The 2017 NBA All Star game starting lineups have been released, they are stacked. This year’s All Star game will be held in New Orleans from February 17th to the 19th.
Starting for the East, at guard, from the defending NBA champions Cleveland Cavaliers, we have Kyrie Irving, joining in the backcourt from the Toronto Raptors is DeMar DeRozan. In the front court, we have the King LeBron James from the Cavaliers starting in his 13th straight All Star game. Someone who does not have as many appearances is Giannis Antetokoumbo from the Bucks who is making his first ever appearance as a starter. Rounding out the East, Jimmy Butler from the Chicago Bulls.
For the West, in the backcourt, we have reining NBA MVP from the Golden State Warriors Steph Curry. Leader of the Houston Rockets, James Harden will be in the back court along with Curry. In the front court, we have the “Slim Reaper,” Kevin Durant, who is now a member of the Warriors. Kawahi Leonard from the San Antonio Spurs has also gotten the OK to start for the West. And to round out this amazing West line up we have the 6’10 center from New Orleans, playing in his own building “The Brow," Anthony Davis.
These line ups, as always, have amazing players in them. However, I believe with this new set up, a couple of players might not be on the starting lineup that should be.
The NBA has implemented a new way of voting and determining who will be in the starting lineups come All Star weekend. Under this new format the votes are weighted. Fan votes count for 50%, player vote for 25% and the media gets the last 25%. In previous years, fans would determine the starters, but that changed when players who “were not All Star caliber players” were almost voted into the starting line up
First off, let’s talk about a couple of players who would have been in the All Star game under the old voting format. In the East, Bulls guard Dwayne Wade was in an interesting situation, he was second in fan voting, but did not gain enough of the player and media vote. I agree in the fact that he’s been playing great in Chicago, but not great enough to be a starter.
In the front court, “The Process” Joel Embiid would have also been in the starting lineup. He was third for the front court voting, and for reference, Jimmy Butler was 5th in fan voting and he is starting. Obviously, the media and players were the reason Jimmy got in.
The biggest snub for the East is easily Isaiah Thomas. He has been playing extremely well for Boston in recent weeks and it looked like he would easily have been a great choice for a starter. But who do you drop out of the starting lineup for Thomas? DeRozan or Irving? It’s a tough choice between the three but this decision was left up to the fans. Thomas was 1st and 2nd in votes from the media and the players but 4th in fan vote which is what kept him out of this starting line up. All of these guys will probably be in the All Star game which is probably reward enough for them.
The biggest player, not in the starting line up, is Russell Westbrook from the Oklahoma City Thunder. Westbrook was first in both the media and player vote but the fans are the reason he is not starting. Fans prefer Warriors guard, Steph Curry, who is currently a starter.
Westbrook’s snub frustrates me because the man has 21 triple-doubles. This is two more than all of the starters who have a combined 19. He is averaging a triple-double, which is a hard thing to do. He leads his team in steals, rebounds, assists, and points. He has the Thunder currently in the 7th place in the West. That conference is stacked and to have them in 7th is an amazing feat to achieve as a single player.
Russell Westbrook deserves a starting spot. It doesn’t matter if Steph is more popular, Westbrook is playing better than both Harden and Curry. Not to mention he has been playing out of his mind in the last couple of all star games. Westbrook needs to be a starter in this game. But since he won't hell just have to wait and see if coaches call his name, which they probably will.
We will find out if any of the snub players make it in to all star weekend. The rest of the all star lineups will be released by coaches until sometime next week, and I am sure we’ll be talking about more players that will be left out.
