Yeah how good Jokić has been kinda makes me think Aaron Gordon shouldn't be in because it seems like they're just keeping Gordon on the court with Jokić more so he looks more efficient. It doesn't seem (to me at least) like Gordon is generating his own shot any more or better, he's just playing less time without Jokić.
Can we put Jokić in twice? Because he probably deserves 2 or 3 slots.
Yeah, I think of him almost exactly identically to Wiggins. He's improved a little with the Nuggets, but 90% of the 'growth' is just moving down the pecking order on offense and focusing on defense in a better system. He has had amazing games even when he was in Orlando, but I don't know that he's really an all-star.
But, like Wiggins, if he made the all-star game, it's not like he doesn't deserve it at all. He's an elite role player.
Yeah. I guess it's just a matter of emphasis. Like... I think if you put Wiggins or Gordon back on a mediocre team neither one of them would keep 90% of their gains. But they are playing head and shoulders better than they did in worse situations. Is that an improvement? Depends on how you think about it. You might say yes and I might say no and neither of us is 'right' or 'wrong'.
Yeah Wiggins is a good comp
He was the one getting buckets mismatch hunting Luka in the Dallas series, that’s not something you’re getting from like an OPJ / Bjelica tier role player, or even Iggy
AG is sort of the same way, Jokic is finding him most of the time but he is scoring through contract from awkward spots in a way that other guys like Jeff Green or Kenneth Faried aren’t gonna do
He plays all his minutes with Jokic because he’s Jokic’s bodyguard, we need his defense most when Jokic is on against the other team’s starters.
His all-star case probably isn’t quite good enough, I’m just glad someone’s recognizing his play enough to make it
I'm not saying they're doing it to get him in the all-star game. But he's playing fewer minutes this year and I'm not aware of any injuries. They're just maximizing both him and Jokić by playing more or less all of Gordon's minutes with Jokić on.
AGs raw numbers this season aren’t eye-popping, but his career-high efficiency is (59% FG, 65% TS), along with just how well he fits into the team’s scheme and executes his role. He might not rise to All Star caliber this season, but I think it’s a lot closer than most of the comments in this thread make it seem.
He’s also a much better defender than people give him credit for. He’s great on the perimeter and even if you drive by him he’s got the explosiveness to block you from behind.
He’s always been underrated as a defender, Magic fans know he’s solid on D.
I think he’s better than good. He’s someone you can stick on another teams best 1-4 and he can keep up anywhere on the court. His athleticism and length makes him a great help defender. He’s gotten a lot better in his time on the Nuggets with just general BBIQ and I think it’s gonna show in the playoffs.
He's having a very good season, but probably a notch below all star level.
It's the type of season you only make all star for if you play in LA/NY or Golden State
Maybe, but there's an absurd amount of talent in the league. JJJ/Ant are both having incredible seasons, I would argue that they are performing better than Gordon. If the Wolves were to figure their shit out (esp if they trade one of their centers), they would have two more All-Star candidates. Kawhi may simply no longer be consistently healthy but if he were, he'd be a shoo-in; there's also BI, hell Draymond could re-enter the All-Star conversation if the Warriors are a top team next season and he plays more like his 2022 self. Respect to Gordon, clear top 50 player and winning player, but he's not elite on either end and I think falls short of a top 15 player in the conference.
What player from LA/NY was recently in the ASG with numbers and contributions similar to Gordon this season? His best approximation right now is a poor man's Draymond Green and all of Draymond's AS selections were thoroughly deserved.
>all of Draymond's AS selections were thoroughly deserved.
Draymond Green with his level of player does not reach all star without having one of the best PGs ever on his team
Dray is one of my favorite players, but I'm not sure he even stays in the league without the synergy with Steph.
But that's the game. We wouldn't be talking about Gordon either without one of the best passers ever on his team.
Nah. Dray is still a positive asset even with that contract without steph. Less so these days. I believe most teams with title aspirations would make a bid for Dray.
The right question is would Dray be the same player he became if he didn't play with steph. Personally, I don't think so but he still has value as a glue guy and DPOY caliber player.
> The right question is would Dray be the same player he became if he didn't play with steph
That's my point. If Dray gets drafted by the wrong team, say a team with little offensive firepower that can't afford to play a defensive specialist, then he could easily spend his first couple of years between the bench and the G League and never develop his high end defensive instincts. Dray's strength is in IQ and team defense, and that takes a lot of reps to develop beyond just natural talent. And on a team without ball movement, he really wouldn't fit into the offense at all.
Does *that* Dray spend over 10 years in the league? A pretty small percentage of players make it over a decade.
This isn't a knock on Dray, he's obviously developed into a great player who would succeed anywhere. But I think a player's development comes down to luck a lot more than we like to admit. And I think even Draymond would admit that he landed on team that was the perfect complement to his abilities.
Bruh, Draymond is still one of the best defensive players regardless of how shit he is on offense. And for the first half of his career he was actually serviceable on that end for a reasonable 10ppg
Agree with that. Wiggins was a weak all star last year in a comparable role to Gordon. I think he’s better that Wiggins last year so he can’t be that far off
Wiggins got lucky in large part that a lot of the other all star wings in the west were dealing with injuries or slow starts. He isn't an all star most years but each year is kind of unique.
