BDD's All-Bench All-Stars

JaVale McGee poses with the All-Bench All-Star mascot. (via JaVale)

NBA All-Star voting concluded last week and, no matter your opinion on the process, the starting line-ups have been decided and announced. The East and West rosters are littered with the usual names. LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, and so on and so forth.

But what about the little guys? ("Little" being relative to league-wide acknowledgement and not stature, since these are professional athletes and all.) Here at BDD, we try to champion the overlooked and under-appreciated. With that in mind, I dwelled on the following question: what would All-Star rosters look like if they were comprised only of bench players? Maybe more important, though, is which reserves would get their chance to be starters.

The criteria for selecting BDD's All-Bench All-Star team starters required players to have been substitutes for at least 50 percent of their respective teams' games. The eyeball test was taken into account and from there, standard and advanced statistics were analyzed to find deserving candidates, though some looked to be obvious selections. Since fan voting did not delineate from the "guard-guard-forward-forward-center" designations under this year's new "back court" and "front court" format, we differentiated each member of the squad by normal position. Sorry if this rocks your world too much, but without further ado, here are the inaugural BDD All-Bench All-Stars, complete with short explanations for their inclusion.

Eastern Conference

PG: Ramon Sessions, Charlotte Bobcats - Sessions is averaging 14.2 points and 4.0 assists per game. He's not being pressed to be a major play-maker with the presence of Kemba Walker, and although his team is not thriving with a 10-30 record, Sessions has found a bit of sanctuary in Charlotte after a rough-and-tumble time with the Los Angeles Lakers last year.

SG: J.R. Smith, New York Knicks - Part of All-Star Weekend's allure is that is offers plenty of opportunities for highlights, and Smith has supplied those in spades this season whether he's hitting buzzer-beaters or making improbable dunks. His resume was solidified by the fact that he's averaging more points (24.8 per game) than any player who has come of the bench for any number of games in 2012-13, aside from John Wall. It didn't hurt that he has highest efficiency rating (15.2) of any eligible player, according to NBA.com's statistics.

SF: Mike Dunleavy, Milwaukee Bucks - For a team with two ball-dominant guards, Dunleavy's presence is an invaluable asset for the Bucks, so much so that he is on two of Milwaukee's three most winningest line-ups. Given ample opportunities to spot-up, Dunleavy is currently shooting the best percentage of his career (.438) from behind the arc. His Win Shares per 48 minutes boosted significantly during his first season with the franchise and he's on pace to top that this year. Dunleavy's success may be due partially to the Bucks' offensive system, but he could find his shots in this hypothetical game playing alongside assist magician a guard like J.R. Smith.

PF: Amir Johnson, Toronto Raptors - Here's something crazy: the Raptors gain a net of 14.4 points per 100 possessions when Johnson steps onto the hardwood. The 6'9" forward is part of 11 of Toronto's top 20 five-man units. Of those units, only three have winning percentages of 50 or below. Without getting into individual stats, that should say something. Loudly. It didn't hurt his chances of selection that he's averaging 12.9 points, 9.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.4 blocks per 36 minutes. Maybe head coach Dwane Casey should think about nudging Johnson's 25.1 minutes of nightly play up a bit.

C:  Andre Drummond, Detroit Pistons - The Pistons employ Drummond in three line-ups that make opponents avoid the paint, choosing to take more than 70 percent of their shots further from the rim rather than approach the rookie center. Through 40 games, Drummond has logged a blazing .209 WS/48, putting him slightly behind Tony Parker for seventh in the NBA. It's a small sample size, but he could carry on his teammate Greg Monroe's legacy of actually playing defense on the All-Star court.

Western Conference

PG: Eric Bledsoe, Los Angeles Clippers - Golden State's Jarrett Jack could have stolen this spot with better per-game stats, but closer inspection shows that Bledsoe is more productive per 36 minutes. His "Mini-LeBron" nickname and status as heir to the best-blocking-guard-since-Dwyane Wade throne is warranted with 1.3 blocks per 36 and his defensive work extends to 3.0 steals and 5.6 rebounds per 36 (compared to Jack's zero blocks and one steal). Jack's true shooting and effective field goals percentages are better, but prorated to starter's minutes, Bledsoe is better. Add 5.1 assists per 36 and that's a body of work that gets him the nod.

