​If I'm being honest, I love publishing articles with feel-good headlines that most people can agree with and that is in line with public opinion. It's always better that way.

For example, I could've taken the time to write an article like "Kawhi for MVP" or "Why the Celtics Have Overtaken the Cavs as the True Beasts of the East." It's great for popularity, true, but I wouldn't write either of those articles, because -- even though both those cases can plausibly be argued -- I don't believe either of those things.

Similarly, I could argue here why Kawhi Leonard should become the second player ever to win three straight DPOYs, or even give the edge to the also-adored and fast-rising Jazz center, Rudy Gobert. But then the title of this post wouldn't make much sense, now would it?

So instead, I'm giving the prestigious award to a player on the league's most hated team, who is widely accused by fans of setting illegal screens and kicking people in the nuts.

Congratulations, Draymond Green.

To be clear: I didn't make this choice simply for the sake of stirring the pot by giving a villain props; rather, I made this choice because it's the correct one. Let me explain why.

Green finished as the DPOY runner-up to Leonard in each of the past two years by the skin of his teeth; excellent arguments could be made both of those years that Green should have taken home the hardware. Don't believe me?

Two years ago, the Spurs allowed 99.8 points per 100 possessions with Leonard on the court, compared to 104.8 per 100 possessions when he was off the court; that's good for a +4.6 differential. The following year, Kawhi's differential was +6.0.

Two years ago, Draymond's was +6.0; last year, it was +11.9: 100.5 vs. 112.4 points per 100 possessions.

Of course, this "individual defensive point differential" statistic doesn't necessarily tell the entire story of a player's defensive prowess, but it does indeed tell most of it. Arguing that popularity, and being overall a better player (which is of course true) played a factor in Leonard's awards is not farfetched. Which are exactly the types of influences that I'm arguing against.

There's no denying that Leonard has grown tremendously on offense, and hence as an overall player: he put up 16.5 points per game in 2014-15, then 21.2 in 2015-16, and now 26.0 ppg this season thus far, all while improving his shooting percentages to very efficient marks. Undoubtedly, Kawhi is an MVP candidate this season.

However, this season, Kawhi has seen a startling turnaround in his defensive metrics: San Antonio is allowing 97.9 points per 100 possessions with him on the bench, compared to 106.4 with him on the court. Yes, you read that in the right order: Leonard's "individual defensive point differential" is -8.5... Minus 8.5. It would be ridiculous, therefore, to even include Leonard in the DPOY talks this season at all; in fact, he should have a better shot at MVP than at three-peating as Defensive Player of the Year.

Back to Draymond: in Defensive Win Shares, a metric that calculates the number of wins a player produces for his team due to his defense, Green leads the league. As well, Green leads in the standard defensive statistic of Defensive Rating, which is calculated by (Oppenent's Points Allowed / Opponent's Possessions) x 100; although it should be noted that this metric, when applied to players, can be influenced by the defensive abilities of one's teammates. 

In more traditional stats, Green also leads the league in steals per game at 2.1, and is tied for the league lead with Giannis for most combined steals and blocks at 3.5.
​

​Rudy Gobert is undoubtedly Green's chief competition for the award: the Jazz center leads the league in ESPN's real defensive plus/minus (Draymond is second), averages 2.6 bpg -- on pace for his first shot-blocking title -- and is fifth in the association with 8.9 defensive rebounds per game.

One might fear that the last statistic there -- rebounding -- might haunt Green's chances for the award at the end of the season, as his 6.7 defensive boards per game is only good for 18th in the league; in fact, Green's 8.0 total rebounds per game this season is a marked drop-off from 9.5 last season, and even 8.2 the year before.

But keep in mind that rebounding is not always a huge factor in these DPOY decisions: in fact, Leonard ranked 37th and 27th (with 5.5 and 5.9 DRPG, respectively) the past two seasons, when he of course took home the hardware both times.

Now, this isn't even all to say that Draymond is a lock to be crowned the world's top defender this year. Gobert would be the only other player who is not unworthy of the award, after leading his Jazz to the West's fourth-best record this year and anchoring the NBA's third-best defense (behind Golden State; first is San Antonio). But if it were up to me, I'd give Green the tie-breaker for his ability to defend both in the post and on the perimeter with just as much efficacy -- a skill set that no other DPOY candidate can quite match. The demands of Steve Kerr's defensive sets have been rigorous for Green, guarding players across all positions and playing three of them himself. Simply put, if the other team had the ball and I was down by one point with ten seconds to go and I could add anybody that I wanted to my team, I'd add Draymond Green.

Hence the ultimate point here is that it's important to not let exterior biases influence what you're evaluating. Kawhi Leonard's 26.0 points per game doesn't make him a better defender, just as Draymond's unpopularity -- well-deserved or not -- doesn't make him a worse one.

----------------
Sources:
http://stats.nba.com/players/defense/

http://www.foxsports.com/nba/stats?season=2016&category=ADVANCED&group=1&sort=5&time=0&pos=0&team=0&qual=1&sortOrder=0&opp=0

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/03/15/kawakami-8-key-things-about-draymond-greens-defensive-player-of-the-year-candidacy/

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2695467-2017-nba-defensive-player-of-the-year-rankings-at-start-of-march

http://www.espn.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/sort/DRPM

Backcourt starter: Russell Westbrook (PG, OKC)
Backcourt starter: James Harden (SG/PG, HOU)
Frontcourt starter: Kawhi Leonard (SF/SG, SA)
Frontcourt starter: Kevin Durant (SF/PF, GSW)
Frontcourt starter: Anthony Davis (PF/C, NOP)

This one was a no-brainer: it was completely ridiculous that Stephen Curry got the nod as the West's starting point guard this year over Westbrook. In fact, Durant, Davis, Leonard, and Harden (in that order) constitute the two-through-five spots on the PER rankings thus far this season.

Guess who's number one?
And guess who's number 17?

Even pointing to the Warriors' superior record than that of the Thunder fails to help Curry's case here -- Russ ranks second in Estimated Wins Added with 15.0 (just behind Harden) while Curry checks in at fifteenth in the NBA at 10.1.

Even though Steph isn't playing quite like a back-to-back-MVP this season, that doesn't mean that he should be off of this list entirely; rather, his stats have more than earned him a spot on the West reserves for this season's numbers. Still, the point stands that it's absurd to give him the honor of the West's starting point guard over someone averaging a triple-double.

All right. Enough on that. Onto the reserves.

