My nba all star ballot would be

Starters:
Russell Westbrook
James Harden
Kawhi Leonard
Kevin Durant
Marc Gasol

Reserves: Steph Curry, Chris Paul, Gordon Hayward, Rudy Gobert, Anthony Davis
Wild Card: Mike Conley, Klay Thompson

In picking this list, my hardest decision was trying to reconcile the selection of Anthony Davis. First, Anthony Davis has been in the league for 5 years and he still only has one winning season (how do you reward that, I don't care what his numbers are.) I am pretty confident that if you replaced Marc Gasol on the pelicans with Davis that the pelicans would be at least a .500 ball club. At the end of the day Davis seems like a Kyrie Irving type, a guy that needs a great player next to him to succeed. But there wasn't any other good choices here.

I also don't particularly like picking a strictly defensive player: gobert, because if gobert is an allstar, why isn't Pat Beverly worthy of an allstar nod, or Tony Allen. You could argue that perimeter defense is more important than rim protection in the new nba. But I think that Gobert is probably the best defensive player on the best defensive team and the only other option is Boogie, a player who has not posted a winning season in the league yet and Deandre Jordan (another only defensive player).

I am also not particularly thrilled that Klay made my team, but the only other options here are CJ, Damien and Deandre Jordan. CJ and Damien are stat grabbers, and I can't reward that. I could have chosen a Spur here, but it just seems to me that Pop is the second best player on that team, because no matter who they have they always win in the reg season.

Plus, the warriors are killing the league and Klay is a big part of that.

I also did pick two players from Utah and Memphis, while snubbing the clippers, the rockets and the spurs. Had Blake played more, I would have picked him over Klay. Also as I said, the spurs are pop and Kawhi and the rockets are Harden and role players.

What is comes down to is this, do I think gobert and mike conley are better than: lillard, cj, cousins, towns, Jordan, and honestly I do.

 

Newsflash: Mike Conley and Marc Gasol are both great players. I don't get why people think they are not. That team with an injured Conley was up on the warriors 2-1.

Also, don't look at the last 5 minutes of games when it matters and compare Mike to James Harden. Let's just say this, better hope the rockets keep blowing teams out.

If James Harden can be stopped so easily (and he can) then it proves that he is (at least to some degree) a stat chaser. The problem is that there are so many teams in the league that don't play defense that it doesn't matter.

Both Mike and Marc are allstars but the ridiculous nba won't put both of them in. It's fine. The only way Mike will ever get his due is if the grizzlies win the championship and then people will have an ah-ha moment and realize that he is actually good.

Like when Barkley tries to justify Eric Bledsoe and CJ mccollum as allstars. Or, chuck, kenny, ej and shaq all putting in: draymond, klay, steph and kd. Really? 4 players from the warriors?

Anyway this is my personal battle, and why I never watch the allstar game anyway, because it is nothing but a popularity contest. It isn't about the #s at all.

 

As long as the game is a blowout, the rockets are good. My point was proved.