SG: Jamal Crawford, Los Angeles Clippers / Kevin Martin, Oklahoma City Thunder - For all the hype around the season Crawford's having in Los Angeles (and make no mistake, he's playing phenomenal ball) and James Harden's leadership that's led him to an All-Star game, Kevin Martin is having his own quietly fantastic season playing in the film surrounding Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook highlights. He's averaging 1.5 points and 0.1 steals less per game than Crawford's 16.5 ppg and 1.1 spg while nabbing more boards and committing fewer turnovers. Martin's .161 WS/48 dwarfs Crawford's above-average .125. Martin is surely benefiting from the attention paid to his team's stars, a la Dunleavy in Milwaukee, and that is allowing him to be efficient from the field (.442 field goal percentage, .431 three-point percentage). The Thunder are +3.8 net points per possession with Martin on the court while the Clippers are +5.0 with Crawford in the line-up. Statistically, Martin deserves this spot, but stylistically, Crawford's crossovers and array of ankle-breaking moves are the things All-Star viewers relish.

SF: Matt Barnes, Los Angeles Clippers - For all the talking Barnes does on the court and as much as that may irk some people, he's putting in the work to back it up this year. He is putting up career numbers in points, blocks and steals while nearly matching his career high for assists per game, as well. Barnes' WS/48 of .184 is nearly double the league average of .100, which leads all but 17 players in the league and second only to Chris Paul on the Clippers.

PF: Ryan Anderson, New Orleans Hornets -Barely sneaking in (and narrowly edging out Golden State's Carl Landry) with 23 games off the bench, Anderson continues to be what everyone knew him to be during his breakout season in Orlando. Shooting a sub-.400 percentage from three isn't exactly what was expected of him, but the threat of leaving Anderson open allows him to assist seven percent of his team's field goals when he's in the game, plus he's putting up 18.9 points per 36 minutes and cleaning the glass (Anderson's grabbing 17.2 percent of available defensive rebounds).

C: JaVale McGee, Denver Nuggets - A) McGee's beginning to capitalize on the potential that made Wizards fans salivate when the franchise drafted him, posting the best WS/48 (.154) mark of his career, due in part to averaging 19 points and 3.6 blocks per 36 minutes. B) He's shooting 100 percent from three-point land this season (1-1, baby! Shout out to Lamar Odom's defense!) C) There's plenty of room for a personality like Pierre's in a lightweight affair like an All-Star game.


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Friday Roundtable: Popularity Contests, Snubs and the NBA All-Star Game

An injured Yao Ming and the other 2007 Western Conference All-Stars. (NBA.com)

BDD's Friday Roundtable is a weekly discussion among three of our writers on a trending NBA or college basketball topic.

This week's question: Voting for the NBA All-Star game is almost over (go here if you wish to cast a vote) and the starting line-ups are nearly set. But is the current process of letting fans vote for starters and having coaches choose reserves the right way to set an All-Star roster, or is there a better method?

Kyle Davis: 
I'm usually fine with any sort of fan involvement that makes those who watch the NBA and make it popular feel like they have a voice. But fans have biases and fans don't watch every team play every night. It's not because they are trying to ruin the system, but they'll vote for the names they know and for players on the team they support. It's easy to do. This last MLB All-Star Game was in Kansas City and I voted for a handful of Royals players (yes, it is as painful as you would imagine being a Royals fan) because I wanted to see them play in their city in an All-Star game, even though there were probably more qualified candidates.

The same happens in the NBA. How else do you explain why Jeremy Lin is third in the Western Conference Backcourt category, ahead of his teammate James Harden and Russell Westbrook? Steve Nash is sixth in that category, ahead of Tony Parker, Ricky Rubio and Stephen Curry and he's been injured for most of the season. Somehow Dwight Howard is second in the Western Conference Frontcourt voting and is ahead of the likes of Blake Griffin, Tim Duncan, Pau Gasol and Kevin Love. Yet Anderson Varejao, currently NINTH in the Eastern Conference Frontcourt, leads the league in rebounds and is having a breakout season. Possibly most egregious is that LaMarcus Aldridge is seventh in the league in scoring, only Kevin Durant is a Western Conference forward scoring more, yet Aldridge sits at No. 11 among Western Conference forwards.

