Happy Hour Hoops East All-Star Starters

BY: JAKE MAJKA

The All-Star game is happening. I’m not sure why. Even most players don’t think it’s a good idea to have it.

The NBA will have an all-day spectacle with the 3 point contest, dunk contest, and an All-Star Game on March 7th. 

And we will all be watching. 

Today, we run through the favorites to take home the Guard and Frontcourt spots for the Eastern Conference. You can view the current leading vote-getters here. 

Without further ado, we start in Washington DC, where we continue to try and begin our rescue mission for this Wizards guard. 

GUARDS:

Bradley Beal

For starters, I have long been a proponent of the #FreeBrad movement (even if it’s not a movement he particularly wants to be involved in).

No matter how bad it seems to get it Washington, Beal has remained loyal to the Wizards and wants to build a winner in the city he’s called home for his entire career. 

But seriously, what more can he really do? This year, Beal has been excellent. He’s currently averaging a career-high and league-leading 33.1 PPG. 

And what do the Wizards have to show for it? Not much.

Coming into the season, there was a lot of excitement around this team when they traded John Wall and 2 firsts for Westbrook.

Ummmmmm. Yeah, I’d rather have John Wall. 

But The Wizards are in the position they are in with their superstar player because they continuously make stupid decisions with their roster. The culture is not Bradley Beal’s fault. And he can only do so much to keep this team afloat. 

Team success shouldn’t be the MAIN factor of an all-star game appearance to me, but too often people knock guys on lesser teams when we discuss starters for the game. 

Let me be clear here if this was an All-NBA vote I don’t know if Beal will end up on the top two teams at years end. 

James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard, and few others will have a claim to those spots too, and all of their teams are better than the Wizards.

 That will matter in the long run when we remember this year for Beal historically. I mean, right now this is an ELITE company to be in for a single season. Put respect on Brad Beal’s name. 

Now… which Brooklyn Net gets the honor? 

KYRIE IRVING

This wasn’t an easy decision. 

James Harden has been excellent since he got to Brooklyn and Irving might be the biggest beneficiary of the Nets’ new star teammate. 

Like he told Harden, James is the point guard, Kyrie’s the shooting guard now. And he should keep up this whole shooting the ball at will thing.

Watching Kyrie Irving play basketball this way validates everything he has ever said about his love for the game of basketball.

Irving plays as if he is moving in unison with a world-renowned orchestra, every single instrument playing perfectly off one another to provide a sound rarely ever replicated. 

When all goes right, Kyrie can lay claim that he is the best guard in this league. Even better than the guy they just traded for. 

Irving is currently averaging the highest PPG total of his career averaging 28.3ppg while shooting a 50/40/90 split (53% FG, 44% 3 PT, 91% FT). He’s 3rd in the East in PER. 

He’s been efficient, effective, and deadly from the field. Harden has done the same while with Brooklyn, but his start in Houston shouldn’t be forgotten.

Kyrie is an unconventional superstar. But if he keeps playing like this, he makes every second of it worth it. 

FRONTCOURT: 

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO

If Giannis hadn’t already been an MVP the last two years, he would be a front runner for the MVP. I know that might not seem like the logical scenario, but work with me here. 

The MVP itself is a narrative-driven award as much as it is about the excellence a certain player will exude that season. 

Games like this explain it all. 

Unless Giannis was putting up Bradley Beal level scoring numbers this season or his team was 25-2, he never had a shot to end up in the MVP conversation.

As a result, he’ll have to settle for first or second-team ALL-NBA and once again average 28 PPG and 11+ rebounds. 

Yawn. 

As it was always going to be the case with this team, Giannis and the Bucks will be judged on what they do in the playoffs. They have proven they can be an elite team in the regular season. 

Therefore, congrats Giannis. You have reached a new level of superstardom. The level where the general public becomes bored with your greatness.

So now it’s time to go out there and prove them wrong once again. Let’s see if you can get it done. 

KEVIN DURANT 

Everyone should be as happy as I am that Kevin Durant is back and still very good at basketball. 

He’s a freak of nature and a magnificent basketball player who deserves to be celebrated and has too often been ridiculed leaving Oklahoma City for Golden State. 

This year could be the year we give KD his flowers. And he deserves every bit of the success that Brooklyn could have. Enjoy some KD highlights and appreciate the greatness. 

But back to that MVP conversation…

JOEL EMBIID

Your NBA MVP if the season ended today is… NOT LeBron James… OR Nikola Jokic … NOT EVEN Kevin Durant.

It is none other than Joel Embiid.  

And it’s well deserved. Truthfully, the stars in Philly have been treated too harshly the past few years because they have had some disappointing playoff exits. 

Last year, Simmons was never healthy in the bubble and that team was built poorly in the first place. People don’t like to hear excuses because everyone wants to dunk on the Sixers all the time but it’s true.

Daryl Morey and Doc Rivers came in and built this roster to the strengths of Embiid.

They convinced Ben Simmons to become Super Duper Draymond Green.

In the offseason, they picked up legit SHOOTERS in Seth Curry and Danny Green (I know but bear with me). Tyrese Maxey has been a beast.

And Doc Rivers seems to be getting much more out of Tobias Harris than Brett Brown ever did.

But every move has been carefully calculated to help Embiid become the force he has been this year. It’s long been said in the NBA media that opposing GMs are the most afraid of Joel Embiid figuring out how good he can really be. 

Because he has the potential to take the league over if he can play like this into June. For now? He’ll have to settle for MVP front runner and All-Star starter. 

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