In my ESPN days, it was standard procedure after the All-Star starters were announced for me to write a full column to announce/explain/defend my suggested choices for the seven All-Star reserve spots in each conference.
In the Substack era, I prefer to do this in a more societal manner and invite everyone in The Stein Line community to join me in making these picks.
The coaches' votes are due into the league office Monday. So let's try to help them get it right by opening the floor and making sure no worthy candidate's case is overlooked. List your seven reserves in each conference in the thread below.
By way of reminder: Captain Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum, Kevin Durant, Donovan Mitchell and Kyrie Irving were selected as the East's starters. In the West, Captain LeBron James is joined as a starter by Nikola Jokić, Zion Williamson, Stephen Curry and Luka Dončić.
Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid easily could have been All-Star starters and will surely be selected by coaches as All-Star reserves … but what about New York’s Julius Randle?
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The reserves were anointed and boy is there a big disconnect between the coaches and popular opinion! They skipped over Harden, which makes me wonder if Kyrie hadn't been picked for prom king, would they have invited him to the dance. Nice to see DeRozan and Haliburton make it, definitely coaches showing respect for team players who yoke their talents to the group effort. How close was the vote between Butler and Adebayo, and was it merely games played? Booker, Siakam and McCollum seem to have not made the cut more due to their underperforming teams rather than their high level of play. Lauri and Domintas exceeded personal and team expectations, the coaches nailed these two. Overall I think the coaches picks were more accurate than the fans. Cant wait for the captains picks, especially to see who will leapfrog who - it's always Dame.Time, maybe?
I have no real idea, bc the league has so many exciting stars and it’s fun. I just know that Jrue Holiday likely won’t make it and I wish he would. He deserves it, but it’s hard to see who he bumps out.
East: Embiid, Jaylen Brown, Haliburton and Siakam. Jimmy or Bam (should be Bam but I know Jimmy has a lot of respect), Brunson or Julius Randle (should be Brunson for holding the team for so long but Julius is playing incredibly right now), and I guess Harden for me
West: Ja, SGA, Lauri, and Sabonis are obvious locks to me too. Based on current in this moment performances- Ant, Dame, and PG I think
The lack of respect Anthony Edwards gets for what he has done this season - carried a team missing their biggest/best player and doing it in EVERY SINGLE GAME is inexcusable. Only need to Ctrl+F on an article and type in Edwards to see the national media over looking one of the best young players in the league.
Has everything to do with W/L record. Best teams often get multiple players, while all the .500 (or less) clubs struggle to land one.
Nobody would be talking about Sabonis AND Fox if Kings weren’t #3 in the West (both are worthy btw, just saying). Chris Paul made the 2022 team with 14.3/8.7/4.4 aves, but PHX was #1 in the West (along with Booker). GSW was #2 and landed 3 guys, including 2 starters!
KATs injury (and the Gobert fiasco) are hurting Edwards, whereas he should be getting credit for carrying the team. Not fair, but seems to be the logic.
Totally agree. People talking about Fox over Ant is complete disrespect. Almost no one outside of Houston or Minnesota knows about his 44 point, three nasty dunk game. Lebron sneezes and Marc writes an article.
No one is overlooking Ant. My 16-year-old would disown me if I overlooked Ant because he loves Ant. But in the West I only listed my four reserve looks and he's not ahead of Ja, SGA, Markkanen or Sabonis.
Harden should be an automatic. A lock. He is averaging 21,6/6,5/11,2 apg on a great efficiency 45/39/87. Leads the league in assists and his team is 2nd. Nobody after Jaylen Brown has a better case, Probably Tyrese how he lead Indiana but after that nobody else has a case over him.
Harden has an undeniable case to be a lock and a strong case to make it as one of the top seven given how Philly is playing. Only the injury absence works against him.
Booker should be there. Might not have enough games played at this point (although he should be back this week), but with how futile the Suns are without him shows just how monstrously good he is.
The East actually strikes me as a tougher challenge to nail down the final three spots. Brunson and Randle. Jimmy and Bam. Harden. Jrue. We could surely extend that list further.
Jalen Brunson is my leading candidate for the Knicks, but Julius Randle has been so good in January that it's hardly clear-cut. Whom do we choose if there is only room for one Knick?
We could argue about the East all day and I'm not sure any of us would be wrong. Butler, Bam, Randle, Brunson, Harden and Siakam should all be All-Stars. Several of them won't be. It's a stacked East this season and I expect Haliburton to play.
He said he really wants to play and has missed the last three All-Star Games (pff the top of my head) due to injury. So I do expect him to be out there.