Some players who are having great, breakout years will likely be watching the game at home, unless their conference All-Star coach brings them in as a reserve. The system is more of a popularity contest than a reward for great performance, and that should change. Let the basketball writers select the starters. They have watched more basketball than anyone (coaches and players don't have a lot of time to watch games other than their own) and are paid to be unbiased and objective. The coaches can still pick the reserves, and if you want to keep fans involve, let them vote for the first player off the bench. Fans still get a voice and those players who have had tremendous seasons, but aren't household names, can still get the recognition they deserve. 



Alex Skov:
While the current voting system is one of the numerous ways the NBA has built a strong rapport with fans -- especially casual ones -- it has been sitting on a cracked foundation since becoming a rule. See: Yao Ming's starter status on the occasions that he had missed a majority of games due to injury. See also: Tracy McGrady's inclusion on the Western Conference roster as he got a glean of votes from being Ming's teammate on the Houston Rockets.

With Ming, and his worldwide popularity, in basketball retirement, there is no chance of a repeat incident, but the obvious arrow now points to another Rocket. After the explosion of Linsanity in the early half of 2012, the NBA felt compelled to have Jeremy Lin participate in All-Star weekend despite not qualifying or being pre-selected for any of the events. While he is not as visible to viewers in the United States since he downgraded media markets upon leaving New York City, the Linsanity outbreak showed that the point guard is capable of harnessing benefits similar to those received by Ming. Some of that could be due to race (although being of Taiwanese descent is very, very different than being Chinese) and some of it could be because, like Ming, Lin is a talented basketball player.

ESPN LA writer Arash Markazi recently revealed another flaw in the All-Star voting:

"That [Jamal Crawford] is not on the All-Star ballot while players who haven't played this season are, again shows why balloting needs to change."

It is the same Ming Theory, yes, but it also points out that against the popular vote, and likely against coach votes, even the most deserving players who typically fill back-up roles have no shot at garnering the same accolades as their starting counterparts. Some are designated as reserves simply because they perform better when coming off the bench, like Jason Terry during his Dallas Mavericks years and Crawford and the Knicks' J.R. Smith this season.

In response to Markazi's tweet, Crawford expressed his wish for 15-man squads with players voting on the last final three roster spots. That would at least be a start, but some kind of weighted voting between fans, coaches and players with minimum requirements for number of minutes played would make for line-ups that accurately represent the best interest of each of those three demographics. Maybe cater to viewers by giving them a majority of the votes for starters while splitting the remaining votes, including those for second-stringers, between coaches and players.

Champ:
The NBA made a great change this year to the All Star ballot system. Now instead of two guards, two forwards and a center, fans will just vote for three front court players and two back court players. This is a good addition in the age of basketball because positions are not clearly defined as they have been. Players like Kevin Garnett and Chris Bosh spend a lot of time at the center position but don't play like one; meanwhile, Pau Gasol and Tim Duncan spend enough time in the low post to be considered centers, but are often times listed as power fowards because of bigger teammates.


The biggest criticism to this rule is that it takes away from the hard work that centers do every night. Some people, like Dwight Howard, insist that smaller players get flashier highlights than centers who spend most of their time with their backs to the basket, and more people will vote for forwards like Kevin Durant. I don't think this is true, though. Most fans know the value of a true center. Howard has the second highest number of votes among big men in the West and Tyson Chandler is high in the East. It's true that players like Marc Gasol and Anderson Varejao are low on their lists, but that has more to do with being in small markets.


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Jamal Crawford Is Using Street Ball-Style Play to Succeed in NBA

Jamal Crawford is playing his best basketball right now for the Clippers. (nba.com)

Jamal Crawford is having a coming out party for the Clippers in LA.

His numbers are up across the board. His field goal percentage is the highest it’s ever been in his 13-year career. He’s been lethal from behind the arc and at the charity stripe. The only time he averaged more points per game, he also averaged 12 more minutes per game. And he only averaged one measly point more per contest.

Crawford has had six games where he’s scored 20 or more points off the bench this year for the Clippers. However, the most impressive aspect of Crawford’s exploits this season is how he’s achieved these numbers; playing a street ball-style of basketball that has left some of the NBA’s elite icing sore ankles and egos.

