Western Conference

Backcourt Starters

Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant

The backcourt for the Western Conference will feature two of the best all-around  players in the league who are both located in the same city but are on teams that are going in two separate directions. First off, PG Chris Paul has been leading the exciting and surprising Clippers team who’s currently 2^nd in the West sitting a half game behind the Oklahoma City Thunder. On the other side, you have Kobe Bryant and the Lakers who are by far the biggest story in the NBA because of how disappointing they’ve been so far this season. Both of these players are connected in what appears to be “the changing of the guard” when it comes to NBA basketball in Los Angeles.

Chris Paul has always been a top guard since his college days in Wake Forest but so far this season he’s been an MVP candidate on a championship contending Clippers team. Sure there’s a great cast of players on that team but he’s currently leading the charge by averaging 18.1 PPG, 10.4 APG and a league leading 2.8 SPG. By watching Chris you can tell that he has that coach’s mentality about him because he instructs the other four guys on the court like a general. He’s a great scoring threat but the main reason why he’s so great is because of how much better he makes the rest of the four players on the court.

While the Clippers are striving and thriving under Chris Paul, the Lakers on the other hand are in the middle of a horrible train-wreck. It all started really started when they fired head coach Mike Brown after a 1-4 record in the beginning of the season. Immediately after the firing there were rumors that they would go after legendary coach Phil Jackson which ultimately became a huge let down to fans everywhere after the Lakers front office hired Mike D’Antoni at the last minute. That let-down plus Pau Gasol trade rumors, Steve Nash being out a month due to injury, and of course the current 17-21 record have Laker fans everywhere stunned and shocked.

However one of the few bright spots for the Lakers has to be the play of 34 year old guard Kobe Bryant. Bryant has been having a career year averaging 30 PPG, 5 RPG and 5 APG which are his best numbers since the 2006-07 season. After watching Kobe destroy the Bucks on Tuesday night, I noticed that he’s becoming more of an outside shooting threat which is smart because he really can’t go drive to that paint because of his age even though he’s had some great highlight reel moments so far this season.

Backcourt Reserves

Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, and James Harden

Before the collapse of the Lakers, the big story in the NBA was James Harden being sent from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Houston Rockets in a trade in late October. Harden so far has made the smooth transition from 6^th man in OKC to being the star player on a young and rebuilding Rockets team who are actually currently 8^th in the West. Harden has always been a great scoring threat throughout his career but has made the transformation to being elite so far this season by averaging 26.4 PPG on 45% shooting from the field. Not only has he been an elite scorer but also a solid all-around player by averaging 4.3 RPG and 5.3 APG which actually stands right up there with starting point guard Jeremy Lin.

While James Harden is the top star in Houston, Russell Westbrook is the unquestionable Robin to Kevin Durant’s Batman. Last season there were reports of spats between the two players but they of course put aside their differences to take the team to the NBA Finals. Despite having that experience on the NBA’s biggest stage, Russell is still a player who makes rookie mistakes despite being in his 5^th season in the league because he still shoots bad shots and makes silly passes. Despite those mistakes, he’s still a top notch point guard in the western conference because of how good his statistics are (22.0 PPG, 8.5 APG and 2.0 SPG. I know stats really don’t tell the full tale but those stats and his overall popularity should be able to help Russell go back to the All-Star game for his 3^rd consecutive season.

People thought the Warriors would eventually be a great team in the future but nobody besides the Golden State faithful could predict that they’d be so good this season. The leader of the surprising team has to be Stephen Curry who has become unquestionably become the best three point shooter in the league this year after shooting .461 from beyond the arc while averaging 22 PPG and 8.5 APG. Besides being a great shooter and a leader offensively, he’s also helping the Warriors become a better defensive team. Before this season, the Warriors were known as perhaps the worst defensive team in all of the NBA but the mindset is different this year because they currently sit at 10^th in the league in defensive efficiency. That might not sound great but remember that they’re playing without center Andrew Bogut and are starting three players who are either in their sophomore or rookie seasons.

Honorable Mentions

Damian Lillard and Tony Parker

Damian Lillard may be my personal pick for the Rookie of the Year award so far this season but that’s not quite good enough to be a member of the Western Conference All-Star team. This 6’3 rookie out of Weber State was really a forgotten commodity during the preseason but came out of the gate strong after a 23 point and 11 assist performance during an opening night game against the Lakers and really hasn’t slowed down since. Damian Lillard is above and behind the best rookie so far this year because he’s helping lead this Trail Blazers team into the midst of the Western conference playoff race and he’s averaging great some great statistics (18.3 PPG and 6.1 APG).

He’s no longer that 21 year old prodigy that was making waves with the Spurs when they won the title in 2003 but he’s still having a great season nearly 10 years later. The 30 year old Parker and the rest of the Spurs have defined age to lead the Spurs to the 3^rd seed in a stacked Western Conference that includes such power houses as Oklahoma City, the LA Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies. Parker on his own is being outshined by Tim Duncan (will talk about him later) but is having an excellent season by averaging 19.5 PPG, 7.1 APG and shooting over .52% from the field. Now those numbers are excellent and he’s definitely worthy of making the All-Star game but the Western Conference is so strong when it comes to backcourt players that Tony Parker will unfortunately be left out of my All-Star lineup.

