NBA Saturday: Predicting NBA All-Star Reserves

Basketball Insiders Vote on All-Star Reserves: With the NBA All-Star starters being announced this past Thursday, fans got a resounding reminder: If there is one thing you can rest assured of, it is that mid-January will bring forth controversies and commotion.

Indeed, arguments over which of the NBA’s giants deserve to be All-Stars and those who are undeserving are like a runaway freight train. You know it is coming from a mile away, but you are powerless to stop it.

This year has been no exception. Because fan votes determine the five starters for each team, in many cases, the popularity of a player trumps the extent to which they may or may not “deserve” a spot over one of the game’s still-toiling youngsters.

Based on this season alone, does Kobe Bryant deserve to be an All-Star more than Damian Lillard? Does Dwyane Wade warrant the distinction more than Lance Stephenson? The answer in both cases is an equivocal no, but these are the types of questions that are yielded by the NBA’s practice of giving fans the opportunity to determine the accolade.

But fortunately, these are the types of questions that your Basketball Insiders will attempt to answer for you. There obviously is no “right” or “wrong” answer, but on this Saturday, we share our answers.

Ten members of our staff were polled. The participants were: Steve Kyler, Alex Kennedy, Eric Pincus, Tommy Beer, Moke Hamilton, Bill Ingram, Susan Bible, Jeff Zitzler, Brad Graham and Kyle Cape-Lindelin.

The number after each player’s name indicates how many votes they received.

Eastern Conference Reserve Picks

BC: John Wall (10 votes)
BC: DeMar DeRozan (7 votes)
FC: Joakim Noah (9 votes)
FC: Roy Hibbert (10 votes)
FC: Chris Bosh (7 votes)
WC: Lance Stephenson (6 votes)
WC: Paul Millsap (6 votes)

Other players receiving votes:
Joe Johnson (3), Kyle Lowry (3), Arron Afflalo (3), Al Jefferson (2), Andre Drummond (2), Kemba Walker (1), Jeff Teague (1)

Out on an island:

• Steve Kyler is the only Basketball Insider who did not vote for Joakim Noah.
• Moke Hamilton is the only Basketball Insider who voted for Kemba Walker.
• Brad Graham is the only Basketball Insider who voted for Jeff Teague.
• Brad Graham and Bill Ingram are the Basketball Insiders who voted for Al Jefferson.
• Jeff Zitzler and Susan Bible are the Basketball Insiders who voted for Andre Drummond.

Western Conference Reserve Picks

BC: Damian Lillard (10 votes)
BC: James Harden (9 votes)
FC: LaMarcus Aldridge (10 votes)
FC: Dwight Howard (10 votes)
FC: Dirk Nowitzki (4 votes)
WC: Chris Paul (9 votes)
WC: Tony Parker (7 votes)

Other players receiving votes:
Anthony Davis (4 votes), DeMarcus Cousins (3 votes), Tim Duncan (2 votes), Goran Dragic (1 vote), Serge Ibaka (1 vote)

Out on an island:

• Steve Kyler is the only Basketball Insider who did not vote for James Harden.
• Brad Graham is the only Basketball Insider who did not vote for Chris Paul.
• Brad Graham is the only Basketball Insider who voted for Goran Dragic.
• Susan Bible is the only Basketball Insider who voted for Serge Ibaka.
• Steve Kyler and Alex Kennedy are the Basketball Insiders who voted for Tim Duncan.

Obviously, there is no science to this, but it is interesting to note that the staff members that were polled seems to come to a consensus on Wall, Hibbert, Noah, Lillard, Aldridge, Howard, Harden and Paul as All-Stars. After that, it is pretty obvious that subjective assessments took over.

Perhaps it is my New York City bias, but I believe Walker deserves to be an All-Star. But, as usual, I suppose there is always next year.

Carmelo Anthony’s Historic Night: After losing the first three games of their make-or-break eight-game home stand, Carmelo Anthony took matters into his own hands on Friday night, as the Knicks bested the Charlotte Bobcats, 125-96.

Anthony had a performance for the ages, scoring a record-breaking 62 points. With his 62 points, Anthony broke Bernard King’s Knick franchise single-game scoring record of 60 points. King scored 60 on Christmas Day of 1984 in a 120-114 loss to the New Jersey Nets. Anthony also broke Kobe Bryant’s record-setting 61-point shooting spree, set back on February 2, 2009 in a 126-117 Lakers victory.

Although Anthony took the Garden’s record back from Bryant, the Lakers shooting guard has five career games in which he has scored at least 60 points, including his career-high 81-point performance in a 122-104 win over the Toronto Raptors back on January 22, 2006.

Bryant’s five career 60-plus point performances gives him the second most 60-point performances in NBA history. The all-time leader is Wilt Chamberlain, who scored 60 or more points 32 times over the course of his career.

Despite the win, the Knicks enter play on January 25 at 16-27 and tied for 10th place in the Eastern Conference.

Brooklyn Nets Continue to Surge: While Anthony was breaking records at Madison Square Garden on Friday night, five miles away at Barclays Center, the Brooklyn Nets were busy continuing to be the hottest team in the NBA since 2014 began. En route to a 107-106 victory over the visiting Dallas Mavericks, the Nets got an improbable 34 points off the bench from second-year forward Mirza Teletovic. Deron Williams, playing just his third game since returning to the lineup with ankle woes contributed 18 points and 11 assists.

The Nets are now 9-1 in the month of January and have given head coach Jason Kidd a good chance of winning the NBA’s Eastern Conference Coach of the Month award for January. But more importantly, if the Nets keep playing like this, they may find themselves atop the Atlantic Division. Now at 19-22, the Nets trail the Toronto Raptors by just 2.5 games in the division.

Over the course of their hot streak, the biggest difference for the Nets has been small ball. With Brook Lopez out for the remainder of the season, Kevin Garnett has been moved to center with Paul Pierce and Joe Johnson playing beside him in the front court. With the rangy Shaun Livingston re-emerging as a force, the Nets have fielded a starting unit that has somewhat interchangeable parts on the defensive end and five players who are all capable of scoring.

With their collective health improving, and meaningful contributions from Andray Blatche, Andrei Kirilenko and Alan Anderson, the Nets seem to have turned a corner and are charging toward the top of their division.

Dwyane Wade’s Iffy Prognosis: After Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals, after the Miami HEAT emerged as champions over the San Antonio Spurs, Dwyane Wade made no secret of the fact that his knees were ailing. With questions and concerns about his long-term health prognosis, the HEAT have had Wade on a bit of a pitch count, reminiscent of what Gregg Popovich has done in San Antonio with some of his older veterans.

However, as it relates to Wade, the HEAT began 2014 with a tough stretch in which they played five games in eight nights. Wade played in each of them. Since then, Wade has missed six of the HEAT’s last seven games and has already matched the 13 games he sat out last season.

On Sunday, with the San Antonio Spurs making their first trip to Miami since last season’s NBA Finals, Wade’s status is still up in the air. The questions regarding his long-term health will persist.

One of the questions that can cease, though, is whether or not Wade will participate in NBA All-Star Weekend next month. As announced this past week, Wade has been voted in as a starter for the ninth consecutive time.

Moke Hamilton’s Weekly NBA Power Rankings drop each and every Monday night, so be sure to check back to see which teams are dominating the Association.