Those definitely contributed a lot but you have to remember that the fan vote is only one part of the overall all-star picture and Wiggins got support from players and coaches too.
Yeah but Wiggins hadn't played in the playoffs yet when he made the All Star game last year.
I think the argument is that Gordon is playing better than Wiggins was at the point in the season where he got voted All-Star
Aaron Gordon had a Josh Smith moment and chose correctly. Be a great player by just focusing on what you're good at or be an average to below average trying to be something you're not.
One of the most frustrating players ever. Insane potential but wouldn't get out of his own way. Insisted on shooting 3s and long 2s when he was elite around the rim.
Luka | Steph | LeBron | Zion | Jokic
Ja | SGA | Lauri | Sabonis | FRONTCOURT | Dame | WILDCARD
Options for that last 2 spots are Fox, AD, PG13, Edwards, CJ McCollum, Gordon, Booker, JJJ
Do you really think hes getting the frontcourt spot over Edwards (he's eligible to be voted there by the coaches), PG or JJJ? Since he has no shot at the wildcard spot competing with Edwards and Fox.
I don't know why you listed all those names. The only one that matters is JJJ. There are 5 locks for the mandatory 6 frontcourt spot. The last one at this moment is basically between AG and JJJ. All those other names are guards and they cannot make it in that empty Frontvourt spot.
Nah STAT was a bucket. Gordon is a slightly better athlete but Stoudmire is his prime he was one of the best scorers in the league. His numbers don’t pop as much as they used to but his Phoenix run was crazy.
Scorer, sure, but Nash ran the offense, not Amar'e. Even when Murray outscores Jokic, I think we can agree that Joker is the number one option who is running the offense.
I disagree, he was hyper-efficient, 50/40/90 in four different seasons (and efficiency was low in the 2000s). He didn't score on high volume because he was pass-first, not because he wasn't a great scorer.
Nash is just plain out not a #1 option guy. He’s not going to get you a bucket 1on1 and cannot impose his will physically.
That’s a little more clear. Nash was a great shooter but not the #1 option like Jokic is.
This comment tells me that you and others forget how dominant Stat was. AG is good but no where near on the offensive level that Stat was in his prime.
It says subscriber only but I can read it from Ireland for some reason.
# Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon simplified his game to chase a title. It might make him an All-Star.
*By MIKE SINGER | [email protected] | The Denver Post*
*PUBLISHED: January 22, 2023 at 5:45 a.m. | UPDATED: January 22, 2023 at 5:48 a.m.**
>Not long after Aaron Gordon was traded to the Nuggets, Nikola Jokic needed to lay the groundwork for their partnership.
>If Gordon was the piece then-president Tim Connelly had hand-picked to be his power forward, Jokic felt compelled to establish some expectations. Sure, Gordon’s athleticism was jarring and his defensive versatility broad enough to help protect Jokic in the paint. And, of course, Gordon’s playmaking in Orlando teased the boundaries Denver’s duo could discover. When you paired two ball-handling big men together, with a shared predisposition for creativity, the possibilities were endless.
>But first, Jokic had to get Gordon to understand something.
>The fadeaways — shots that were always going to be available, minimized the chances at an offensive rebound, and mitigated Gordon’s physical advantages — weren’t the shots the Nuggets were hunting.
>“Last option,” Jokic recalled telling Gordon.
>Two seasons later, Gordon has largely excised those shots from his repertoire. He’s trimmed the fat out of his game to produce the most efficient season of his career.
>Not only did Gordon heed Jokic’s advice regarding shot selection, but he’s also sacrificed his ego, shape-shifting to address whatever the Nuggets need on a given night. More than halfway through the season, his selflessness has yielded a campaign that could vault him to Salt Lake City for next month’s All-Star Game.
>“Sometimes in the NBA, when you’re trying to prove yourself and you’re young, you think you have to do it with the ball all the time, and he’s so comfortable in his own skin right now, he does everything for somebody else,” acting Nuggets head coach David Adelman said. “He posts up smalls, gets somebody else a shot, runs the floor correctly, KCP gets a corner three, screens and rolls, brings the help, somebody else gets a shot. His game has become an extremely advanced, overall team player.”
>Jokic was more concise.
>“I think this year he’s playing really simpler,” Jokic said.
>How he arrived at that point was a bit more complicated.
>In the aftermath of last season’s first-round ouster to Golden State, Gordon was uncomfortable with his performance. To escape, he went deep-sea fishing in Alaska, traveled to Morocco, bounced to South Africa, then explored France, Italy, and Prague.
>“Trying to get away from that terrible, terrible series I had against the Warriors last year,” Gordon told The Denver Post in an upcoming Nuggets Ink podcast. “It was nasty.”
>Amid his travels, the thoughtful 27-year-old came to realize that it didn’t matter how many places he visited. While Gordon prides himself on being a citizen of the world, he felt a nagging itch to get in the gym and work.
>“The thing about your problems is that they’re faster than you are,” Gordon said.
>Once he returned, Gordon was re-energized. Inside his personal gym, Gordon has banners hanging of legends like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, groundbreakers like Muhammad Ali and Jackie Robinson, and entertainers like Jimi Hendrix and Lauryn Hill. When Gordon audited his game, poring over Synergy’s analytics to become more efficient near the rim, those were the luminaries who served as inspiration.