On November 7, The Clippers were taking on a then-undefeated San Antonio Spurs team. Crawford had been quiet throughout the night, shooting just 3-7 from the floor and finishing with 10 points for the game. However, while the match did feature impressive highlight reel dunks from Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, Crawford would have the most memorable moment in the contest.

With 30 seconds left in the game and LA looking to run out the clock, Crawford took the ball out to the right wing, guarded closely by Spurs rookie guard Nando de Colo. Colo acted aggressively towards Crawford, seemingly wanting to prove himself as a good defender who plays till the final horn.

Bad idea. Admirable, but still a bad idea.

Crawford took a few steps back, drawing Colo to him. Then, in a “watch what I can do” moment, Crawford bounced the ball between Colo’s legs, drove to the hoop, took the foul and headed to the free throw line. Colo stumbled, backpedaled, threw his arms back, searching for an imaginary support, and fell to the court.

Ankles twisted? Check. Tailbone sore? Check. Ego bruised? Absolutely. Lesson learned? Without question.

Crawford has always had a street ball-style of play and broken many more accomplished ankles in the NBA than Colo’s. Proficient defenders such as Kirk Hinrich, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Metta World Peace, Rudy Gay and many more have fallen to Crawford’s handles. However, because of his increased efficiency shooting the ball (practice, anyone?) and his overall numbers at career highs, Crawford’s been more effective and exciting than ever before. 

However, Crawford is not the first street baller to excel at the professional level. For years, fans of basketball have been enthralled with the exaggerated crossovers, the no-look passes, and general showmanship that comes from a street-ball style. The NBA has been fortunate enough to have a few players translate their game from the playground to the court and there are a few notable names that have come through the league.

Let’s go down the list:

First up, Jason “White Chocolate” Williams. His numbers, while not overwhelming, are those of a solid point guard in the NBA. Williams finished up his career with 10 points and six assists per game and a knack for finding himself on the highlight reel for either a crazy crossover or a no-look pass. Williams consistently gave crowds and opponents exhibitions on ball handling. Even famed defender Gary “The Glove” Payton fell to the handles of Williams. While he was healthy, Williams was certainly an above average player in the league.

Next, Stephon “Starbury” Marbury. At the peak of his career, Marbury was one of the better point guards in the NBA, putting up 20 points and eight assists per game. Marbury was known for a devastating crossover and array of moves that left many opponents scratching their heads, wondering if what they’d seen had actually occurred or was simply a figment of their imaginations. There’s no denying that during his time in the league, Marbury was a true spectacle of street-style basketball.

Who could forget Rafer “Skip to my Lou” Alston? While his time on the court was inconsistent, Alston still managed to have solid career, putting up decent numbers and spectacular highlights. Unfortunately, Alston is probably best known for taking a shot at sharpshooter Eddie House. However, Alston also had the ability to break a defender down and leave them in the dust on his way to the hoop.  Don’t believe me? Ask Dwayne Wade.

Then there’s always J.R. Smith. While his defense leaves something to be desired, Smith has shown to be a very good offensive threat off the bench. He has incredible athleticism, as displayed through his participation in the 2005 dunk contest. While he's been criticized at times for shooting too much, when he’s on, Smith has the ability to really pour it on from downtown. His crossover is nothing to sneer at either.

I couldn’t overlook Nate Robinson, could I? (It’s a height joke.) A 5’9" sparkplug of energy off the bench, Robinson has stunned audiences over the years with his athletic ability, primarily in the dunk contest. No one will ever forget Robinson’s aerial assaults on the hoop over fellow little man Spud Webb and big man Dwight Howard en route to two dunk contest championships. He can also give defenses headaches with his jump shot and ball handling ability.

Who’s number one, you ask? Well here’s “The Answer.” Despite being an undersized guard, Allen “The Answer” Iverson was one of the most prolific scorers the NBA has ever had, putting up 27 points per game. He also affected the game in a big way on defense; collecting two steals a game for his career. While no one will accuse Iverson of being unselfish, he did manage to put up good assist numbers (six per game) along with his scoring. While, unlike Crawford, Iverson never learned the importance of practice, he did make the greatest player to ever walk on an NBA court look like Chevy Chase opening for SNL with his devastating crossover.


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