Reserve: Stephen Curry (PG, GSW) [replacing Russell Westbrook]
Reserve: DeMarcus Cousins (C, SAC)
This was tricky and required a few tough calls, I'm not going to lie. The only two uber-obvious decisions were that of DeMarcus -- 27.05 PER (seventh in league) and 12.5 EWA (sixth) -- and Curry (leftover from swapping him out of the starters for Russ), whose still-impressive statistics I detailed above. Cousins and Steph should be the first guys off the bench on February 19th.

Reserve: Chris Paul (PG, LAC) [replacing Klay Thompson]
       Injury Replacement: Damian Lillard (PG, POR)
But like I said, the rest is difficult, and starts with the question: who should replace Klay Thompson? Indeed, that is the proper way to phrase the question, as Thompson's 15.76 PER (109th in NBA) and lackluster 107.8 Offensive Rating (measures an individual's efficiency at producing points for his team's offense) which ranks 102nd in the league should not even merely warrant consideration for placement in the All-Star Game.
    I figured that I had to replace Klay with a guard in order to keep the West's roster balanced, and who more deserving than CP3? He ranks sixth in the NBA in PER at 27.40 and eleventh in EWA at 9.1. Furthermore, Paul has well established himself as a two-way force in this league, posting the best combination of Offensive Rating (127.0 -- 4th in NBA) and Defensive Rating (100.4 -- sixth in NBA) of any player thus far this season not named Rudy Gobert (more on him soon). The Clipper likely missed the final cut, however, due to his current injury status, and the general (and somewhat understandable) voter bias against injured players (unless your name is Kobe Bryant, of course).
       Nonetheless, there is of course a great deal of honor associated with being selected for the ASG, and it was only fair to give Paul his spot, as another deserving player would be able to tally an All-Star to their resume as his injury replacement. And that deserving player is Blazers point guard Damian Lillard. 'Dame' is indeed a fine choice, with a PER mark of 22.89 (14th in NBA) and an Estimated Wins Added of 9.3 (tenth). Lillard would (and should) make it to his third All-Star game and as an injury replacement for now two of those occasions.

Reserve: Gordon Hayward (SG/SF, UTA)
     I was going back and forth on replacing Hayward here, but decided to put him here over other worthy All-Star challengers actually largely due to the position that he plays -- there's simply a lack of wing depth in the West. If I had my way, and I could contsruct an impractical Western Conference roster regardless of position, I'd have put five centers on my bench. But alas, only four.
     That said, Hayward is the best Western wing player that isn't starting, and that's no title to be laughed at. The Butler product boasts a 22.03 PER -- 28th in basketball -- to go with an 8.4 EWA (T-22nd). He's finally developed into an all-around stud at the highest level, featuring an Offensive Rating and True Shooting Percentage that each rank 28th in the NBA, while also improving on defense with the league's 33rd best Defensive Rating. Hayward's leadership has pulled his Jazz to a 30-19 (0.612) record, good for fifth in the West and eighth in basketball.

Reserve: Rudy Gobert (C, UTA) [replacing Draymond Green]
There were quite a few big men competing for these last few spots, but honestly, none are more deserving than the outstanding and unfortunately often-underappreciated (this season at least) Rudy Gobert. Gobert has absolutely dominated at all facets of the game thus far this season: he's posted the third highest Offensive Rating (128.0) in basketball; the very highest Defensive Rating (97.8) -- which, according to basketball nerds like myself, technically qualifies him for DPOY, but that's a separate discussion; also the highest True Shooting Percentage (0.682 -- and by a wide margin at that); and that's not to mention him ranking sixth in Rebounding Percentage (21.5%) [an estimate of the total rebounds available that a player grabs while on the floor] and second in Block Percentage (6.1%) [an estimate of the total blocked shots a player has compared to the amount of two-pointers that the other team attempts] in the entire NBA. That's Defensive Player of the Year numbers if I'v ever seen 'em, while Gobert simultaneously proves to be one of the most efficient players on offense as well. As to the (allegedly) uber-cumulative metrics, the Jazz center ranks 16th in the league with an EWA of 9.4, and 26th with a 22.08 PER, though the latter statistic is notorious for not being particularly kind to big men. All told, however, Gobert is -- rather, must be -- an All-Star. Period.

Draymond Green, on the other hand -- and I don't mean to sound disrespectful in any way -- but the only reason why I even have to discuss him here at all (similar to Klay) is because his team is good. Although (as I noted above) not a perfect metric, PER is nice in that it quickly gives you a general idea as to where a player stands, and Draymond stands with the league's 78th-best PER at 17.23; his EWA at 4.4 sits hardly better at 59th in basketball. Granted, a closer look at the numbers aids Green's cause: he's remained elite on defense, tying for basketball's second-best Defensive rating at 99.1 and has improved his Offensive Rating up to 53rd in the NBA. Still, his offense remains sub-par, and that Offensive Rating coupled with his miserly 0.537 TS% would make him far and away the worst offensive player at the All-Star Game (with the actual rosters or with my own). Sure, Green is a perfect all-around glue guy for the star-studded Warriors that helps them win games (and championships) a great deal, but the All-Star selection process is (or at least, should be) all about the individual. Gobert > Green on those given standards any day.

Reserve: Karl Anthony-Towns (C/PF, MIN) [replacing Marc Gasol]
Reserve: DeAndre Jordan (C, LAC)
For me, the last two spots on the West's bench ultimately came down to three centers: Marc Gasol, DeAndre Jordan (who are the actual All-Stars), and Karl Anthony-Towns.
         Towns ranks 20th in the NBA with a 23.39 PER and 13th with an 11.1 EWA.
         Gasol ranks 32nd with a 21.75 PER and 18th with a 9.1 EWA.
         Jordan ranks 37th with a 21.06 PER and 26th with an 8.0 EWA.
Of course, these are not the only two metrics that quantitatively summarize a player's value, but these given numbers are decent indications that often, the voters get these decisions wrong (remember: Gasol and Jordan were the actual All-Stars chosen). If only they just let me do the whole thing...

In Offensive Rating (amount of points a player produces per 100 possessions), it's no contest: DeAndre, at 126.6, boasts the league's fifth-highest ORTG (Towns is 57th, Gasol 66th). It's essentially a perfect metric for measuring a player's offensive efficiency, only that is measures exactly that -- only efficiency while failing to account for volume; there's a reason why seven of the top twelve players on the ORTG list have a USG% (percent of team plays used by a player while he's on the floor) of 17.2% or lower [for reference, Westbrook leads the NBA in USG% with 42.1%; nearly all All-Stars have a USG% of at least in the high-twenties]. Take that as you will, but the point still stands that DeAndre is producing at a much higher rate than his counterparts here when his team goes to him. That definitely counts for something.

