More IT love: Steins say he should be all-star starter

[celticsclay]

Sometimes it feels like IT gets respect everywhere but this forum (and I guess bleacher report). Here is the latest

Here is section on east guards

Remember when I mentioned how strange this assignment feels?

It didn't get any more comfortable when I got to this section, with only two open spots for five players who could inspire a daylong debate when you try to separate them.

Kyrie Irving. John Wall. Kyle Lowry. DeRozan. And Thomas.

Good luck.

Irving, of course, is the runaway No. 1 choice in the fan vote and, truth be told, presumably would be No. 1 on most anyone's list if the assignment were drafting the standout from the five players mentioned. But our aim here is to reward the best seasons we've seen to this point. I don't think Irving, on an individual basis, can claim he has had a stronger start to 2016-17 than Wall, Thomas or the Toronto duo.

Yet that still leaves plenty of work to do. Thomas or Wall? DeRozan or Lowry? The two Raptors together? Some other combination?

Tempting as it was to choose both DeRozan and Lowry, I only managed to make room for one of them. And that's DeRozan, who won bonus points here for those 19 days in a row in November when he stood as the league's leading scorer, helping Toronto get off to a fine start and, just as crucially, taking the early pressure off Lowry as his fellow Olympian eased into the season without the same splash.

Lowry is rolling now, but DeRozan -- No. 5 in the East in player efficiency rating as of Friday morning -- couldn't have come back from Rio more ready.

Wall vs. Thomas is another coin flip. You can't go wrong with either. I know Wall has won many admirers for the way he sparked Washington's turnaround from a 6-12 start, but we're giving the edge to the little lefty because of Thomas' consistency, his fourth-quarter excellence and the way he kept the Celtics afloat while Al Horford was missing all those games in November.

http://www.espn.com/blog/marc-stein/post/_/id/4886/marc-steins-picks-for-nba-all-star-starters

[mr. dee]

Thank goodness for the media and player voting in the starter lineup. That will certainly make undeserving players like Zaza to make an appearance. Volume of fan voting will be irrelevant if majority of media and players will vote for others.

[hpantazo]

Thank goodness for the media and player voting in the starter lineup. That will certainly make undeserving players like Zaza to make an appearance. Volume of fan voting will be irrelevant if majority of media and players will vote for others.

Well its 50-50, so fan voting will still be very relevant. Hopefully the media and player votes lean enough toward IT's way though.Bradley also deserves recognition, I hope his recent injury doesn't make people forget about him at the wrong time.

[tankcity!]

Brad Stevens impact.

[colincb]

IT was getting a lot of love last night on TNT's post-game show which he was on. I'd be shocked if he didn't make it. His offensive numbers are pretty outrageous and BOS's record when healthy has been very good and some of his competition's teams haven't done much.

AB doesn't have a prayer though.

[JSD]

Van Gundy gushing over IT in the latest Lowe Post Podcast.