NBA 2018 All Star Game: Predicting The Starters
Hey now, you're an all star, get your game on, go play.
The NBA is an organisation that celebrates greatness in many ways; the Finals, the MVP award and even the Most Improved Player award. There is no shortage of ways to earn recognition in the league.
However, the above titles are either awarded to one team, or one individual. The NBA All Star game celebrated players from all over the league. The twelve best players from the East and West conferences as voted by the fans are pitted against each other in a show of awe-inspiring talent, and very little defence.
Ten of the 24 players will have an honour above the rest in this game; they are the starters. Five players from each conference will be on the court for the tip off and start one of the biggest games of any NBA season.
Needless to say this is a fantastic achievement any player would be proud of, and thus needs to be earned throughout the first half of the season. The competition for these spots will be as fierce as ever in 2017-18, so let's look at who will make the cut.
10. West - Guard - Russell Westbrook
In the 2016-17 season, Russell Westbrook was a beast. There is no other word for how this guy played. No one in the entire NBA since Oscar Robertson in 1962 had ever averaged a triple double over the span of a whole season, until Russ last year. Averaging over 30 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists would be impressive by anyone's standards, but for a 6'4" Point Guard those numbers are even more ridiculous!
This is the reason why he took the MVP trophy away from fantastic players like Kawhi Leonard and James Harden, and this is on a team that lost Kevin Durant and had no real weapons other than Westbrook. Without him the Thunder wouldn't have even made the playoffs.
Last season the challenge facing Westbrook was whether he could produce, as well as the season before without Kevin Durant. After proving that - and then some - the question facing him going into next season is how well he and the team will play after adding Paul George into the mix.
Westbrook proved last season that it doesn't matter who else is with him on the floor, he is going to produce all star calibre basketball.