All Star Reserves

[michigan adam]

Isn't DM known as a good O and D balanced combo guard?  I just think Trae is soo poor on D that it is hard to overcome the turnstile defense he plays.  Capela is a decent defender.  So is DM.  I just think the leader of the team being such an indifferent defender ruins the whole mentality for the team.

There are plenty of poor defenders in the league who teams manage to overcome and have at least good enough defenses.

Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Maxey, Jamal Murray, Ja Morant, James Harden. All subpar defenders who have been on defenses who managed to be at least acceptable under the right conditions.

Trae Young is bad on defense, maybe even worse than all these guys. But I wouldn't say he's the main reason their defense is bad. The PG is almost never the main reason a defense is bad.

most of the other guys you mention are not the alpha dog for their team like Trae is...

[aefgogreen]

Scottie Barnes? Really? I guess they skipped KP and Butler becasue of the missed games but Barnes feels like a reach. His team is 17-33, his numbers are decent but not amazing.

Now advanced stats do like him, so maybe Silver is an EPM nerd.

Win percentage is a factor, but I don't think it's a dealbreaker.  Barnes has strong numbers, even if it's on a losing team.

[Moranis]

Scottie Barnes? Really? I guess they skipped KP and Butler becasue of the missed games but Barnes feels like a reach. His team is 17-33, his numbers are decent but not amazing.

Now advanced stats do like him, so maybe Silver is an EPM nerd.

the all star game really shouldn't be about winning. It should be about individuals

[keevsnick]

Scottie Barnes? Really? I guess they skipped KP and Butler becasue of the missed games but Barnes feels like a reach. His team is 17-33, his numbers are decent but not amazing.

Now advanced stats do like him, so maybe Silver is an EPM nerd.

the all star game really shouldn't be about winning. It should be about individuals

Maybe, but it its generally a mix of both. Only 3/26 players selected this year were from below .500 teams.

Scottie Barnes isn't an egregious pick or anything, but i would have went Butler, Porzingis or maybe even Jarret Allen over him.

[liam]

Scottie Barnes? Really? I guess they skipped KP and Butler becasue of the missed games but Barnes feels like a reach. His team is 17-33, his numbers are decent but not amazing.

Now advanced stats do like him, so maybe Silver is an EPM nerd.

the all star game really shouldn't be about winning. It should be about individuals

All Stars should be able to get their teams into the playoffs.

[celticsclay]

Scottie Barnes? Really? I guess they skipped KP and Butler becasue of the missed games but Barnes feels like a reach. His team is 17-33, his numbers are decent but not amazing.

Now advanced stats do like him, so maybe Silver is an EPM nerd.

the all star game really shouldn't be about winning. It should be about individuals

I wouldn't have a problem with this, but there is a long history of the teams with players that have winning records being rewarded with all-star appearances and teams with losing records being penalized. It is why guys like Kyle Korver, Jeff Teague, Mo Williams and BJ Armstrong have made all star teams. I don't think the league is gonna ever fully move away from this. At some level there is probably some benefits to not make guys hunt stats on bad teams more than they already do.

[Donoghus]

Scottie Barnes? Really? I guess they skipped KP and Butler becasue of the missed games but Barnes feels like a reach. His team is 17-33, his numbers are decent but not amazing.

Now advanced stats do like him, so maybe Silver is an EPM nerd.

the all star game really shouldn't be about winning. It should be about individuals

All Stars should be able to get their teams into the playoffs.

I don't think that should be a qualifier for the all star game.

All star game is for the fans as much as it is for anyone.  There are players that the fans want to see.  It shouldn't really matter how good or bad the team is.  Sometimes, amazing players get thrown into crap situations.  They still perform at an all star level but it doesn't necessarily show in the win/loss column.  If they're playing like a top 25-30 player in the league, they should be rewarded for that. Crap record or not.   

In regards to your argument about winning, MVP,  sure.  All star, no. 

[celticsclay]

Scottie Barnes? Really? I guess they skipped KP and Butler becasue of the missed games but Barnes feels like a reach. His team is 17-33, his numbers are decent but not amazing.

Now advanced stats do like him, so maybe Silver is an EPM nerd.

the all star game really shouldn't be about winning. It should be about individuals

Maybe, but it its generally a mix of both. Only 3/26 players selected this year were from below .500 teams.

Scottie Barnes isn't an egregious pick or anything, but i would have went Butler, Porzingis or maybe even Jarret Allen over him.

Butler is having a pretty average season by his standards (down in pts, rebounds, assists from last season), has missed 15 games and his team is 3 games over .500 (2 when this was announced) Why in the world would Heat get a second all-star if you are arguing winning is very important (to say nothing of games played). I don't get why people keep acting like he was under serious consideration. I really don't think he was as the guys pretty well plugged into the NBA did not discuss him seriously.

[Moranis]

Scottie Barnes? Really? I guess they skipped KP and Butler becasue of the missed games but Barnes feels like a reach. His team is 17-33, his numbers are decent but not amazing.

Now advanced stats do like him, so maybe Silver is an EPM nerd.

the all star game really shouldn't be about winning. It should be about individuals

All Stars should be able to get their teams into the playoffs.

playoffs don't start for months though. 

[Moranis]

Scottie Barnes? Really? I guess they skipped KP and Butler becasue of the missed games but Barnes feels like a reach. His team is 17-33, his numbers are decent but not amazing.

Now advanced stats do like him, so maybe Silver is an EPM nerd.

the all star game really shouldn't be about winning. It should be about individuals

I wouldn't have a problem with this, but there is a long history of the teams with players that have winning records being rewarded with all-star appearances and teams with losing records being penalized. It is why guys like Kyle Korver, Jeff Teague, Mo Williams and BJ Armstrong have made all star teams. I don't think the league is gonna ever fully move away from this. At some level there is probably some benefits to not make guys hunt stats on bad teams more than they already do.

Korver was an iinjury replacement and a couple of other players that might have been picked were also injured. It was a pretty weird year and the East, in particular, was very weak. Korver was also having the greatest shooting season in history at that point as a 50/50/90 guy with the deeper 3 point line. 

[celticsclay]

Scottie Barnes? Really? I guess they skipped KP and Butler becasue of the missed games but Barnes feels like a reach. His team is 17-33, his numbers are decent but not amazing.

Now advanced stats do like him, so maybe Silver is an EPM nerd.

the all star game really shouldn't be about winning. It should be about individuals

I wouldn't have a problem with this, but there is a long history of the teams with players that have winning records being rewarded with all-star appearances and teams with losing records being penalized. It is why guys like Kyle Korver, Jeff Teague, Mo Williams and BJ Armstrong have made all star teams. I don't think the league is gonna ever fully move away from this. At some level there is probably some benefits to not make guys hunt stats on bad teams more than they already do.

Korver was an iinjury replacement and a couple of other players that might have been picked were also injured. It was a pretty weird year and the East, in particular, was very weak. Korver was also having the greatest shooting season in history at that point as a 50/50/90 guy with the deeper 3 point line.

Are you really gonna try and argue with me that winning teams don't get rewarded with more all-stars in NBA history? Or are you just cherry picking one random guy and ignoring the others for no reason? Even it was an incredible season shooting there is no doubt in my mind Korver would not have been selected if he was on a 15 win team rather than a team on pace for like 55-60 wins.

[Roy H.]

It seems clear that Silver's selections were based on getting more fan bases involved, rather than rewarding players on great teams.  Presumably, he thinks that those guys get enough exposure.