAN: Why Siakam – not VanVleet – should be Toronto’s All-Star

Miles Bridges is possibly the most entertaining player in the NBA. If you could pick any player from an entire league built for the All-Star weekend, it’s Bridge. No one makes more business decisions than the unfortunate defenders petrified for living like a fixed line in NBA TopShot.

Unlike Bridges, who likely won’t really make it through despite having the Most Improved Player type, his teammate LaMelo Ball can actually make it.

The alley leading to the top of the Bridge, Ball is the fan favorite player (5th in fan vote among players in the East region) with a Statistical All-Star case legitimacy about a team flirting with the coveted top six spot. Aside from Chris Paul, Ball is the best bet to end an All-Star game with 20 assists and has the audacity to throw the ball looking backward from any position on the floor.

Even for all the complaints about rule changes and a hand in Brooklyn’s disappointing season, Harden is still a dependable 23-10-8 player who sometimes carries the Nets that he doesn’t. without Kevin Durant (injured) and Kyrie Irving (out of every Nets home game). Harden is an All-Star who simply belongs there. Thats all to have it.

With the remaining two slots, we still don’t have Miami or Cleveland representation. With both teams able to enter the All-Star at the top of the East, that doesn’t feel right.

Gives me Darius Garand’s spell-casting skills in Jarrett Allen’s select settings, rim run and block shot. Ditto for Jimmy “I played against LeBron in the NBA Finals” Butler replaces Bam Adebayo, who missed significant time (even more than Butler).

Send flowers to: Allen, Adebayo, Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton, Jaylen Brown

Western Conference

Backcourt: Luka Doncic, Chris Paul

Frontcourt: The Towns of Karl-Anthony, Rudy Gobert, Mikal . Bridge

Wild Cards: Devin Booker, Donovan Mitchell

Mikal Bridge on Draymond Green? Mikal Bridge on Draymond Green!

Let me be completely clear: I think Green should have been the starter and I still think he will eventually win Defensive Player of the Year despite an extended absence. But the second Andrew Wiggins got the starter nod, it threw a wrench at everything.

If there’s one team that deserves three All-Stars, it’s the first-place team at the top of the West. And if we’re after the “give me the most enjoyable All-Star game possible” format, then yes, give me Bridge is the third Sun on a single player built for defensive intensity in. June compared to February’s featured plants. The 2022 All-Star game is more interesting with Bridges than with Green. That doesn’t mean he’s better (he’s not). But it’s a fact that’s also rewarding for Phoenix.

Speaking of Phoenix, Paul and Booker are locks.

The real tragedy behind the first pure point guard’s death was the lack of floor champions capable of bringing out the best of the high-flying performers at the All-Star Game. Enter Paul, who for the sake of entertainment I will support joining the All-Star after he retires.

And then another conversation the other day – I also support the view that Booker, not Paul, is Phoenix’s MVP candidate. CP3 is definitely incredible and his impact on every other player up and down Phoenix’s roster is uncontrollable. But Booker has taken it up a notch this season with a mature game that is starting to fill in holes not seen by the score stats. He’s also perfectly capable of catching fire and delivering a super memorable All-Star performance.

Doncic falls into the same camp as Harden. Despite the relatively pedestrianized season for him – again, it’s ridiculous he’s still tossing 25-9-9 for a booming Mavericks team – there’s no question Doncic belongs to this game. Every transcendent player has their All-Star moment, and if you didn’t think Doncic was motivated by his NBA75 snob, you weren’t paying attention. During a weekend celebrating 75 of the greatest players ever, Doncic could easily have sent a message with the kind of performance we’ll look back on decades from now with reverence. skepticism and skepticism that he was once abandoned.

Karl-Anthony Towns has spent more the past two years than any other player. Leading a resurgent Timberwolves team back into the playoffs, Towns deserved his All-Star moment. It’s hard to call the All-Star weekend a moment of comfort amid unimaginable personal tragedy, but it sets the scene for an opportunity to pay tribute to Minnesota’s franchise players. , who continued to appear every day.

Also, let’s have a Utah Jazz chat. By all accounts, Mitchell and Gobert were locked.

For our purposes, Mitchell checked every box we were looking to make the most entertaining All-Star game possible. He packs a serious punch with a noisy game that matches the bright lights of the All-Star weekend.

Gobert is an undeniably two-way force. The league’s most dominant defensive player is a system unto itself, Gobert doesn’t get much credit for his work at the OTHER end of the field (possibly every Jazz fan nods in agreement and writes tectonics blog).

But come on. , but would be absolutely convinced that he is the best player in the building. There is no player in the league built for All-Star Media Day more than Edwards, Who is the best saying of the NBA?.

However… Gobert is simply too good to be dismissed even for the sake of our ungrateful mission to give people what they want. Edwards will be an All-Star in 2023, let’s put it.

Final words: fans will LOSE IT because of Klay Thompson. Everyone’s Champion, a cameo by Klay at the All-Star weekend will spark Brock Lesnar’s Royal Rumble vibes.

Send flowers to: Edwards, Anthony Davis, Paul George, Deandre Ayton, Jaren Jackson Jr.