The NBA All-Star starters were announced last week and the league had us guessing on who would fill out the remainder of the roster in the game in Madison Square Garden. The Eastern Conference starters consist of: Kyle Lowry, John Wall, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, and Pau Gasol. Some of the ones that didn’t make the starting cut may have (are) been more deserving than the starters voted on by the fans.
Jimmy Butler of Chicago will most likely win most improved player of the year with his 20.4 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per game improving from 13.1-4.9. Jimmy Butler is well-deserving of a starting position, but you know we have to cater to those of the high-powered organizations i.e. New York (Yes, I am aware that Chicago is a high-powered organization. Don’t get sassy). Kyrie Irving received a heap of an amount of harsh criticism at the beginning of the season, but used it as motivation and is now a big part of the red-hot Cavaliers.
Speaking about being red-hot, the Hawks were on the verge of breaking in a 20-game winning streak before the All-Star break. The phenomenal duo of Paul Millsap and Al Horford make a strong case for the best low-post one-two punch with Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol as they have dominated the paint. Horford has been apart of an injury free season. Their much improved point guard Jeff Teague will join them.
You could make the case that the Western Conference bench could beat the starting five with players like Kevin Durant, James Harden, Chris Paul, and Russell Westbrook all considered as second teamers. The starting five is currently drawn out with Stephen Curry, Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin, Anthony Davis, and Marc Gasol. Of course, now with Kobe’s injury one will take his place in the rotation and James Harden will probably be the favorite to do so after arguably being one of the league’s early MVP candidates.
Andy Furman of Fox Sports Radio (before Cousins got to take Kobe’s spot): 
Demarcus Cousins got the late invite after the Kobe injury news.
From a straight up unprofessional analytic standpoint, the West is freakin’ loaded. When the bench consists of Durant, Westbrook, and Paul (three of the league’s top ten players) the answer is clear to the question on which conference has the better players and might be the overall reason why this side of the league is in a constant battle every night in the standings.
The All-Star teams consist of the heralded stars of the game in its current state with Griffin, Wall, Curry and others, but what about the others that have had more of the eye-popping type seasons like Kyle Korver with a 74% shooting percentage and is currently on the case for a 50-50-90 stat line for the season? Damian Lillard is left off? Weird. Lillard has a stat line that is as impressive as any other stars in the league with 21.8 points per game, 6.2 assists, and 4.6 rebounds per game. Lillard also stars for the league’s fourth best team.
When All-Star news breaks, critics come out and sign me up as one. Sure, I like to see the big names and superstars in the game every season, but when can we just admit that the spots (starters) don’t always go to the players having the best seasons or most deserving, but to the ones that are popular on 2k and have a big time following? But hey, who am I to judge?
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