Defensive Rating, however, is arguably a much more telling statistic than its ORTG counterpart, accurately summarizing a player's defensive value by calculating the amount of points allowed per 100 possessions. In this metric, DeAndre ranks ninth at 101.5, Gasol 20th at 112.7, and Towns 65th at 107.0. At this point, Jordan had clearly established himself to me as a two-way force, ranking fifth and ninth in ORTG and DRTG respectively; his second-in-the-league TS% was simply the nail in the coffin to convince me that the Clipper is worthy of his first All-Star selection. Now... Towns or Gasol?

It's a very tough call, and -- I don't usually say this -- but you can viably argue either way. If you are (not groundlessly) distrustful of all-inclusive metrics such as PER and EWA as mentioned above, then you would probably be inclined to go with Gasol just due to the sure-thing status of his superior DRTG. Also, if you care about team success when selecting All-Stars, Gasol's Grizzlies are 29-21 (0.580) on the season, while Towns' Timberwolves are 19-29 (0.396) thus far.

But I do have (cautious) faith in statistics such as PER and EWA, or else I wouldn't have relied on them so heavily when making decisions throughout this segment. Defending cumulative metrics and others like it is beyond the scope of this article of course, but generally if the difference is as large as it was noted above, using "the cumulatives" is probably a safe bet as a very general rule.

Also, it's hard to ignore a 21-year-old averaging 23 points and 12 rebounds. The basketball world has been put on notice and better watch out... KAT is coming for you.

As the title suggests, I will recreate the present All-Star rosters for this year's ASG in New Orleans on February 19th from absolute scratch; that is, I shall be the sole judge, jury, and executioner in these decisions, rather than the democracy that had originally made them.

​Mwahahahaha.

Backcourt starter: Isaiah Thomas (PG, BOS)
Backcourt starter: DeMar DeRozan (SG, TOR)
Frontcourt starter: Jimmy Butler (SF/SG, CHI)
Frontcourt starter: LeBron James (SF/PF, CLE)
Frontcourt starter: Giannis Antetokounmpo (SF/SG/PF, MIL)

The only change that I'm making here is that of swapping Kyrie Irving for Isaiah Thomas. The change makes sense too, as IT's 27.39 PER-mark is good for seventh in basketball and over five points higher than Kyrie's 22.29 (ranks 23rd). Furthermore, Thomas has been more efficient than Irving, with a true shooting percentage [tanks into account threes and free throws] mark of 62.0%, four full percentage points higher than Irving's. And perhaps most importantly, IT is tied for ninth in the NBA (with LeBron James, no less) in Estimated Wins Added [which projects the amount of wins that you add to your team over say, the twelfth man on your roster]. All told, Irving should be Thomas' backup in New Orleans, not the other way around.

I have no issue with the rest of the East starters, as Giannis, LeBron, and Butler have undoubtedly been the three best players in the Eastern Conference thus far this season, while DeRozan has also earned his spot with the eleventh and thirteenth-best PER and EWA marks, respectively. Onto the reserves.

Reserve: Kyrie Irving (PG, CLE)
​Reserve: John Wall (PG, WAS)
​Reserve: Paul George (SF, IND)
​Reserve: Joel Embiid (C, PHI)
​Reserve: Kevin Love (PF, CLE)
​Reserve: Kyle Lowry (PG, TOR)
Reserve: Kemba Walker (PG, CHA)

As you can see, my only change here (other than swapping Kyrie and Isaiah, of course) is that of inserting the young breakout star, Joel Embiid, for the veteran Paul Millsap. Don't get me wrong: Millsap is turning in one of his usual-underrated star-like seasons, averaging 17.6 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.5 steals, 1.2 threes, and 1.0 blocks per game. But Embiid is doing even more in his 'rookie' season: 20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, 1.2 threes, and 0.9 steals. Many Millsap fans would be quick to point to the power forward's oft-efficient shooting percentages, only that this season, the Hawk's True Shooting Percentage is down at 53.4 percent, precisely five percentage points lower than that of Embiid. Furthermore, in the cumulative metric of Player Efficiency Rating, Embiid ranks as high as fifteenth in the NBA, compared to Millsap's paltry (in comparison) 68th. The Philly big man also boasts an Estimated Wins Added of 5.4 (46th in NBA; slightly higher than Millsap's 5.0 -- T-50th) as he's led his 76ers out of the absolute gutter to now five games back of a playoff spot.

[Western Conference post to come soon]

10. Stephen Curry

Oh, how the mighty have fallen... albeit not that far. To be honest, however, the addition of Durant to Golden State has hurt Curry's production so much that I almost didn't put the guard on this list. Steph's PER of 23.46 ranks 20th in the league; and in VA (Value Added) and EWA (Estimated Wins Added) he hardly fairs better, ranking 16th in each. To compare, Curry's 2015-16 PER of 31.56 smoked the rest of the competition, as did his top-ranking EWA and VA statistics en route to one of the most dominant seasons in modern history, the Warrior's second consecutive MVP, and a record-breaking 73-9 team mark.

Sure, maybe we could expect a little bit of a decline in numbers due to the addition of Kevin Durant. But Curry's decline in shooting efficiency rests entirely on his shoulders; if anything, in fact, KD's addition should have helped them even more. Instead, after posting the league's best True Shooting Percentage last year at 0.669, Steph's 0.634 ranks just 19th in the league. His 50.4 FG% from last year has dropped to 46.6, and his jaw-dropping 45.4 three-point percentage has fallen to 40.3% thus far this season.

Don't get me wrong: Curry's still an absolute beast and among (or maybe the) top superstar that the NBA has to offer. He and Durant have led their Golden State Warriors to a 30-5 record (0.857), the league's best. But frankly that record is perhaps the main reason why Curry even cracked this list at this point in the season over other deserving studs.

​9. Jimmy Butler

Jimmy Butler has done everything in his power -- and then some -- to keep his Chicago Bulls afloat in the playoff race, but unfortunately has received very little help from his teammates that are not named Dwyane Wade (and even he has made his limitations clear in his old age) in doing so. Butler is averaging 24.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1.7 steals per game on very respectable shooting splits of 45.3/33.6/87.7 (FG% / 3P% / FT%). His efforts have earned him basketball's 10th-best PER at 26.53, and he has made it clear that his team would absolutely suffer without him: he ranks fourth in both Value Added and Estimated Wins Added. Still it's not enough, however, as his Bulls rank 10th in the East with a mediocre 17-18 (0.486) record.