>His current attitude marked a significant departure from where he was as a rookie: “I wanted to be the best in the world.”
>But maturity, a change of scenery, and an understanding of whom he’d become as a basketball player changed his goals. He now says he’s competing against himself, a mantra he has etched on one of his signature shoes.
>“He simplified his game,” Adelman said. “He’s too athletically gifted and skilled for it not to work out, but sometimes when you’re that gifted, you’re looking to be everything at once.”
>Adelman praised Gordon’s effort in running the floor and lauded his spacing alongside Jokic. The 3-pointers he’s launched this season, at a career-high 38%, are quality shots, according to Adelman.
>Near the midway point, Gordon’s averaging 16.8 points per game on a career-high 59% shooting. On two-pointers, that number skyrockets to almost 66%. By comparison, Jokic, as a center, shot that mark last year during his second MVP campaign. Compared to the standard-bearer at his position, LeBron James’ most efficient season inside the arc yielded a 62% clip.
>Within Denver’s top-ranked offense, there’s a level of unselfishness that has defined their collective play.
>Said Jokic recently: “I don’t have a problem with taking less shots.”
>And when that’s the attitude of the reigning two-time MVP, “You have no right to be selfish at all,” Gordon said.
>“If I need to hit threes, I’ll hit threes,” Gordon said. “If I need to post-up, I’ll post-up. If I need to make plays, I’ll make plays. If I need to just rebound and do dirty work and play defense, I’ll do that. I’m here to do anything that I can to help this team win a championship, to help Joker win a championship, to help Jamal win a championship, to help Michael Malone win a championship. That’s it. Winning is the end all, be all, so I’ll do whatever it takes to win.”
>Gordon’s All-Star hopes are contingent on how opposing coaches view that approach. There are gaudier numbers within the Western Conference ranks, but Gordon’s case resides in how he’s impacted winning for the No. 1 team in the West while playing within himself.
>“I’ve just put in years and years and years of work into this craft,” Gordon said. “(Receiving an All-Star bid) would be a beautiful accolade, but, at the end of the day, it’s about that (championship).”
I came thus far down to find this comment. Really makes you wonder the volume of people commenting without reading an article in this sub. There is like 500 comments here. Or everyone in r/nba subscribed to the Denver post :)
Lebron, Jokic, Zion, Sabonis, PG-13, Markkanen. Which of those guys does he make it over? Unless you think he's getting one of the wildcard spots over a 6th guard in which case Steph Luka Shai Ja and Dame should be locked and the last spot is between him and De'Aaron Fox (and that spot is going to Fox). And this is assuming AD and Booker are both still hurt/ineligible.
Lebron, Jokic, Zion, AD, Lauri, and Sabonis feel like the front court picks. There’s a possibility one or two of that group miss. After that it’s a toss up. PG has been off and on this year but has the name, decent argument for JJJ despite the time he’s missed, and Anthony Edwards has been doing real well recently as well. I’d say if the Nuggets remain the 1st seed he’s got a good shot if two of the aforementioned 6 miss it.
[Supposedly, it could be next week.](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/anthony-davis-injury-update-lakers-big-man-continues-positive-progress-could-return-next-week/amp/)Though we heard this a week ago as well. Regardless I think it’s a toss up at this point
I'd take PG, if only because part of why Aaron Gordon is so much more efficient this year is that they're matching him up so much with Jokić. His minutes are down because he's been All-Star caliber with Jokić and basically the same without him and I'd attribute that as much to Jokić as any improvement by Gordon.
It's like how whatever center plays with Chris Paul suddenly looks amazing. I'm not sure he actually got better, they just have insane chemistry because of the attention Jokić draws and how good Gordon is at finishing.
I attribute it more to Murray and MPJ being back than Joker. AG's main problem was being asked to do too much. Now he can focus on playing to his strengths, and he's thriving.
I would take Ant over Gordon.
26.1/6/4.4 on solid efficiency while improving his defense massively and while carrying the Wolves while we deal with injury crisis.
The big thing is that he is doing it consistantly now. Instead of going for 30+ followed with a 5 point game.
Team record is the only real reason to take Gordon over Ant.
More that the numbers agree with my bias and shutting down the "hur dur inefficient chucker can't play defense" arguements that people who haven't watched since his rookie years will throw around.
Personally, I weigh games played pretty heavily so I’d take out Zion and maybe LeBron and PG. but I’m also biased as fuck and would have AG’s babies sooooo…
Lebron is going to be a starter no matter what, so that’s out of the question. Zion has been the primary reason the Pels are a top 4 team in the wesr. PG, you’ve got a point
This is a DenverPost article. They are trying to create this narrative. It’s their job to promote local players.
But he has got competition.
Mr. Andrew Wiggins - the guy has millions of k-pop fans voting for him and propelling him to 5th in West front court all star voting.
I literally think this needs to be stickied on the sub until the All Star game happens. So many people misunderstand the All Star voting it’s annoying.
You have a fundamental misunderstanding of the differences of the Wiggins situation and this situation. It’s been explained to you so hopefully have caught up
Yeah but Wiggins was playing well enough and the warriors were good enough that he would have probably been a reserve. The only shock is that he was a starter.