The reserves were anointed and boy is there a big disconnect between the coaches and popular opinion! They skipped over Harden, which makes me wonder if Kyrie hadn't been picked for prom king, would they have invited him to the dance. Nice to see DeRozan and Haliburton make it, definitely coaches showing respect for team players who yoke their talents to the group effort. How close was the vote between Butler and Adebayo, and was it merely games played? Booker, Siakam and McCollum seem to have not made the cut more due to their underperforming teams rather than their high level of play. Lauri and Domintas exceeded personal and team expectations, the coaches nailed these two. Overall I think the coaches picks were more accurate than the fans. Cant wait for the captains picks, especially to see who will leapfrog who - it's always Dame.Time, maybe?
Final All-Star Reserves
West: SGA, Sabonis, Ja, Markkanen, Dame, George*, JJJ*
East: Embiid, Jaylen, Halliburton, Randall, Bam, DeRozan, Jrue!
No Antman, Fox or AD in the West. George and JJJ = surprise?
East no Siakam, Harden, Brunson, Butler or Garland. Jrue made it @Marc.
West >>>
Locks (4): Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Ja Morant, Domantas Sabonis, Lauri Markkanen,
Solid (3): Dame Lillard, Anthony Davis, Anthony Edwards (beast mode activated)
Runner-up: Kawhi Leonard (No Clips?, #4 in the West atm), DeAaron Fox (one King already), or Devin Booker (pre-injury was a lock)
East >>>
Locks (3): Joel Embiid, Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Haliburton
Solid (4): James Harden , Pascal Siakam, Julius Randall (> Brunson), Bam Adebayo (> Butler)
Runner-up: Jalen Brunson, Jimmy Butler, DeMar DeRozan (just too many in the East)
Wasn't Durant named a starter?
Fixed, thanks for the catch. Forgot that the voters did that :-)
Where is the love Darius Garland? He deserves a spot, but won't get one.
West:
Domantas Sabonis
De'Aaron Fox
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Lauri Markkanen
Jordan Clarkson
Ja Morant
Anthony Davis
East:
Joel Embiid
Julius Randle
Jalen Brunson
Jaylen Brown
Jrue Holiday
Tyrese Haliburton
Bam Adebayo
West - Ja Morant, Domantas Sabonis, Lauri Markkanen, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Damian Lillard, Anthony Edwards, DeAaron Fox
East - Joel Embiid, Tyrese Haliburton, Jaylen Brown, Bam Adebayo, DeMar DeRozan, Pascal Siakam, Jalen Brunson
East
G - Jaylen Brown
G - Darius Garland
F - Joel Embiid
F - Bam Adebayo
F - Pascal Siakim
W - Tyrese Haliburton
W - Jalen Brunson
*Evan Mobley as Durant injury replacement
Julius Randle was tough to leave off
West
G - Ja Morant
G - Dame Lillard
F - Lauri Markkanen
F - Demontas Sabonis
F - Mikal Bridges
W - Shai Gilchrist Alexander
W - De’Aaron Fox
Tough to leave off CJ McCollum
I have no real idea, bc the league has so many exciting stars and it’s fun. I just know that Jrue Holiday likely won’t make it and I wish he would. He deserves it, but it’s hard to see who he bumps out.
East: Embiid, Jaylen Brown, Haliburton and Siakam. Jimmy or Bam (should be Bam but I know Jimmy has a lot of respect), Brunson or Julius Randle (should be Brunson for holding the team for so long but Julius is playing incredibly right now), and I guess Harden for me
West: Ja, SGA, Lauri, and Sabonis are obvious locks to me too. Based on current in this moment performances- Ant, Dame, and PG I think
Jrue Holiday needs to be a reserve. He single handedly kept the Bucks afloat.
I'm a Holiday guy. Hope East coaches can make room for him. Also struggle to see where or how that happens.
It happened!
East: Embiid, Siakam, Bam, Haliburton, Brown, Brunson, Holiday
West: Ja, SGA, Saboinis, AD, Markkanen, PG13, Lillard.
East : Embiid, Siakam, Bam, Haliburton, Brown, Brunson, Harden
West : Ja, SGA, Sabonis, AD, Markkanen, PG, Lillard
The lack of respect Anthony Edwards gets for what he has done this season - carried a team missing their biggest/best player and doing it in EVERY SINGLE GAME is inexcusable. Only need to Ctrl+F on an article and type in Edwards to see the national media over looking one of the best young players in the league.
Has everything to do with W/L record. Best teams often get multiple players, while all the .500 (or less) clubs struggle to land one.
Nobody would be talking about Sabonis AND Fox if Kings weren’t #3 in the West (both are worthy btw, just saying). Chris Paul made the 2022 team with 14.3/8.7/4.4 aves, but PHX was #1 in the West (along with Booker). GSW was #2 and landed 3 guys, including 2 starters!
KATs injury (and the Gobert fiasco) are hurting Edwards, whereas he should be getting credit for carrying the team. Not fair, but seems to be the logic.