​8. LeBron James

LeBron turned 32 on December 30th, and this new post-30 LeBron isn't the one that dominates the league with individual jaw-dropping stat-lines and PER numbers. He now dominates the league in a different sense: with his team rather than with himself.

By any metric, of course, LeBron James in and of himself is easily enjoying another top-10 individual season: his PER of 26.42 ranks eleventh among all qualified players, and his Value Added and Estimated Wins Added figures are good for eighth across the NBA thus far this season. His season averages of 25.6 points, 8.7 assists, and 7.9 rebounds per game on the surface don't stand out as too jaw-dropping when compared with the stat lines that Russell Westbrook or James Harden are posting these days, and his percentages -- 51.1/38.4/67.8 (FG% / 3P% / FT%) -- are again solid for James' own standards.
[Actually, the free throw percentage, it should be noted, is quite the strange anomaly to a rather consistent 74-ish percentage that James has had in years past and is the lowest such mark of his career; one would reasonably expect that over the course of the season, LeBron's odd 68.4% free throw percentage will regress to his own personal mean].

But its clear that James has molded himself into the ultimate team player. His 38.4 three-point percentage -- a very high mark relative to the league average of one or two percentage points over a third -- is the second-highest such mark of LeBron's career. 38.4%, in fact, is 4.3 percentage points higher than The King's career average and a drastic improvement over last season's dismal 30.9%. Becoming a deadly three-point threat has allowed James to move to more of an off-ball role on offense if need be; after all, he does play on the same team as Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. Speaking of which, James' 8.7 assists per game is also the highest of his career, which speaks volumes about his new type of team-first offensive role. Thus James is not quite padding his stats like some of the others on this list, but he does rank among the best in the most important statistic of all: his Cleveland Cavaliers are 26-7 (0.788) and tops in the Eastern Conference.

​7. DeMarcus Cousins

Cousins' situation regarding this list here is very similar to that of Jimmy Butler's: outstanding player, sub-par team. Indeed, the center's 27.80 PER checks in at fourth in the league, and he ranks seventh in VA and EWA as well. DeMarcus' 29.0 points per game are the third-highest in basketball (just behind Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook), and his 10.2 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks per game aren't too shabby either as "Boogie" evolves into not just an elite offensive force, but an elite defensive force as well.

The most interesting addition to Cousins' game, however, is his three-point shooting. It is beyond rare to find someone who is seven feet tall and drops 30-and-10 games on a consistent basis that also connects on 1.8 threes per game at a very efficient 38% clip. This amazing newfound inside-out game makes DeMarcus one of the most difficult players to guard in basketball, no matter the defender.

However, the fact remains that his Sacramento Kings are headed for another forgettable season at 14-19 (0.424). Until Boogie can snap his team's decade-long playoff drought, he'll have a very hard time working his way up any list like this -- which is unfortunate, because it's just simply not his fault at this point.

​6. Kawhi Leonard

I really don't have anything negative to say about this superstar (for a change): Kawhi Leonard plays on a successful team (his San Antonio Spurs enjoy the league's second-best record at 27-7 [0.794]), shoots efficiently, and ranks highly in the advanced statistics. This utter absence of any noticeable drawback in his superstar-ness is the reason why I gave Leonard the nod over the others below him in this third tier of these rankings (yes, you'll find that the top five in this list are considerably ahead of anyone else; and that goes double for the top two). Kawhi, however, fails to crack the uber-elite top-five at the moment due to his eighth-ranked PER at 26.95 and ninth-ranked EWA and VA across the NBA. Leonard is currently posting very nice averages, with career bests in several categories: 24.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.0 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game. As aforementioned, he has efficient shooting percentages to go with those stats as well, namely splits of 46.6/32.0/92.0 (FG% / 3P% / FT%). Extraordinary for sure, but not quite extra-extraordinary.

5. Anthony Davis

I could very easily have put Anthony Davis as high as third on this list -- his season thus far has just been that good. He ranks fifth in both PER and EWA, posting a 27.56 mark in the latter to date. Davis' per game stats, furthermore, are nothing short of absolutely special: 28.9 points, 11.8 rebounds, 2.6 blocks, and 1.4 steals to go along with 49.1% shooting form the floor and a surprisingly-high, given the big man's 6'10" frame (and 7'6" wingspan), 79.3% mark from the free throw line. Of course, however, the only drawback when evaluating AD's superstar-ness is his team, the Pelicans, who are unfortunately suffering another lost season at 14-22 (0.389).

​4. Kevin Durant​

I have to hand it to KD: coming into this season, he faced all the pressure in the world after ditching Oklahoma City this summer, and everyone wanted him to fail -- he was indeed the ultimate NBA villain on the ultimate NBA super-team (which is pretty much a synonym for 'villain' these days). So how did he respond? Try: by turning in the most efficient season of his career.

It's not just the raw numbers that jump out at you, although they are nonetheless impressive: 25.7 points, 8.7 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.1 steals per game -- but that's not necessarily anything out of the ordinary by Durant's standards, although both his rebounding and block averages are the highest of his career, which is a testament to the new team-first role that he has embraced in Golden State.

But more to the point of "team-first", as I had mentioned before, is Durant's efficiency. Indeed, KD's 0.592 Effective Field Goal Percentage mark not only ranks eleventh in the league thus far this season, but also as by far the highest in the forward's own personal career. True Shooting Percentage, which accounts for free throws (unlike efg%) as well as threes and field goals, gives Durant a 0.647 mark, which is also good for eleventh in the league. For context, KD has put up shooting splits of 53.7/39.3/86.2 to date, flirting with another 50/40/90 season.

Hence Durant has put his Warriors above all else, and I commend him for it, seeing a considerable drop-off in points per game, and his efforts have yielded results. This is true not only on an individual basis -- Durant ranks sixth in the league in both PER (27.45) and EWA -- but also on a team basis: to date, KD has been the best player on the league's best team, leading the Golden State Warriors to a 30-5 (0.857) record.

3. Giannis Antetokounmpo

If expectations were sky-high for "The Greek Freak" heading into this season, he must be in outer space right now. Antetokunmpo has shattered even the most ridiculous of expectations, posting the second-best PER in the league at 28.89 and ranking third in EWA and VA, en route to one of the most statistically dominant across-the-board seasons in recent memory. The young Milwaukee Buck has posted averages of 23.8 points, 9.0 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 1.9 blocks, and 1.9 steals per game on very efficient shooting splits of 53.6/29.5/77.6 (he doesn't take very many threes anyways). As a result, Giannis has essentially single-handedly willed Milwaukee into the thick of the East's playoff race, currently sitting sixth in the conference at 17-16 (0.515). The scariest part? He's only 22 years old.