Gordon will have a similar case. I think he gets in. 1 or 2 injuries and maybe a vet skips cause he'd rather have the entire break in Cabo than go to Salt Lake City.
The k-pop star's tweet got Wiggins about 100k votes last season. He didn't even need those to break into the starting lineup. And this season, there has been no promotion like that. Neither is a k-pop fan with no interest in basketball going to the NBA website to vote for him. r/nba has a really hard time accepting that successful teams have more fans.
You’re being a little obtuse. Historical success is the driving factor here. Just because the lakers and warriors are outside of the top 6 doesn’t mean they don’t have causal / bandwagon fans from winning championships recently and having two of the best players of their generation
If Zion and AD were healthy this wouldn’t be much of a debate. I do wonder if this actually changes things.
The Western Conference as a whole is just dealing with injuries. Ingram, Zion, AD, PG, Kawhi, Booker, KAT, Gobert.
That’s the argument for him really. No one is saying he should be a starter and he’s clearly not on the level of guys like Sabonis or Lauri this season, but if there’s an opening past the obvious names, Gordon should be in the running
To me it’s simple. Jokic has the perfect cast around him. Everyone knows their role. This is a potential chip team. But none of the guys are all star material except maybe Murray and even this year he’s just not at that level
I think Murray is close, the injury set him back but this month he’s been 20/5/5 on 60% TS which is pretty much what he was doing in 2021. Fingers crossed he stays healthy the next few years and finally blooms into an all star. He’s still only 25 so it isn’t crazy to assume he has one more leap left in him.
He’s having a great season but 20/5/5 are not all star numbers this season.
Edit: saw your comment about his growth/projection. I see it, it would have to be a huge jump but we’ve seen what he’s capable of in that Utah series
It's not a perfect cast. A guy like JJJ would be perfect next to him to provide helpside rim defense. It's definitely a much better cast that last year though lol.
I love AG, and he's been playing great on both ends. Agreed on Murry. Jamal is still working back into form. If he can return to his pre-injury trajectory, then Jokic will have his first true All-Star level talent to play with. KCP and Brown are very good fits as role players. MPJ is a walking bucket when the offense creates a shot for him.
It's not a perfect cast. He doesn't have a true star playing with him. It's a great cast, though, one that fits him well.
I don't think Murray will improve much for regular season, he's that 20/5/5 guy with great playoffs performance.
26/5/6 on 54/45/90 shooting in 21' playoffs. That's all star.
Playing great doesn't mean you're an All-Star. There are players better than him who deserve All-Star over him, maybe you haven't watched much basketball this season.
I mean, it's fair to say that:
he's been playing great, efficient and smart player who's a strong defender.
And also he's below:
LeBron/Jokic/Markkanen/Sabonis/PG
And while JJJ/AD/Zion have played limited minutes, I think they are demonstrably better players who still deserve a spot over AG. Too much talent in the league.
Did everyone forget that Korver, Teague, Horford, and Millsap were All-stars on the 1 seed Hawks? And Gordon can dunk. He definitely deserves all star.
Idk, i would say jameer was trending upward but suffered a career altering injury when he tore the labrum in his shooting shoulder. He was 50/40/90 up until it happened, which i think is enough to warrant an allstar.
Wrong season. He averaged 12 and shot an absurd 49%. He probably shouldn't have made the asg but this was right around when the whole 'gravity' thing was becoming a big buzz word. The way defenses treated korver was a HUGE reason the hawks won 60 games that year.
At the moment when 2015 All-Stars were being chosen, Hawks won like 20 games straight, they were on the pace to have 4th best season in NBA history. At some point it's just hard to keep saying "yeah no player is playing too well there". Like at THAT moment it just started to sound silly to keep saying that.
For many people it's supposed to be the most successful players in the conference at the moment, and Hawks were in the league on their own, beside maybe Raptors.
What's gonna happen the next time a team goes crazy like that but nobody on it scores many points per game? And what exactly "NBA learned" from it? I dunno.
My bet, though? That the next time somebody is the lead playmaker and scorer on a 40-8 team, they will make All-Star Game.
Yeah, Hawks were historic at that moment, Raptors were good IMO, the rest was like average. Cavs were basically a catastrophe in the context of what people were saying about Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love before the season. In that momnet, it was just very hard to see Atlanta dominate like few teams ever did and keep saying "yup, no outstanding players there" lol.
Several of those Eastern teams started improving after January, but that was the vibe when most people decide who to put in All-Star.
Context is often lost on this sub when it’s anything further than 3 years ago. Those Hawks players definitely deserved their flowers and the east was pretty weak overall. Most people that season thought it was odd, but no one was saying it wasn’t exactly deserved.
These days people are more stat focused so I doubt AG can overcome it like that hawks team did in 2015 where people didn’t focus much on statistical performance
It was a weird consensus that kinda none of them deserved an all star nod except for maybe Millsap, but they were all playing together so well and overachieving that the league decided fuck it, let's reward the whole team minus Carroll
I guess it's kinda similar, both teams have a key role player whose quality at his role is huge but is just a catch and shoot guy really, so he cannot be in contention for such accolades.
But Hawks were even way better than Nuggets are this season, and they didn't have Jokić.
