We'll start out west...First up is my man Brian Stark SG for the Golden State Warriors. The first thing I realized very quickly when researching this article is that the West may suck overall...they are absolutely stacked at the shooting guard position the 3 guys I looked at from the West all play SG. Stark has recently been characterized as a good scorer on a bad team. I'd say this is an accurate description he's a volume scorer on a team under .500 was this an actual snub? Absolutely not, Dame, Wiggins, and even Rubio in the wildcard spot deserved to be in over Stark. He does some recognition for putting the ball in the basket and will be an interesting RFA come the offseason
Another shooting guard out west...Bradley Beal is having a fantastic season for the resurgent Mavs. They are currently the 4 seed in the West and just 3.5 games behind the division leading Grizzlies. Beal is shooting a scorching 42% from 3 (higher than the 3 All-stars selected above him). Wiggins deserved his starting SG spot, scoring almost 29 points a game, so you won't see this article state otherwise. But Beal vs Dame is close but I still give the edge to Lillard due to a slightly better shooting % and grabbing more rebounds and dishing out more assists. Beal maybe has an argument to get in over Rubio, but the wildcard spots are hard to guage. Rubio is the league leader in assists and averages a full 2 rpg more than Beal. Grab a rebound every now and then Bradley and you may manage your way into an All-Star game.
Lastly C.J. McCollum SG for the Trailblazers. He is the 6th leading scorer in the entire league and was left off the All-Star roster. Again impossible to argue he make it over Wiggins, and again Dame does everything CJ does, just a little bit better. But how can the 6th leading scorer in the NBA not find a spot in a game with 24 dudes playing. Just let this list illustrate the amount of scoring going on by 2 guards in the West; Wiggins 28.8 ppg (4th), Dame 27.3 (5th), McCollum 27.0 (6th), Beal 26.2 (8th), Stark 22.8 (15th)
Out East it's a little different 2 of the 3 "snubs" are still out on the wing, with 1 big man.
We'll start off with 3rd year standout Lavar Ball. Ball is putting up about 23 and 5 a game and has really improved his game every year he's been in the league. He was probably bumped off the All-Star bench by recently acquired teammate Klay Thompson. Had Ball somehow joined Klay, Wall, and Irving that would have given Charlotte 4 All-Stars in a loaded Eastern Conference. The team was already good, but if Darth can find a big man to anchor the post they'd have an absolutely loaded roster. Tyreke Evans does have a higher PER with a better all around game putting up nearly 20 / 7 / 5 and with the Bobcats already having 3 All-Stars giving a 4th to the team currently seeded 5th in the East would probably be excessive. So while Ball is putting up All-Star numbers, Evans wasn't a terrible choice.
The East Shooting Guard is all over the map for me. I personally would have had Kyrie starting, Russ coming off the bench and James Harden in as the wildcard and left Curry off the roster. Nothing against Steph he is having a great season in Indy and that squad should be celebrated for being 10 games over .500. I know PER isn't the end all be all, but Harden has a 27 PER while Curry is at 23.6. Harden has a better shooting %, 0.3 more ppg, 0.2 less apg, and 0.4 more rpg. Oh and his team is currently the 4th seed, while the Pacers are in the lotto...and wow that's a whole nother story, the Pacers are 31-21 and are currently in the 9th seed.
Last but not least...I was going to put Rudy Gay here, but thought I'd shine some light on a player who is a lot more efficient. And that player is non other than sophomore sensation Ben Simmons. He's barely playing 30 mins per game and is putting up 22 / 7 / 2 on 60% shooting and has a PER of 24.1. AD I guess deserves to start. You would think Pedraza was automatic over Simmons too, but Buddy just barely edged out Ben Sim with a stat line of 22.1 / 7.7 / 3.4. But Buddy is playing 4 more mins per game. It seems easier for a wing player to rack up stats thus Tyreke and Curry getting the nod over Simmons, but I would have liked to see the league leader in FG% get recognized.