​2. Russell Westbrook

It's hard to use the right words to describe Westbrook's remarkable season to date: he is currently on track to become the first player since Oscar Robertson in 1962 to average a triple-double over the course of a season. Indeed, Russ is cruising towards an absolutely historic season with averages of 30.9 points, 10.5 assists, 10.4 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game. Granted, however, his efficiency has taken a hit, as his field goal percentage has dropped 2.6 percentage points from last year and his turnovers are up to 5.4 per game, albeit his three-point percentage has since risen; his current shooting splits are: 42.8/32.5/82.0. Still, Westbrook is crushing the competition with a 30.10 PER, and ranks just behind James Harden in Estimated Wins Added and Value Added.

Of course, it is the absence of Kevin Durant -- now in Golden State -- that makes such a jaw-dropping per-game stat line as the one above possible. However, Westbrook's Thunder have suffered without KD: despite the superstar point guard's best efforts, his team sits at a good-but-not-great 21-14 (0.600) and seventh in the West; a far cry from last year's 55-27 (0.671) mark, which was good for third in the conference and one game away from an appearance in the NBA Finals.

Westbrook has done far more than his fair share -- and more than even any gargantuan expectation placed upon him in the pre-season -- for this Oklahoma City team, and by the literal definition of the term, is very arguably the "Most Valuable Player" in basketball. Furthermore, that ridiculous stat line -- averaging a triple double with 30+ points per game to boot -- is absolutely not to be overlooked, and this season could very well go down in the history books as one of the greatest invididual performances ever if Russ keeps up the pace. However, with all of that being said, the turnovers and inefficient shooting continue to plague number zero, and I found the top spot difficult to give to someone whose team is 5.5 games back of another very deserving superstar...

​1. James Harden

There was a pretty clear two-horse race for the top spot between Harden and Westbrook, and despite Westbrook's jaw-dropping triple-double averages, I felt obliged to give this spot to the well-deserving Houston guard. Off of his ridiculous stat lines of 28.5 points, 12.0 assists, 8.5 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 3.1 threes per game on efficient shooting splits of 45.2/36.2/84.5 (FG% / 3P% / FT%), the Rockets have suddenly found themselves at 27-9 (0.750), good for the West's third and the NBA's fourth-best record; a dramatic turnaround from 41-41 (0.500) last year. Anyways, breaking down the advanced statistics, it was very difficult to crown a winner for this list between Westbrook and Harden, who were miles ahead of the competition (top row is Harden):

​For me, however, the bottom line is always team wins -- it is the ultimate statistic in every sport, the culmination of all other statistics into one, all-important determiner of succcess. Houston may have the edge, but it's hard to say definitively that James Harden's supporting cast of Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson, Trevor Ariza, and Clint Capela is too far ahead of Russell Westbrook's: Victor Oladipo, Enes Kanter, Steven Adams, Andre Roberson. Given that Harden has his Rockets 5.5 games ahead of Westbrook's Thunder (21-14; 0.600), I must give The Bearded One the benefit of the doubt by the slimmest of margins; nonetheless, both superstars have been absolutely outstanding and amazing to watch this season.

Anthony Davis is legit, that much is for sure. He is currently putting together his best season to date, with averages of 31.6 points, 11.4 rebounds, 2.8 blocks, and 1.7 steals on excellent shooting percentages of 50.3% from the field and 82.3% from the line. It's not just the raw stats, either: Davis leads the league in Player Efficiency Rating (PER) -- a statistic that gauges a player's overall value -- at 31.13, as well as killing the competition in other advanced metrics such as Value Added (234.0, the next closest is 219.9) and Estimated Wins Added (7.8, next closest is 7.3) which measure how much value and wins, respectively, a player adds to his respective team. To cap it all off, AD is once again making the case for why he is the best defensive player in basketball, leading the league in both blocks per game, combined blocks and steals per game, as well as holding onto the top spot in the advanced metric known as Defensive Win Shares. Given that at 31.6, he's also leading the NBA in points per game, one might even argue that the Pelican big man is the most dominant two-way force that basketball has to offer. Did I mention he's only 23?

But his Pelicans have not been keeping up. At all. Their records in the first four seasons that they've had Davis have been: 27-55 (0.329 in 2012-13), 34-48 (0.415), 45-37 (eigthth seed in West, swept by GSW in first round), and 30-52 (0.366) last season. Now, they're 7-15 (0.318) and heading straight for the gutter in another lost season.

But this can't be the new normal, not when you have arguably basketball's best individual player in the prime of his career, lighting up box scores night after night. So how did they manage to put a roster around Davis that's so bad, that the team is near the bottom of the standings every year despite the fact that they have one of basketball's premier talents?

Well the situation really started spiraling downhill on draft night in 2013, when the Pelicans appeared to be searching for a talented young prospect to pair with AD for years to come. At #6 overall, they found top prospect Nerlens Noel available on the board, and got a call from Philly.

Long story short, New Orleans ended up shipping Noel, as well as their first-round selection the following year, for the young Jrue Holiday. The young Holiday was a bit of a question mark given his fairly sudden rise, but had nonetheless put up 17.7 points and 8.0 assists per game that season.

But alas, Holiday has been plagued by injuries and inefficient shooting ever since, and remains a decent -- nothing more, nothing less -- starting point guard today.

The moral of the story here is don't put all your eggs in one basket. Two first-rounders -- especially the high selections that New Orleans ended up shipping to Philly -- are extremely valuable, and it was highly imprudent -- though luck was certainly not on their side -- of the Pelicans' management to simply send them away without receiving an absolutely sure thing in return.

Soon after, the team announced that it would be sending away another first-rounder (in 2015) for C Omer Asik. This meant that the front office had decided that they needed to shift Davis to his unnatural position of power forward, sending three-point sniper PF Ryan Anderson to the bench, despite the fact that the two had actually played very well together. Defenders of the Asik trade claim that the Anderson-Davis pairing resulted in a negative plus-minus rating for the team as a whole, but the stats were in fact very misleading here: the two often played together when the Pelicans would send their bench, or worst players, out onto the court for the other three slots in the lineup. The Davis-Asik pairing was highly redundant -- both excelled at rebounding and blocking -- and was never really much of a success. To make matters worse, New Orleans extended Asik to a 5 year/$60 million contract in 2015, and now he's simply good for grabbing six rebounds in 18 minutes per game, and nothing else. That $60 million also meant that the team couldn't afford to hang onto Anderson, who actually complimented Davis' talents well.