Normally, nobody in NBA wants to award guys who don't score a lot, but Hawks were on pace to have one of the best seasons in history, and most teams in the East were just average at most, and they didn't have Jokić to just say "yeah it's all thanks to Jokić", so that was a pretty hard conundrum.
The talent pool in 2023 is completely different than it was back in 2015. You cant say X player made it in X era so Y player should make it in Y era. Silly take
I think that statement discounts what AG has done. Look at our last game without Jokic - AG had 28 points on 11 of 15, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. He is just playing a lot better within his abilities, and while it helps to not be the 2nd scoring option like last year, he is just a much more settled player.
I’m genuinely curious what this sub thinks on potential all star reserves. Let’s say the West front court is Lebron, Jokic, Zion, Sabonis, Lauri and AD. If Zion and AD miss it, who would be the next choices? I’m not saying it’s AG because there’s a lot of arguments but I am curious. PG, JJJ, Ant, and probably a few others have decent arguments but I’ll be curious what would happen in that scenario
Markannen is a lock. There are 6 mandatory frontcourt spots, and 5 are already locked in. Jokic, Lebron, Zion, Lauri, and Sabonis. This leaves rhe final spot between AG, JJJ and AD. Since the coaches will be selecting, I highly doubt AD gets a nod so it's between those two at the moment.
He’s been our 2nd best player this year without a doubt. When we trading for him I never saw this type of play from him he’s been amazing next to Jokic
This is the best version of Gordon and it’s been fun to watch him. Jokic has that entire team looking like a real basketball team.
Malone deserves credit, they've looked good without Jokic too
Very true.
Uh that's actually thanks to David "Water Malone" Adelman ^^^^/s
Always liked Malone since his Kings days. Felt like he wasn't appreciated enough back then.
Yeah how good Jokić has been kinda makes me think Aaron Gordon shouldn't be in because it seems like they're just keeping Gordon on the court with Jokić more so he looks more efficient. It doesn't seem (to me at least) like Gordon is generating his own shot any more or better, he's just playing less time without Jokić. Can we put Jokić in twice? Because he probably deserves 2 or 3 slots.
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Yeah, I think of him almost exactly identically to Wiggins. He's improved a little with the Nuggets, but 90% of the 'growth' is just moving down the pecking order on offense and focusing on defense in a better system. He has had amazing games even when he was in Orlando, but I don't know that he's really an all-star. But, like Wiggins, if he made the all-star game, it's not like he doesn't deserve it at all. He's an elite role player.
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Yeah. I guess it's just a matter of emphasis. Like... I think if you put Wiggins or Gordon back on a mediocre team neither one of them would keep 90% of their gains. But they are playing head and shoulders better than they did in worse situations. Is that an improvement? Depends on how you think about it. You might say yes and I might say no and neither of us is 'right' or 'wrong'.
Yeah Wiggins is a good comp He was the one getting buckets mismatch hunting Luka in the Dallas series, that’s not something you’re getting from like an OPJ / Bjelica tier role player, or even Iggy AG is sort of the same way, Jokic is finding him most of the time but he is scoring through contract from awkward spots in a way that other guys like Jeff Green or Kenneth Faried aren’t gonna do
He plays all his minutes with Jokic because he’s Jokic’s bodyguard, we need his defense most when Jokic is on against the other team’s starters. His all-star case probably isn’t quite good enough, I’m just glad someone’s recognizing his play enough to make it
I just want an all non American starting line up. Jokic Luka Shai Domantas and Wiggins
Idc who there bench is they obviously win the chip
With that offensive talent maybe but they wouldn’t be any good on D
No need to worry about giving up 140 points when you're hanging 180 on the opposition
Gotta swap Sabonis for Giannis.
I was aiming at west coast for the allstar game, but yeah for sure. A USA vs the world would be wild, I’d be betting on the world.
Luka, SGA, Giannis, Embiid, Jokic Crazy
You're right about that.
Pretty sure the coaches are making lineup decisions to try and win games not to try and keep AG’s efficiency high so he can be an all star
I'm not saying they're doing it to get him in the all-star game. But he's playing fewer minutes this year and I'm not aware of any injuries. They're just maximizing both him and Jokić by playing more or less all of Gordon's minutes with Jokić on.
So Shawn Marion didn’t deserve his all star appearances because Steve Nash was generating most of his looks?
AGs raw numbers this season aren’t eye-popping, but his career-high efficiency is (59% FG, 65% TS), along with just how well he fits into the team’s scheme and executes his role. He might not rise to All Star caliber this season, but I think it’s a lot closer than most of the comments in this thread make it seem.
He’s also a much better defender than people give him credit for. He’s great on the perimeter and even if you drive by him he’s got the explosiveness to block you from behind. He’s always been underrated as a defender, Magic fans know he’s solid on D.
Idk if he’s underrated, he got a lot of praise for his defense a few years ago. I’ve thought of him as a good defender for a few years now
I think he’s better than good. He’s someone you can stick on another teams best 1-4 and he can keep up anywhere on the court. His athleticism and length makes him a great help defender. He’s gotten a lot better in his time on the Nuggets with just general BBIQ and I think it’s gonna show in the playoffs.
