The NBA revolutionized the All-Star game this season by doing away with the conference structure. They kept the same structure for actually selecting participants but allowed the top two vote-getters (in this case Stephen Curry and LeBron James) to act as captains and pick their own teams from the pool of All-Stars. It’s a fantastic and creative idea except for the fact that the draft will be held in secret.
So the most compelling part of the whole selection process went on behind closed doors. Media outlets tend to think alike so you’ve seen a slew of All-Star mock drafts around the web over the past few days. We’re riding that train too but with a slight twist. Like Curry and LeBron, here at FanSided we can offer two friendly rivals to square off. The Step Back is our premium NBA vertical, home to our columns, features, breakdowns and more. Nylon Calculus is our basketball analytics vertical.
We decided to let The Step Back and Nylon Calculus square off, with the writers for each staff combining to make each selection. A coin was flipped for assigning captains and pick order (Nylon Calculus ended up with LeBron and the first pick). The draft was held over the past two days by email and plenty of trash was talked. However, I think both sides are pretty happy with their rosters. Take a look at how things ended up, along with some brief analysis. The number pick used on each player is in parentheses.
Team Nylon Calculus
Starters:
Karl-Anthony Towns (13)
LeBron James (C)
Kevin Durant (1)
Jimmy Butler (5)
James Harden (3)
Bench:
Paul George (7)
Klay Thompson (9)
Chris Paul (11)
Kristaps Porzingis (15)
Victor Oladipo (17)
Nikola Jokic (19)
Al Horford (21)
Bo Schwartz Madsen, Nylon Calculus:
We play with only one big at a time. Potentially also a KD at center lineup, if we want. LeBron and Butler stagger. They are the “worst” shooters among our guards/wings. We will have decent to great 3-point shooters at all positions at all times.
Jacob Goldstein, Nylon Calculus:
You will all be happy to know that by PIPM we are slightly better than them! Yay us!
Team Step Back
Starters:
Joel Embiid (6)
Anthony Davis (4)
Giannis Antetokounmpo (2)
Russell Westbrook (8)
Stephen Curry (C)
Bench:
Draymond Green (10)
DeMarcus Cousins (12)
Kyrie Irving (14)
Kyle Lowry (16)
Bradley Beal (18)
DeMar DeRozan (20)
Andre Drummond (22)
Matt Rutkowski, The Step Back:
1) We get to start the game seven on three because the NBA predetermined the starters and we picked seven of us. That should work well for us.
2) It matters less who starts than who finishes, and our closing lineup of Boogie at point, Davis at shooting guard, Giannis at small forward, Embiid at power forward, and Drummond might be the most fearsome assembly of size the NBA has ever seen. My goal, since I’m coach in my imagination, is to have every one of them have at least four fouls to spare in the last five minutes and to use them liberally. There’s not enough physical imposition in the All Star game, and I expect this to work in our favor. The big man is going to evolve all over team Nylon’s small, fragile body.
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Rory Masterson, The Step Back:
You’ve seen teams assemble shooters around a singular, playmaking core talent. LeBron plus four shooters is the formula that everyone outside of the Cavaliers organization seems to understand works. What we’ve done here is the opposite: assemble a gaggle of gigantic, switch-friendly cats to surround Steph Curry, the greatest shooter of all-time. No one can out-length us, at the very least.
On the other hand, we’ve also got an all-time aggression team, a collection of insanely talented, periodically just-insane players who engage in verbal combat for sport while literally also playing a sport. We could send out a lineup consisting of Russell Westbrook, Kyle Lowry (he’s got 5 techs this year), Draymond Green, DeMarcus Cousins and Joel Embiid and watch as they posterize clowns and stare at their hands watching for the and-1 call. It’s beautiful, it’s abhorrent; this is my dream, and this is my nightmare.