I could go on and disect every single one of New Orleans' moves from the past five years -- the Tyreke Evans and Eric Gordon debacles come to mind -- but I think you get the idea. Management in The Big Easy was far too wasteful with first-round picks that should otherwise be precious, and were overall simply too imprudent in the decision-making process. They did well to lock up AD to a monster long-term extension this past summer, but creating talent around him is a challenge. At this moment, Holiday is the team's beta dog, and that explains the team's 7-15 record pretty well. I actually commend the selection of Buddy Hield in this year's draft, and perhaps over time and with better management as their players develop, NOLA may be able to avoid a LeBron 2010 situation and actually build a legitimate contender around Davis.

Houston's struggles were of no secrecy last year: despite featuring a pair of superstars in SG James Harden and C Dwight Howard -- as well as what initially looked to be a solid supporting cast -- the team limped its way to a 41-41 record, barely qualified for the playoffs as the eighth seed in the West, and were handily swept by the then-reigning champs, Golden State. What happened?

Well one blatant issue was defense. Especially for a team lauded for its elite defenders all over the court -- PG Patrick Beverley, SF Trevor Ariza, Howard -- the Rockets seriously struggled last year. At 106.5, the team surrendered the sixth most points per game in the league, and the five teams below them had an average of 22.6 wins over the course of the 82-game season. Conversely, the five teams who allowed the fewest points per game averaged 53.6 wins. In addition to winning championships, defense also wins games.

However, the one thing the Rockets did very well on defense, I must admit, is forcing turnovers. The team led the league with 10.0 steals per game, and tied for the league-lead in forced turnovers per game at 15.8. This in turn led to several fast-break points, as transition offense is at efficient as it gets in the sport of basketball.

But that's about the only sentence you'll ever see which has both the words 'efficient' and 'Rockets 2015-16 offense' in it (other than this one). While Houston jacked up 30.9 threes per game -- second in the league only to the Warriors -- only a mediocre 34.7% of them were good, checking in at 19th in the league. Indeed, the team struggled at being productive in the half-court and just never really got their set offense clicking all season, instead choosing to push the pace, which they were in fact seventh in the league in. It also didn't help that the Rockets themselves coughed up the ball 15.2 times per game last season, a figure good for top-five in the league.

But over the summer, GM Daryl Morey addressed the problem: he let the stagnant Dwight Howard and PG Ty Lawson go, and used the new found capspace to add a pair of long-range gunners in PF Ryan Anderson and SG Eric Gordon. The Gordon move in particular puzzled many: didn't Houston already have a shooting guard, a certain James Harden?

The front office and the coaching staff were trying something new: shift their superstar over to point guard. After all, it was time for a change.

And the change was successful. Now, four members of the Houston starting five -- Harden, Gordon, Ariza, and Anderson -- combine for 12.1 made threes per game; those four players alone would place second in the league for team threes per game. But instead, the entire Rockets team combines for 14 threes per game thus far this season, which is tops in the league -- even above Golden State (12.1) and Cleveland (13.3).

But as we saw last year, the key with threes lies not in the volume, but in the efficiency. And at 37.8% -- fourth in the league -- the Rockets have found their key. That figure, in fact, is in large part thanks to their new additions: Gordon is connecting on 39.6% of his long-balls, while Anderson is hitting a blazing-hot 42.9%.

The Rockets aren't forcing nearly as many turnovers as they were last season, but the data indicates that that's actually because they are playing smarter, more conservative defense rather than going for steals. Indeed, their defensive rating rank is about the same thus far this season as it was last season, and this is without their anchor Dwight Howard (yeah, he is good for something, in fact). As of this moment, Houston is 13-7 (0.650) with the sixth best record in basketball and fourth in the Western Conference.

Meanwhile, James Harden is experiencing the best season of his career, averaging 28.3 points, 11.8 assists, 7.8 rebounds, 2.9 made threes, and 1.3 steals per game -- and all on a higher effective field goal percentage (efg%) than last season. Moving James Harden to point guard and letting Howard walk -- moves that both opened the door for Gordon and Anderson to enter the lineup and start knocking down threes -- were both quite the head-scratchers at the time, but now make for one of the league's most compelling turnaround success stories (even if the Rocket bench is still sub-par).

This is not how you’re supposed to do it. This is not how anyone does it.

There’s something to be said for staying loyal to one team your whole career. Think of literally any legend in NBA history: Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird – even all the way back to Bill Russell. Even those a small step down from the above names – Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Paul Pierce, Patrick Ewing, Dwyane Wade (hopefully). The list goes on. Every name there has their jersey already (or will soon be) hanging from the rafters as a franchise legend, adored and respected not only by fans of their team, but also by fans of basketball as a whole.

And then there’s Kevin Durant.

After playing for a smaller-market team for the first half of his career, the former MVP decided to bolt for a bigger market on a team loaded with superstars.

It’s a story that sounds familiar, because it is. It was LeBron James’ story.

Except there are several key differences. In the summer of 2010, “staying” for LeBron meant continuing to play for a Cavaliers team which had a completely incompetent management that failed to put any stars next to the best player in the world. In LeBron’s final season of his first Cleveland stint in 2009-10, the Cavs – featuring Mo Williams as the team’s second best player – were handily wiped out in the second round by a superior Boston Celtics team.
Honestly -- although James handled the whole situation terribly – looking in hindsight, he made a respectable and justifiable decision by joining Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. Of course, I might not be saying that had The King not wound up completing the Cinderella story by “coming home” after two titles with the Heat, and just recently bringing the city of Cleveland its first major sports title in over 40 years.

But Durant doesn’t even have the same argument to ditch OKC now as LeBron did when ditching Cleveland back in 2010 – where James became the most hated athlete on the face of the Earth for doing so. In fact, the Thunder’s management is quite the opposite of “incompetent” – GM Sam Presti heads one of the most elite front offices in basketball, which is never resting on its laurels and always looking to improve – as evidenced in part by the recent Serge Ibaka trade. Durant, in his final season with the team, was not “handily wiped out by a superior team in the second round” as LeBron was in 2009-10. In fact, OKC triumphed over the title-contending Spurs in the second round this past season before pushing Golden State to the brink of elimination in the Western Conference Finals.