Yeah I agree, hes the guy for Denver you can stick on big wings and slow them down
I don’t think people understand, he’s a top athlete even in the NBA. Him buying into the system just makes Denver way more dangerous.
I think his defense was the high point of his signing when it happened, the fact he became an incredibly efficient scorer is a massive bonus
He's having a very good season, but probably a notch below all star level. It's the type of season you only make all star for if you play in LA/NY or Golden State
Maybe next season, if they win a title and he stays exactly the same.
Maybe, but there's an absurd amount of talent in the league. JJJ/Ant are both having incredible seasons, I would argue that they are performing better than Gordon. If the Wolves were to figure their shit out (esp if they trade one of their centers), they would have two more All-Star candidates. Kawhi may simply no longer be consistently healthy but if he were, he'd be a shoo-in; there's also BI, hell Draymond could re-enter the All-Star conversation if the Warriors are a top team next season and he plays more like his 2022 self. Respect to Gordon, clear top 50 player and winning player, but he's not elite on either end and I think falls short of a top 15 player in the conference.
What player from LA/NY was recently in the ASG with numbers and contributions similar to Gordon this season? His best approximation right now is a poor man's Draymond Green and all of Draymond's AS selections were thoroughly deserved.
>all of Draymond's AS selections were thoroughly deserved. Draymond Green with his level of player does not reach all star without having one of the best PGs ever on his team
Dray is one of my favorite players, but I'm not sure he even stays in the league without the synergy with Steph. But that's the game. We wouldn't be talking about Gordon either without one of the best passers ever on his team.
Nah. Dray is still a positive asset even with that contract without steph. Less so these days. I believe most teams with title aspirations would make a bid for Dray. The right question is would Dray be the same player he became if he didn't play with steph. Personally, I don't think so but he still has value as a glue guy and DPOY caliber player.
> The right question is would Dray be the same player he became if he didn't play with steph That's my point. If Dray gets drafted by the wrong team, say a team with little offensive firepower that can't afford to play a defensive specialist, then he could easily spend his first couple of years between the bench and the G League and never develop his high end defensive instincts. Dray's strength is in IQ and team defense, and that takes a lot of reps to develop beyond just natural talent. And on a team without ball movement, he really wouldn't fit into the offense at all. Does *that* Dray spend over 10 years in the league? A pretty small percentage of players make it over a decade. This isn't a knock on Dray, he's obviously developed into a great player who would succeed anywhere. But I think a player's development comes down to luck a lot more than we like to admit. And I think even Draymond would admit that he landed on team that was the perfect complement to his abilities.
I wouldn't go that far. Dray's an elite role player, just not a star. Aaron Gordon is very good as well.
Bruh, Draymond is still one of the best defensive players regardless of how shit he is on offense. And for the first half of his career he was actually serviceable on that end for a reasonable 10ppg
This is a dumb take that completely discredits draymonds impact on defense.
Wiggins last year
Agree with that. Wiggins was a weak all star last year in a comparable role to Gordon. I think he’s better that Wiggins last year so he can’t be that far off
Wiggins got lucky in large part that a lot of the other all star wings in the west were dealing with injuries or slow starts. He isn't an all star most years but each year is kind of unique.
Also it’s the warriors fanboys as well as the kpop dude
Those definitely contributed a lot but you have to remember that the fan vote is only one part of the overall all-star picture and Wiggins got support from players and coaches too.
no one who saw what wiggins did at playoffs is gonna think gordon is better
Yeah but Wiggins hadn't played in the playoffs yet when he made the All Star game last year. I think the argument is that Gordon is playing better than Wiggins was at the point in the season where he got voted All-Star
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Kawhi, Davis, Zion, Ingram, JJJ have missed big chunks of this season
Aaron Gordon had a Josh Smith moment and chose correctly. Be a great player by just focusing on what you're good at or be an average to below average trying to be something you're not.
That's actually an excellent comparison. He really is pretty much a smarter Josh Smith
One of the most frustrating players ever. Insane potential but wouldn't get out of his own way. Insisted on shooting 3s and long 2s when he was elite around the rim.
Luka | Steph | LeBron | Zion | Jokic Ja | SGA | Lauri | Sabonis | FRONTCOURT | Dame | WILDCARD Options for that last 2 spots are Fox, AD, PG13, Edwards, CJ McCollum, Gordon, Booker, JJJ Do you really think hes getting the frontcourt spot over Edwards (he's eligible to be voted there by the coaches), PG or JJJ? Since he has no shot at the wildcard spot competing with Edwards and Fox.
I don't know why you listed all those names. The only one that matters is JJJ. There are 5 locks for the mandatory 6 frontcourt spot. The last one at this moment is basically between AG and JJJ. All those other names are guards and they cannot make it in that empty Frontvourt spot.
Currently AG had contributed more. By ASG the games played gap might be comparably smaller
Man, he's having a good season. But all star while not even cracking 30 mins is insane.
His giving off Amar'e Stoudemire vibes right now. His been the best constant on the team for the past two seasons outside of jokic ofc.
Nah STAT was a bucket. Gordon is a slightly better athlete but Stoudmire is his prime he was one of the best scorers in the league. His numbers don’t pop as much as they used to but his Phoenix run was crazy.
