The Advanced Stat NBA All-Stars

While the actual NBA All-Star Game is rubbish and not worth watching, making the All-Star Team is an important honor for a basketball player, one that comes with bigger future contracts and more consideration with Hall of Fame voters.  So we decided to come up with an Advanced Stat NBA All-Star Team (based on Wins Produced) and compare it to the actual team to see where voters messed up this year.  It turns out 11 players have a legit gripe with being left off the team (with quite a few surprise names popping up on our list).

Eastern Conference Starters

Guards

Giannis Antetokounmpo – Milwaukee – 10.7 WP

Kyle Lowry – Toronto – 9.1 WP

(Real life starters – Kyrie Irving, DeMar DeRozan)

Forwards

Jimmy Butler – Chicago – 11.0 WP

LeBron James – Miami – 9.9 WP

Andre Drummond – Detroit – 6.9 WP 

(Real life starters – James, Butler, Antetokounmpo)

Bench

Hassan Whiteside – Miami – 6.8 WP

John Wall – Washington – 6.3 WP

Tristan Thompson – Cleveland – 6.2 WP

Jeff Teague – Indiana – 5.8 WP

Marcin Gortat – Washington – 5.6 WP

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – Charlotte – 5.6 WP

Isaiah Thomas – Boston – 5.6 WP

(Real life bench – Thomas, Wall, Kevin Love, Lowry, Paul George, Kemba Walker, Paul Millsap)

Summary

The voters got the Eastern Conference choices half right, but whiffed on the other six.  The biggest misstep was the exclusion of Andre Drummond, who at first glance seems to be having a down year.  But, looking at his advanced stats, while he is having a below average season for his career, he’s still producing at a better clip than he was last season.  The biggest surprise to show up on the Eastern side of our advanced stat list?  That has to be Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who is actually outproducing much-heralded teammate Kemba Walker.

Western Conference

Starters

Guards

James Harden – Houston – 11.9 WP

Chris Paul – Clippers – 9.4 WP

(Real life starters – Stephen Curry, Harden)

Forwards

Rudy Gobert – Utah – 12.1 WP

DeAndre Jordan – Clippers – 11.8 WP

Kevin Durant – Golden State – 10.7 WP

(Real life starters – Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis)

Bench

Kawhi Leonard – San Antonio – 9.0 WP

Dwight Howard – Atlanta – 8.8 WP

Russell Westbrook – Oklahoma City – 8.2 WP

Tyson Chandler – Phoenix – 7.1 WP

Draymond Green – Golden State – 6.9 WP

Gordon Hayward – Utah – 6.7 WP

Nikola Jokic – Denver – 6.7 WP

(Real life bench – Westbrook, Klay Thompson, Green, DeMarcus Cousins, Marc Gasol, Jordan, Hayward)

Summary

The Western selections were slightly more accurate than the Eastern ones, with only five advance stat studs missing out on making the real team.  Chris Paul, despite being injured, should have been named to the real team – he’s played off-the-charts this season.  And where’s the love for The Stifle Tower?!  Rudy Gobert leads the league in Wins Produced, Offensive Rebounds, and Blocks (not to mention being the self proclaimed best center in the game).