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.
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.
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?
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)
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Embiid, Brown, Siakam, Haliburton, Bam, Holiday, Garland
Aaron Gordon
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?
My East automatics are Joel Embiid (obviously), Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam. Same deal ... that leaves three spots.
Any chance the bucks can trade Nwora/Hill/Serge for Crowder and not include Grayson?
Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler
My West automatics are Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Ja Morant, Domantas Sabonis and Lauri Markkanen. That leaves three spots ...
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