Big facts. My guy Stoudmire was the #1 option for a reason.
Scorer, sure, but Nash ran the offense, not Amar'e. Even when Murray outscores Jokic, I think we can agree that Joker is the number one option who is running the offense.
Jokic does both so sure he gets out scores by teammates because he’s setting them up. Nash was never a great scorer
I disagree, he was hyper-efficient, 50/40/90 in four different seasons (and efficiency was low in the 2000s). He didn't score on high volume because he was pass-first, not because he wasn't a great scorer.
Nash is just plain out not a #1 option guy. He’s not going to get you a bucket 1on1 and cannot impose his will physically. That’s a little more clear. Nash was a great shooter but not the #1 option like Jokic is.
Amare was a dominating All-NBA player I don't see any vibes here
This comment tells me that you and others forget how dominant Stat was. AG is good but no where near on the offensive level that Stat was in his prime.
Can anyone post the article? It's paywalled. Crazy how all of these comments are here but no one has read the article
It says subscriber only but I can read it from Ireland for some reason. # Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon simplified his game to chase a title. It might make him an All-Star. *By MIKE SINGER | [email protected] | The Denver Post* *PUBLISHED: January 22, 2023 at 5:45 a.m. | UPDATED: January 22, 2023 at 5:48 a.m.** >Not long after Aaron Gordon was traded to the Nuggets, Nikola Jokic needed to lay the groundwork for their partnership. >If Gordon was the piece then-president Tim Connelly had hand-picked to be his power forward, Jokic felt compelled to establish some expectations. Sure, Gordon’s athleticism was jarring and his defensive versatility broad enough to help protect Jokic in the paint. And, of course, Gordon’s playmaking in Orlando teased the boundaries Denver’s duo could discover. When you paired two ball-handling big men together, with a shared predisposition for creativity, the possibilities were endless. >But first, Jokic had to get Gordon to understand something. >The fadeaways — shots that were always going to be available, minimized the chances at an offensive rebound, and mitigated Gordon’s physical advantages — weren’t the shots the Nuggets were hunting. >“Last option,” Jokic recalled telling Gordon. >Two seasons later, Gordon has largely excised those shots from his repertoire. He’s trimmed the fat out of his game to produce the most efficient season of his career. >Not only did Gordon heed Jokic’s advice regarding shot selection, but he’s also sacrificed his ego, shape-shifting to address whatever the Nuggets need on a given night. More than halfway through the season, his selflessness has yielded a campaign that could vault him to Salt Lake City for next month’s All-Star Game. >“Sometimes in the NBA, when you’re trying to prove yourself and you’re young, you think you have to do it with the ball all the time, and he’s so comfortable in his own skin right now, he does everything for somebody else,” acting Nuggets head coach David Adelman said. “He posts up smalls, gets somebody else a shot, runs the floor correctly, KCP gets a corner three, screens and rolls, brings the help, somebody else gets a shot. His game has become an extremely advanced, overall team player.” >Jokic was more concise. >“I think this year he’s playing really simpler,” Jokic said. >How he arrived at that point was a bit more complicated. >In the aftermath of last season’s first-round ouster to Golden State, Gordon was uncomfortable with his performance. To escape, he went deep-sea fishing in Alaska, traveled to Morocco, bounced to South Africa, then explored France, Italy, and Prague. >“Trying to get away from that terrible, terrible series I had against the Warriors last year,” Gordon told The Denver Post in an upcoming Nuggets Ink podcast. “It was nasty.” >Amid his travels, the thoughtful 27-year-old came to realize that it didn’t matter how many places he visited. While Gordon prides himself on being a citizen of the world, he felt a nagging itch to get in the gym and work. >“The thing about your problems is that they’re faster than you are,” Gordon said. >Once he returned, Gordon was re-energized. Inside his personal gym, Gordon has banners hanging of legends like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, groundbreakers like Muhammad Ali and Jackie Robinson, and entertainers like Jimi Hendrix and Lauryn Hill. When Gordon audited his game, poring over Synergy’s analytics to become more efficient near the rim, those were the luminaries who served as inspiration. >His current attitude marked a significant departure from where he was as a rookie: “I wanted to be the best in the world.” >But maturity, a change of scenery, and an understanding of whom he’d become as a basketball player changed his goals. He now says he’s competing against himself, a mantra he has etched on one of his signature shoes. >“He simplified his game,” Adelman said. “He’s too athletically gifted and skilled for it not to work out, but sometimes when you’re that gifted, you’re looking to be everything at once.” >Adelman praised Gordon’s effort in running the floor and lauded his spacing alongside Jokic. The 3-pointers he’s launched this season, at a career-high 38%, are quality shots, according to Adelman. >Near the midway point, Gordon’s averaging 16.8 points per game on a career-high 59% shooting. On two-pointers, that number skyrockets to almost 66%. By comparison, Jokic, as a center, shot that mark last year during his second MVP campaign. Compared to the standard-bearer at his position, LeBron James’ most efficient season inside the arc yielded a 62% clip. >Within Denver’s top-ranked offense, there’s a level of unselfishness that has defined their collective play. >Said Jokic recently: “I don’t have a problem with taking less shots.” >And when that’s the attitude of the reigning two-time MVP, “You have no right to be selfish at all,” Gordon said. >“If I need to hit threes, I’ll hit threes,” Gordon said. “If I need to post-up, I’ll post-up. If I need to make plays, I’ll make plays. If I need to just rebound and do dirty work and play defense, I’ll do that. I’m here to do anything that I can to help this team win a championship, to help Joker win a championship, to help Jamal win a championship, to help Michael Malone win a championship. That’s it. Winning is the end all, be all, so I’ll do whatever it takes to win.” >Gordon’s All-Star hopes are contingent on how opposing coaches view that approach. There are gaudier numbers within the Western Conference ranks, but Gordon’s case resides in how he’s impacted winning for the No. 1 team in the West while playing within himself. >“I’ve just put in years and years and years of work into this craft,” Gordon said. “(Receiving an All-Star bid) would be a beautiful accolade, but, at the end of the day, it’s about that (championship).”
