OKC Thunder: Gilgeous-Alexander’s strong All-Star case faces uphill battle

East Reserves:

Since the focus of this piece was SGA and the west reserves it ignored the frontcourt debates and all of the Eastern reserve conversations, however, I’ve noted below who I think gets the nods and who I would select given that option.

Presumed Coach Selections:

For the record, I believe who gets selected and who deserves to be selected is very different especially in the East. For the 76ers to be the top team and questions over a second player being added but no questions about having the Brooklyn trio all on the team feels wrong.

It’s also difficult to have as strong of an acceptance for players who aren’t on playoff seeds because the East while improved isn’t as strong as the West.

There’s also the whole debate over squads like the Heat and Hawks who are underperforming given their talent. And while it’s reasonable health and safety and injuries have played a role look at what the 76ers and Blazers did in spite of dealing with the same issues.

Backcourt: Jaylen Brown, James Harden
Frontcourt: Jayson Tatum, Khris Middleton, Bam Adebayo (although it won’t surprise me if Julius Randle or Jerami Grant gets the nod here)
Wild Cards: Trae Young, Zach LaVine

My Reserve Picks:

Backcourt: Jaylen Brown, Ben Simmons
Frontcourt: Jayson Tatum, Domantas Sabonis, Bam Adebayo
Wild Cards: Fred VanVleet, Zach LaVine

My choices reflect a combination of record and personal production with the benefit going to two-way players hence the two Celtics, VanVleet and Adebayo. Likewise, I selected two 76ers because of their top-ranked East club and chose Simmons over Tobias Harris because of his defense.

Unlike the masses I’m not selecting the Brooklyn trio – – they have two players on the team.  And, I picked LaVine over Young because of his overall stats and clutch time production.

Having just watched three games in a row where Middleton struggled and repeatedly got exposed on defense I elected to go with Sabonis who has 25 double-doubles and is deserving especially with the Pacers missing both TJ Warren and Caris LeVert but remaining on the ladder.