Additionally – and this is perhaps the most significant difference between LeBron’s decision then and Durant’s now  – the second best player on his team is not Mo Williams. Rather, Durant’s point guard is fellow top five player Russell Westbrook. As well, the team features a whole host of talented youth: SG Victor Oladipo, PG Cameron Payne, centers Steven Adams and Enes Kanter, PF Domantas Sabonis, and more. Durant isn’t exactly ditching a dumpster fire like LeBron was.

Thus given how much hate LeBron got in 2010, and how his decision was far more justifiable than Durant’s -- I would imagine that Durant is going to be the most hated player in basketball now. Which is unfortunate. He’s not a bad person per se (on the contrary, he actually does a lot of philanthropic work), he’s just a hard-working kid chasing his dream of winning NBA titles. Only that – if he wants to be remembered as an all-time great – he’s doing it the wrong way.

After an overwhelming 28-2 vote among the owners, the NBA has announced that starting in the 2017-18 season, teams will be permitted to sell a 2.5 inch by 2.5 inch patch on their jerseys to corporations, who may in turn use that space to advertise as they wish. The decision was immediately met with much animosity amongst fans:

"Doesn't the NBA make enough money already?"
"Can't we leave anything pure without it getting infected by greedy corporations?"
"How long before they start putting ads on the courts? Or start calling themselves the New York Toyotas?"
"Does this mean they'll have enough money to end those 15-minute halftimes full of commercials?"
"It'll make the jerseys look awful!"

All valid -- to an extent.

Let me ask you something: what did you think of the NBA's jerseys for the All-Star Game this year in Toronto?

Not bad, right? And here's how they looked on the players during the real game:

But did you notice...

Fine, maybe a few of you saw the little Kia or Adidas logos for those two pictures. But could you seriously have seen it from here?

You probably have to look hard just to even see my red circles.

And yes, the size of the logos you see here are the exact same size that you will see a couple years from now. The thing is, I don't recall anyone being upset over these All-Star jerseys. True, this is just for one game a year while this new ruling is indefinite, but I think the question still remains: how does this negatively impact you, as a fan? You can hardly notice.

Have a look at this TV view here (yes, it's HD):

Now, you do know that these jerseys have ads, and maybe you're trying to find them now that you're thinking about it. But how about trying to find these:

Mountain Dew. Gatorade. State Farm. Kia. The NBA is even advertising their own app here (next to State Farm, on the basket). And to the guy asking "How long until they put ads on the court?", well look right under the Mountain Dew sign, and you'll find a nice big ad for the Swiss watch company, Tissot. I'm pretty sure that's a little bigger than 2.5 inches, by the way (for reference, the 6′3″ Stephen Curry is standing right in front of it).

So no, I do not think 2.5 by 2.5 inch logos on jerseys will be ruining anyone's viewing experience, and I don't think that it makes the jerseys look bad. In my opinion, there is a degree of hypocrisy associated with anybody who rips the NBA over a couple of inches, yet glances over that Tissot sign, or anything on the jumbotron here:

To respond to a couple other complaints:
- The NBA has said that jerseys bought by fans of a particular player (ex: LeBron James) will not have any corporate logos or advertisements on them.
- Only half of the ad revenue goes to the league; the other half goes to the owner of that team, which then gets redistributed amongst the team's players, as per league rules. The NBA's CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) has long been the gold standard in professional sports of fair and equitable distribution of money amongst the league, owners, staff, and players.

However, with all of that being said (and shown), that does not mean that I fully approve of what the NBA is doing here. The question "Does this mean they'll have enough money to end those 15-minute halftimes full of commercials?" still has validity to me. The league has not announced any plan to cut back on commercial time as part of this new revenue.

​Answer me this: what makes stuff like this acceptable?

In the WNBA's case, it's the simple reality that the league needs the money. But in soccer's case, it's the fact that there are no commercial timeouts: 45 minutes (one half) of non-stop action at a time.

Thus by this same principle, the NBA should now be able to cut down on TV timeouts. Right? Right?!

And while I personally would rather watch basketball over soccer 99 times out of 100 (the "one" being the World Cup), don't think that the NBA already flows like soccer does. Quite the contrary: the NBA has automatic timeouts at the 6-minute and 3-minute mark of the first and third quarters, and at the 9, 6, and 3-minute marks of the second and fourth quarters. Since basketball quarters are only 12 minutes long, this means that you will only be able to have a maximum of three minutes of uninterrupted basketball, or one-fifteenth (1/15) that of soccer.

There is no doubt that basketball games already last too long, even though there is only just 48 minutes of actual gameplay. Hacking, or intentionally fouling a poor free throw shooter on the opposing team rather than letting them play offense, has come under fire for this very reason. While an admired tactic among basketball purists such as myself, you'll be hard-pressed to find someone who answers "What's your favorite part of a basketball game?" with "Watching DeAndre Jordan brick two free throws". Even something as simple as replay review -- done merely to get the call correct -- now has all sorts of restrictions on when it can be used over fears of delaying the game: sometimes referees even declare a jump ball when they don't know who touched the ball last before it went out of bounds, when a simple trip to the monitor would have given the right team possession.

In short, you know there's a problem when a featured playoff game is ending at 2 A.M. on the East Coast. Something needs to get done, and the simplest, best, most popular -- and now most practical -- solution would be to reduce the amount of commercial timeouts, something that should definitely be possible now due to these new advertisements on jerseys.

To conclude, I do not think that it is fair to be so black-and-white on this issue of ads on jerseys. Anybody arguing completely against the league's ruling needs to understand firstly that it's a business, and secondly that the logos will be hardly noticeable, especially when compared to other ads you see in stadiums. On the other hand, however, anybody giving the opposite hard-line stance -- that these ads are completely acceptable -- needs to be enlightened on the issues that this newfound revenue can solve, and how it can improve the average fan's viewing experience.

​Draymond Green. James Harden. DeMarcus Cousins. Anthony Davis. Blake Griffin. Chris Paul.
But alas, it was Kobe, yet again.
 
The Black Mamba rounded out the West’s All-Star starting five, announced on Wednesday. Joining Bryant are Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Kawhi Leonard, and Kevin Durant.
 
Look, Kobe is an all-time great for sure. Top 10, maybe even top 5 -- ever. Period. But that was then, and this is now.
 
“Then” saw Kobe win five rings, in 2000, ‘01, ‘02, ‘09, and 2010; “then” saw Kobe finally win his first MVP in 2008; “then” saw the Mamba drop 81 points on the Raptors in 2006.
 
But “now” sees Kobe as a 37 year old man; “now” sees a worn-out body who is coming off of three straight season-ending injuries; “now” is Bryant shooting 34.5% from the field.
 