Totally agree. People talking about Fox over Ant is complete disrespect. Almost no one outside of Houston or Minnesota knows about his 44 point, three nasty dunk game. Lebron sneezes and Marc writes an article.
No one is overlooking Ant. My 16-year-old would disown me if I overlooked Ant because he loves Ant. But in the West I only listed my four reserve looks and he's not ahead of Ja, SGA, Markkanen or Sabonis.
East
G - Halliburton
G - Jaylen Brown
F - Embiid
F - Adebayo
F - Siakam
WC - Derozan
WC - Randle
West
G- SGA
G - Morant
F - Markannen
F - Sabonis
F - Davis
WC - Fox
WC - Edwards
I have no real objections to Markkanen except that I end up voting for Gobert every year.
East Embiid, Randle, Harden, Haliburton(even if cannot play in the game), Claxton, Young, Vucevic
West Sabonis, SGA, Davis, Lillard, Gobert, Morant, Paul or Ayton
I suspect Haliburton will be back playing in time for All-Star.
East: Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid, Jalen Brunson, Bam Adebayo, Jrue Holiday, Tyrese Halliburton (if he doesn't play- Demar Derozan), James Harden
West: Ja Morant, SGA, Domantas Sabonis, Damian Lillard, Lauri Markkanen, Anthony Davis, Devin Booker (if he doesn't play- DeAaron Fox)
Harden should be an automatic. A lock. He is averaging 21,6/6,5/11,2 apg on a great efficiency 45/39/87. Leads the league in assists and his team is 2nd. Nobody after Jaylen Brown has a better case, Probably Tyrese how he lead Indiana but after that nobody else has a case over him.
Harden has an undeniable case to be a lock and a strong case to make it as one of the top seven given how Philly is playing. Only the injury absence works against him.
Yeah but that hasn't been taken into consideration from what i have seen so far.
Zion, Steph, KD, Tyrese, in 2 weeks all of them would count for 75% or less games played for their teams.
West: Draymond Green, Ja Morant, Lauri Markkanen, Damian Lillard, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Domantas Sabonis, Anthony Edwards
East: Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid, Bam Adebayo, James Harden, Demar Derozan, Julius Randle, Tyrese Haliburton
Jrue Holiday.
East: Jaylen Brown, Brunson, Embiid, Siakim, Bam, Halliburton, Trae
West: Ja, SGA, Sabonis, AD, Lauri, Dame, PG
Lillard should get a spot. How Blazers may be terrible, but he is having a stellar season. His most efficient ever.
He probably will snag one and has the street cred with the coaches. But it's certainly no lock.
Booker should be there. Might not have enough games played at this point (although he should be back this week), but with how futile the Suns are without him shows just how monstrously good he is.
Book has missed 22 games. That's the only reason he would miss out.
West: SGA Morant Sabonis Markannen Aaron Gordon Edwards Fox
West: Gilgeous-Alexander, Morant, Lillard, Fox, Sabonis, Markkanen, Davis
East: Brown, Haliburton, Harden, Embiid, Siakam, Adebayo, Randle
East: Harden, Halliburton, Brown, Randle, Brunson, Bam.
Harden missed a month for stress fracture. Siakam over him
And Embid of course
Embiid, Brown, Siakam, Haliburton, Bam, Holiday, Garland
Aaron Gordon
Super curious about Gordon. He has to be getting real consideration given Denver's record and his role in contributing to it.
Eager to see what we come up as a collective ...
Ant
The East actually strikes me as a tougher challenge to nail down the final three spots. Brunson and Randle. Jimmy and Bam. Harden. Jrue. We could surely extend that list further.
Jalen Brunson is my leading candidate for the Knicks, but Julius Randle has been so good in January that it's hardly clear-cut. Whom do we choose if there is only room for one Knick?
Following your automatics it’s Bam Randle Harden. Assuming KD/Halli sit for injury then Butler Brunson. I have Bam and Randle ahead of Siakam
We could argue about the East all day and I'm not sure any of us would be wrong. Butler, Bam, Randle, Brunson, Harden and Siakam should all be All-Stars. Several of them won't be. It's a stacked East this season and I expect Haliburton to play.
Agree 100% on Randle and Brunson.
What about KD? Expect him to play or sit?
He said he really wants to play and has missed the last three All-Star Games (pff the top of my head) due to injury. So I do expect him to be out there.
My East automatics are Joel Embiid (obviously), Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam. Same deal ... that leaves three spots.
Why is Siakam an automatic over Randle?
Why is Siakam an automatic considering team record and efficiency plummeting to near RJ Barrett levels? Is it just the 25p-6.5a for a big?
Any chance the bucks can trade Nwora/Hill/Serge for Crowder and not include Grayson?
Kudos for trying to sneak trade talk in here ...
Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler
My West automatics are Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Ja Morant, Domantas Sabonis and Lauri Markkanen. That leaves three spots ...
Hello, friends ...