NBA 2018 All Star Game: Predicting The Starters

The second guard slot for the East is a difficult one to predict. Kyrie Irving is a great player, but he will struggle without having a certain no. 23 on the court with him; he is not ready to lead a team and this will hurt his all star prospects.

DeMar DeRozen is another fantastic guard in the East, but ultimately, he will finish closely behind John Wall in the voting for the starting slot next to Thomas. Both are brilliantly skilled players, ridiculously athletic, both know how to get the ball in the basket and are great leaders for their respective teams. The two players were even on the All-NBA Third Team last season.

The only thing that will put John Wall ahead of DeMar DeRozen in this race is the passing. John Wall has averaged double digit assists over the last three seasons, and around 20 points per game. Compare this to DeRozan's numbers, his points per page is slightly higher, but the assists are nowhere near.

Yes, this is to be expected when comparing a point guard to a shooting guard, but in the all star voting system they will both just be classed as guards and it will be the slightest margin that gets Wall on the court at tip off.