The “now” Kobe is hardly even reminiscent of the “then” Kobe. That is both a compliment and an insult:
 
It is a compliment in that it emphasizes that Kobe was so much better than this, and this final season of his will not be what we remember his legacy by.
It is an insult in that Kobe is bad this season. Really bad, especially for his own gargantuan standards.
 
More importantly, it is an insult to the fans who keep voting for him. Which brings me back to my original point.
 
The league Player Efficiency Rating (PER) average is 15.0. Anthony Davis’ is 24.96, Chris Paul’s is 24.86, Harden’s is 24.35, Cousins’ is 23.89.
These players make up the 6 through 9th ranked spots in the PER list so far this season. Curry is of course on top with 32.67, and Blake Griffin checks in at number 14 with 23.55.
 
Now, where is Kobe, you ask? So did I, and I actually had a difficult time finding him. But there he was, finally, on Page 5 of the rankings, coming in at 202nd, with a whopping PER of 12.84:

​You thought I was joking.
 
The point is, and it should be quite obvious by now, is that Kobe does not deserve to be an All-Star starter. Much less does he deserve to be called a top 10 player anymore, or a top 50, or a top 100, or a top first four pages. In absolutely no way, shape, or form, does he even come close to being close to the aforementioned West superstars. He is depriving a spot from those who truly deserve it.
 
But Kobe didn’t vote himself into the All-Star game. So who’s really to blame?
 
Well, the short and obvious answer is the fans. They voted Kobe into the All-Star game. In fact, 1.9 million of them did, making Kobe the top vote-getter -- higher than Curry (1.6 million) and approximately the same as LeBron and Durant combined (total of 2.0 million). The fans also made fan-favorite Maverick center Zaza Pachulia the 6th highest vote-getter in the West. Pachulia finished with 768,000 votes, and Westbrook barely edged him out with 772,000.
 
It’s crazy. It really is. Curry and Westbrook are the two best players in the NBA this season according to our trustworthy PER statistic (at 32.67 and 29.04, respectively), while Pachulia is 69th with 17.83 and Kobe is, of course, 202nd with 12.84. So how can we possibly justify the voting results?
 
We can’t. There is no justification, only an explanation. And it’s a sad, troubling explanation too -- one that I didn’t want to have to come to, but it’s the only one that makes sense:
 
The All-Star voting has become a popularity, not a talent, contest.
 
It’s true -- you may recall that in 2013-14, Kobe was voted in as an All-Star starter. Just one problem: Bryant had played all of 6 games that season, was injured during the entire voting process and could not play in the All-Star game anyways. The sad truth is that Bryant became an All-Star the past three seasons not because he was talented, but because he used to be talented, because he’s famous, because he’s Kobe Freakin’ Bryant and the fans will just vote for their favorite players, whether those players deserve it or not.
 
But again, Kobe didn’t vote himself into the All-Star game. So who’s really to blame?
 
Well, the longer and more complicated answer is the NBA. They are the ones who allow us fans to vote in the first place. How it works is that the fans vote for the 10 All-Star starters, while the NBA coaches select the remaining 20 All-Stars.
 
Oddly enough, I’ve rarely heard people complain about the coaches’ decisions. But every year, the fans select the wrong players, and every year, fans are upset with their own decisions.
 
Why can’t we just have the coaches choose the whole roster?
 
Well the counter-argument is that All-Star weekend is just an entertainment event, so the fans should be able to choose who they want to watch. But it’s so much more than that.
 
How many All-Star selections a player has is of outsized importance. There are bonuses put into contracts depending on if a player gets selected, and it’s used as one of the main measuring sticks when assessing a player’s stardom level, thus affecting how much money they get in the first place.
 
And it’s also used as a measuring stick for greatness:

While perhaps a less perfect list than say, ranking by MVP awards, the all-time All Star list is actually a fairly comprehensive ranking of legends, albeit with flaws. Now do you see why Kobe’s last three All-Star appearances-- none of which he deserved -- matter so much?
 
Kobe will be retiring at season’s end, and of course the buzz over where he ranks all-time is only starting up. Kobe should have 15 All-Stars, making him tied with the likes of Duncan, Garnett, and O’Neal for 2nd all-time. But Bryant has 18 All-Stars in 20 seasons, giving off the false notion of dominance even in the twilight of his legendary career. Maybe with 18 All-Stars people will rank him sixth instead of seventh, ahead of Larry Bird instead of just behind him, as the greatest Laker ever, instead of behind Magic Johnson. Even if it makes no difference in the aforementioned comparisons, the fact of the matter is that Bryant doesn’t deserve to be right there on this list with Kareem , who dominated the game every single season for two entire decades, sans the 1978 season when Kareem was injured.
 
On the flip side, what happens if a Karl Anthony-Towns or a Damian Lillard (21st and 26th in PER, respectively) misses out on the All-Star game because Kobe took their spot? It’s actually not even “what if”, it’s a “when”, because naturally there is now one less spot for a deserving player in the West. It changes everything, and it's extremely unfortunate for the younger stars, as it has been for the past few years.
 
Perhaps there is a solution, however --  one that allows both the fans to get their entertainment value, and for the true All-Stars to be All-Stars:
 
The fans select the entire rosters. All 30 guys. And they get to see all of their fan favorites play. But the NBA makes a “Coach’s All-Stars, allowing the coaches to make  a separate list of two 15-man rosters. Overlap between the “Fans’ All-Stars” and the “Coaches’ All-Stars” is bound to occur and is absolutely fine.
 
Here, we can use the “Coach’s All-Stars” list when measuring how good a player actually is, and the fans can vote for as many Zaza Pachulia’s as they want, because none of it will actually matter.
 
Likely the biggest objection to this would be that some of the true stars, who will be selected by the coaches, won’t get the “honor” of participating in the game, but we all know that it’s just a game. Nobody even tries in it anyways -- there is never any defense played, and the whole thing is one giant dunk contest. Excellent entertainment value for sure, and that’s what the NBA is going for.
 
So if what the NBA wants is to appease the fans (in order to acquire maximum $$), then let them choose the entire rosters. Just don’t allow any of it to actually matter: leave the important decisions up to only the most intelligent voters: the coaches. Everybody wins.
 
Look, I get that you (1.9 million of you) want to see Kobe in his last All-Star game, for one reason or another. Sentimental factors and stuff like that. That’s fine -- I’d like for The Mamba to receive a proper goodbye as well. But the next time you vote, just think about what you’re doing first, think of the impact it will have on those who deserve it, and think: “Am I only voting for this person because they’re famous?”
 
That applies to basketball, as well as politics.