All-Star Weekend Preview/Predictions
The All-Star Weekend is less than a week away, providing us fans with both good news and bad news. The good news is that we get an entire weekend of NBA related festivities and events. The bad news however, is that this means the NBA season is already half-way over. With some pretty significant changes in the event structure, let's take a look at each of the events, and see if we can't squeeze some hype out of each one.
Skills Challenge
The Skills Challenge will take same format as last two years, a tournament style set-up with big men on one side of the bracket, and guards on the other. Our participants for the guards include: Spencer Dinwiddie, Buddy Hield, Jamal Murray, and Lou Williams. For the bigs we have: Joel Embiid, Al Horford, Andre Drummond (as Kristaps Porzingis' replacement), and Lauri Markkanen. Now this isn't exactly the most exciting roster of players, but it still provides some interesting match-ups.
Right off the bat, Jamal Murray is my favorite for this contest. He's got the speed, the shooting, and hopefully after spending time at the PG position for the Nuggets, the passing. I expect him to at least make it to the semi-finals, if not the finals due to these traits.
Another favorite of mine to win the competition has to be Al Horford. He may be lacking in speed, but he possesses a great finesse game that can come in handy when the guards start rushing themselves.
Joel Embiid is simply too slow to make it out of the first round and that goes ditto for Drummond, whose selection as KP's replacement puzzles me as the guy doesn't even shoot three pointers. I expect the final showdown to come down to Horford and Murray, with Murray winning out in a close finish.
Winner: Jamal Murray
Three Point Contest
This is probably my favorite event of the All-Star Weekend cause it's the least gimmicky out of all the events. It's just 5 racks, 25 balls, and 60 seconds. Sure they added the ridiculous "rack of money balls" concept that totally screwed up previous records, but the event is still incredibly fun to watch. We have a roster chalk full of dead-eye shooters, including previous winners in Eric Gordon and Klay Thompson.
One guy we absolutely have to keep an eye on, if he's healthy, is Devin Booker. The guy can get as hot as any of these other guys, and has a solid, reliable stroke that's tailor made for this event.
I expect guys like Tobias Harris, and Kyle Lowry to flounder in the first round, simply because the competition around them will have scored too high.
Wayne Ellington, and Paul George are interesting additions and could be potential sleeper candidates, but it's going to be hard to keep up with the likes of Klay, Gordon, and Booker. However, at the end of the day, the 3 Point Contest is all about who gets hot at the right moment. It can really be any one of these guys, but for the moment, I'm liking Klay for this event the most for a variety of reasons; he's looking to redeem himself after a sub-par performance last year, he's one of the best heat-check guys the league has ever seen, and it'll be in front of his hometown Los Angeles, giving an extra sense of motivation.
Winner: Klay Thompson
Dunk Contest
The Slam Dunk Contest is perhaps the most bipolar event in recent years. One year we're getting Gordon v. Lavine, the greatest dunk-off in Slam Dunk Contest history outside of MJ v. Dominique. The next year we're getting Derrick Jones Jr. against Glen Robinson III. I'm optimistic for this year's contest however, as we have some interesting candidates in Larry Nance Jr., Donovan Mitchell, Dennis Smith Jr., and Victor Oladipo. Each guy already carries an extensive portfolio of posters, alley-oops, and rim-rockers and should provide at the very least, an entertaining dunk contest.
The stand-out in this event for me, is Victor Oladipo, and I know what everyone is saying, "Did you see Larry Nance baptize Brook Lopez?", "Donovan Mitchell has a highlight dunk every game" "Dennis Smith is one of the most explosive athletes of all time".
I know what you're saying, but there's a difference between being a good Dunk Contest participant, and a good in-game dunker. It's the reason guys like LeBron and Westbrook haven't competed in the Dunk Contest.
To win this event you need to have some creativity to your jams, you have to think outside the box. Oladipo has been to the Dunk Contest before, so he knows what to expect, from both the fans and the judges.
Winner: Victor Oladipo
All-Star Game
This is the main event, the game everyone has been waiting to see; Team Steph vs. Team LeBron. KD and Westbrook re-united for the first time since KD took the "hardest road". LeBron and Kyrie back together after Kyrie demanded a trade to get out of LeBron's shadow. There are oodles of narratives to pick apart here, and I'm pretty sure LeBron did this on purpose, maybe as a way to psych out his two biggest competitors for the playoffs? Who knows what LeBron "The Godfather" James is up to, but I think everyone can agree that LeBron has a purpose for everything he does.
Before the slew of injuries to LeBron's starting 5, I would have easily picked LBJ's team to come out on top. Boogie, KP, Davis, and Durant is a rebounding nightmare for Steph's small-ball squad. Without two of those four dominating the glass, Steph's Team's chances have dramatically improved. Where Steph's team lacks in length, they make up for in shooting.
Outside of Durant and Beal, there isn't an absolute deadeye shooter on team LeBron, who is at his best when he's playing a 5-out style, with shooters all around him, providing space for his unstoppable drives to the basket. Team Steph on the other hand, has himself, James Harden, Klay Thompson, and Damien Lillard to fill the wings and rain terror from beyond the arc. We've seen before how the All-Star game devolves into a three-point shooting/dunkfest for the first three and a half quarters, and the age old mantra should prove effective, 3>2.
If KD and Westbrook haven't killed each other by half-time, and if LeBron doesn't passive aggressively avoid giving Kyrie looks then Team Steph could emerge victorious. I think LeBron is massively overlooking the chemistry aspect of his squad, and after coming off a horrible Cavs locker room experience, he should be worried about what this bodes for his team. Team Steph on the other hand possess a lot of high character guys, all of whom have reputations for being team-players, and talented distributors. This is all dependent on whether or not these two teams will actually defend each other, which I don't expect they will. Which should lead to an easy 178-170 victory for Team Steph.
Winner: Stephen Curry's All-Stars
At the end of the day, we can all agree that these games and events are completely meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Team LeBron winning in a blowout isn't gonna stop the Warriors from dominating the playoffs and winning another title. Klay losing the three-point contest isn't going to convince him to join the Lakers in 2019. And yes, even Joel Embiid winning All-Star Game MVP isn't gonna get him any closer to Rihanna (sorry JoJo). But nevertheless, All-Star Weekend is all about having a good time, for both the fans and the players. It gives us all a chance to take a step back, come together, and watch Westbrook ignore Kevin Durant for the entire game.