Frontcourt Starters

Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, and Dwight Howard

Previously I stated that Stephen Curry was the best shooter in all of the NBA but I do believe that Kevin Durant is the best all-around scorer in the league. Now that may sound rather obvious because he’s been the scoring champion for the past three seasons but it can’t be stressed more how great of a scoring threat he actually is. He’s up there as one of the better three point shooters in the league (shooting .40% from beyond the arc) but he can also take it in and use his 6’9 body to work in the paint to help him average 28.7 PPG. Not only is he an unstoppable shooter but he’s also an above average rebounder (7.7 RPG) and a solid passer (4.2 APG) which puts him in discussions for best player in the league.

He’s known as one of the most athletic forwards in the NBA and has put his imprint on the history of the Slam Dunk contest but this year Blake Griffin is finally turning into a better all-around basketball player. Griffin’s stats are slightly down this year (17.9 PPG and 8.6 RPG) compared to last year but that may be due to the fact that the Clippers have added new players like Jamal Crawford and Matt Barnes.  The reason why I said that he’s becoming a better all-around player is because some of the fundamental aspects of his game like defense and free-throw shooting have improved this season compared to his first two seasons in the league.

I’ve written upwards of 1,450 words so far in this article on both the Western and Eastern Conference but I really can’t put my finger on Dwight Howard. I’ve watched a handful of Laker games this season and I’ve noticed that Howard is clearly not the same athletic player that he was last season simply because he’s banged up and recovering from multiple injuries. He’s going to be in the All-Star game because of past history and his great statistics (17.4 PPG, 12.5 RPG, and 2.6 BPG) but a part of me will still be uncertain of that choice when I watch him play on February 17^th.

Frontcourt Reserves

Tim Duncan, Omer Asik, Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol,

In the past two seasons, it appeared that Spurs legend and future hall of famer Tim Duncan might’ve been losing a step or two. His overall productivity was trending downward in both the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons but it appears he took a big swig out of the fountain of youth before the start of the year. Duncan’s numbers and overall production have increased tenfold this season (17.1 PPG, 9.6 RPG, and 2.7 BPG) over the previous two seasons. I’ve only seen Duncan play a few games this season whether it would be against my home town Bucks or on national TV but I can tell that this is that MVP caliber player that every fan loved and every other team feared in the mid 2000’s.

While Duncan is continuing to build his Hall of Fame resume, Rockets center Omer Asik is still making a name for himself in this league. Asik was a defensive specialist and part of the now infamous Chicago Bulls “Bench Mob” last season but signed a multi-year deal this offseason to become a member of a young Houston Rockets team. Asik is still a great defender for the Rockets but has actually developed a bit of an offensive game which boosted his PPG from 7.6 points per 36 minutes to 12.5 points per 36 this season. Now I know Asik is not at the level of Duncan or Blake Griffin but I do think he’s good enough to get a shot in the All-Star game this year because of just how productive he’s been with the 8^th seed Houston Rockets.

Both Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol have combined to produce what probably is the most dangerous front court in all the NBA. Marc Gasol is perhaps the top center in all of the NBA right now which is nuts when you look at the fact that he was just a throw-in player in the trade that sent his brother Pau to the Lakers in 2008. Since then he’s become an elite center in this league putting up stats like 13.4 PPG, 7.4 RPG and 2 BPG. On the other hand, Zach Randolph was a troubled soul for most of his NBA career but has matured both as a player and as a person. Yes, he’s posting of monster numbers of 16.6 PPG and 11.7 RPG but the most important thing to his overall game would be his leadership ability. That ability is going to help some of the younger Grizzlies players like Tony Wroten and Josh Shelby grow both as players and as men.

Frontcourt Honorable Mentions

Serge Ibaka and David Lee

Thunder forward Serge Ibaka first came into the mainstream during the 2010 playoffs as a 20 year old shot blocking and defensive fiend but things have changed three years later. Ibaka is still an excellent shot blocker (2.9 BPG), rebounder (8.4 RPG), and good defender but he’s developed quite the offensive game. Ibaka actually has a solid mid-range shot which adds another offensive weapon to a team that already includes Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.

Previously I talked about how Stephen Curry was leading the Warriors team but forward David Lee is definitely the #2 guy on this team. Lee has been a great player since his days with the Knicks but has been held down by mediocre Knicks and Warriors teams until this year. This Warriors team is so good because all of the players know their role and Lee’s role on this team is quite frankly to be Stephen Curry’s right hand man. Lee is currently doing a great job being Stephen’s sidekick because his defense is improving and yet he’s still posting excellent numbers of 20 PPG and 11 RPG.