For Funsies: A New Way to Pick the All-Stars

For Funsies: A New Way to Pick the All-Stars

This article is part of our NBA Blog series.

I'm not entirely sure why, but I care about the NBA All-Star rosters. I know it's just an exhibition game, but I just can't stop myself from over analyzing who should make the team, and who actually will make the team.

Lately, I've spent way too much of my time thinking about how the All-Star Game rosters should be constructed. Here is my plan, along with an example of how it would work this season:

1. Eliminate Eastern/Western Conference Teams: A single pool of All-Stars is chosen, from which the two teams are created.

2. The All-Star pool consists of 30 players: NBA rosters are made up of 15 players each, so the All-Star player pool should consistent of 30 players – enough for two teams.

3. Positions: Do away with the silly backcourt/frontcourt designations. The 30 players are made up of 6 point guards, 12 wing players, and 12 big men. These distinctions should be liberal to allow the best players into the game.

4. Tier System: Designate each All-Star a First-Team, Second-Team, or Third-Team All-Star. This would allow the All-Star game to be used in Hall-of-Fame discussions: "So and so was a four-time First-Team All-Star" carries much more weight than "So and so was a five-time Third-Team All-Star".

Only First and Second-Team players are allowed to play in the game. This will make the rotations easier on the coaches. If there is an injury, then a Third-Team All-Star can fill in, but no one is added to the All-Star Team.

5. Criteria: The First and Second-Team players are based entirely on first half of the season performance. The Third-Team players consists of a composite of deserving players as well as certain exceptions like MVP caliber players who missed a big chuck of games (KD this year), or legacy type players (Dirk).

In addition, at least one player from the host city is guaranteed a spot on the third team if they don't make the first or second team.

If these changes were made, here is how the rosters would potentially look:

Note the "Metric Rank" for each player is based on how they rank among other potential All-Stars at their made up Point, Wing, Post position. It is not a reflection of how they rank compared to the rest of the league.

Point Guards

Metric Rankings

All-Star

Player

POS

R+/- O

R+/- D

PER

WS/48

VORP

WPA

1st Team

Stephen Curry

PG

1

2

2

1

1

7

1st Team

Damian Lillard

PG

3.5

8

5

4

3

3

2nd Team

Chris Paul

PG

2

10

3

2

2

2

2nd Team

John Wall

PG

14

1

7

10

6

1

3rd Team

Kyle Lowry

PG

3.5

7

6

6

4.5

4

3rd Team

Russell Westbrook

PG

5

9

1

5

4.5

20

Just Missed

Just Missed

Kyrie Irving

PG

7

19

8

9

9

11

Just Missed

Mike Conley

PG

10

17

9

8

10.5

9

Just Missed

Kemba Walker

PG

13

18

14

17

7

12

Wings

Metric Rankings

All-Star

Player

POS

R+/- O

R+/- D

PER

WS/48

VORP

WPA

1st Team

James Harden

Wing

1

26.5

2

1

1

1

1st Team

LeBron James

Wing

2

18

3

5

2

3

1st Team

Jimmy Butler

Wing

5.5

34

7

4

4

2

1st Team

Klay Thompson

Wing

4

19

4

3

5.5

15

2nd Team

Kyle Korver

Wing

5.5

15

21

7

5.5

8

2nd Team

Wesley Matthews

Wing

16

16

19

12

7

11

2nd Team

Jeff Teague

PG

17

4

4

3

10.5

8

2nd Team

Eric Bledsoe

PG

19

6

12

12

8

5

3rd Team

Gordon Hayward

Wing

7

31

9

16.5

9

6

3rd Team

Kawhi Leonard

Wing

19

2

8

6

15.5

33

3rd Team

Kevin Durant

Wing

9

25

1

2

11

31

3rd Team

Carmelo Anthony

Wing

3

43

6

29

27

22

Just Missed

Just Missed

Danny Green

Wing

26

13

22

16.5

8

5

Just Missed

Dwyane Wade

Wing

17

41

5

33

20.5

14

Just Missed

Rudy Gay

Wing

10

39

10

19

10

17

Just Missed

Chandler Parsons

Wing

12

24

18

22

13

20

Just Missed

Tyreke Evans

Wing

15

30

16

40

20.5

13

Just Missed

Goran Dragic

Wing

21

42

13

20

23.5

10

Just Missed

Monta Ellis

Wing

22

29

12

34.5

25

4

Bigs

Metric Rankings

All-Star

Player

POS

R+/- O

R+/- D

PER

WS/48

VORP

WPA

1st Team

Anthony Davis

Big

4.5

5

1

1

1

1

1st Team

Marc Gasol

Big

15

21

6

8

2

2

1st Team

Blake Griffin

Big

1

43

3

10

5

3

1st Team

Tim Duncan

Big

30

1

10.5

9

7

5

2nd Team

DeMarcus Cousins

Big

18

3

2

19.5

11

12

2nd Team

Paul Millsap

Big

9

12

22

15

5

7

2nd Team

LaMarcus Aldridge

Big

4.5

41

7

16

26

8

2nd Team

Pau Gasol

Big

26

45

9

13

12

4

3rd Team

Draymond Green

Big

24

4

34

21

2

14

3rd Team

Al Horford

Big

21

33

15

6

8

10

3rd Team

Tyson Chandler

Big

8

9

17

2

5

13

3rd Team

DeAndre Jordan

Big

17

13

19

5

3

9

Just Missed

Just Missed

Zach Randolph

Big

13.5

35

13

11

24

18

Just Missed

Markieff Morris

Big

6

14

28

45

31

6

Just Missed

Derrick Favors

Big

23

32

8

18

18

20

Just Missed

Dirk Nowitzki

Big

13.5

48

14

12

28.5

14

Just Missed

Greg Monroe



Big

28.5

19

18

26.5

21.5

26

Just Missed

Kevin Love

Big

22

44

23

22

13

17

Just Missed

Nikola Vucevic

Big

46

39

10.5

24.5

26

11

Just Missed

Serge Ibaka

Big

31

7

38

38

26

27

Just Missed

Chris Bosh

Big

24

49

16

35

39.5

19

Just Missed

Marcin Gortat

Big

50

22.5

29

26.5

31

25

Just Missed

Andre Drummond

Big

47

22.5

21

33.5

50

15

Let's talk about it. What's good, what's bad, and is there anything I missed the mark on? Hit me up on Twitter if you'd rather chat there.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marc Roberts
Marc F Roberts writes about fantasy basketball for RotoWire. He has won no fantasy awards, but his mom thinks his writing is "fantastic". Hubie Brown is a national treasure.
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