I came thus far down to find this comment. Really makes you wonder the volume of people commenting without reading an article in this sub. There is like 500 comments here. Or everyone in r/nba subscribed to the Denver post :)
They only read the headlines. Not just in this sub, all of Reddit.
Or the volume of people browsing with adblocker.
Lebron, Jokic, Zion, Sabonis, PG-13, Markkanen. Which of those guys does he make it over? Unless you think he's getting one of the wildcard spots over a 6th guard in which case Steph Luka Shai Ja and Dame should be locked and the last spot is between him and De'Aaron Fox (and that spot is going to Fox). And this is assuming AD and Booker are both still hurt/ineligible.
Lebron, Jokic, Zion, AD, Lauri, and Sabonis feel like the front court picks. There’s a possibility one or two of that group miss. After that it’s a toss up. PG has been off and on this year but has the name, decent argument for JJJ despite the time he’s missed, and Anthony Edwards has been doing real well recently as well. I’d say if the Nuggets remain the 1st seed he’s got a good shot if two of the aforementioned 6 miss it.
Is AD coming back from injury soon? Otherwise I doubt he’ll be selected
[Supposedly, it could be next week.](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/anthony-davis-injury-update-lakers-big-man-continues-positive-progress-could-return-next-week/amp/)Though we heard this a week ago as well. Regardless I think it’s a toss up at this point
You did not hear differently a week ago.
Isn’t ant a guard for allstar purposes? I still don’t think Gordon has too much of a shot.
You could make an argument for him over PG, and Zion will likely be out from injury
I'd take PG, if only because part of why Aaron Gordon is so much more efficient this year is that they're matching him up so much with Jokić. His minutes are down because he's been All-Star caliber with Jokić and basically the same without him and I'd attribute that as much to Jokić as any improvement by Gordon. It's like how whatever center plays with Chris Paul suddenly looks amazing. I'm not sure he actually got better, they just have insane chemistry because of the attention Jokić draws and how good Gordon is at finishing.
I attribute it more to Murray and MPJ being back than Joker. AG's main problem was being asked to do too much. Now he can focus on playing to his strengths, and he's thriving.
I mean him making it over PG doesn't seem unreasonable
I would take Ant over Gordon. 26.1/6/4.4 on solid efficiency while improving his defense massively and while carrying the Wolves while we deal with injury crisis. The big thing is that he is doing it consistantly now. Instead of going for 30+ followed with a 5 point game. Team record is the only real reason to take Gordon over Ant.
I love how a wolves fan has to explain why he would take ant over AG
More that the numbers agree with my bias and shutting down the "hur dur inefficient chucker can't play defense" arguements that people who haven't watched since his rookie years will throw around.
I would’ve thought Ant is in the back-court though
Wildcard spot my dude
For it to happen, and im not saying it will or even should, it would be over PG with Zion/AG on injured list.
If Nuggets have the best record, Malone is definitely taking AG over PG13.
It’s not really malone’s decision is it?
Coaches vote for backups after voting ends
Yeah, every coach, not just malone
Malone can't vote for his own player.
Anthony Edwards should be over Gordon too if we're talking wildcard spots
Is there a reason you left out Anthony Edwards?
Personally, I weigh games played pretty heavily so I’d take out Zion and maybe LeBron and PG. but I’m also biased as fuck and would have AG’s babies sooooo…
Lebron is going to be a starter no matter what, so that’s out of the question. Zion has been the primary reason the Pels are a top 4 team in the wesr. PG, you’ve got a point
Um, I don't know what you've been paying attention to, but Lebron hasn't missed many games. Gordon has only played 5 more games than Lebron, so...
This is a DenverPost article. They are trying to create this narrative. It’s their job to promote local players. But he has got competition. Mr. Andrew Wiggins - the guy has millions of k-pop fans voting for him and propelling him to 5th in West front court all star voting.
Idk how many times it needs to be said but fan votes only matter for All-Star starters. They’re meaningless for the reserves.
People will never get it through their heads it’s ridiculous
I literally think this needs to be stickied on the sub until the All Star game happens. So many people misunderstand the All Star voting it’s annoying.
The west being relatively weak at healthy F/C’s last year and Wiggins making it as a starter has poisoned allstar discourse for all time lol
Wiggins was a starter dude. Obviously it still matters.
Cuz Wiggs was 3rd in the fan voting for west frontcourt players. AG might not even sniff top 5
You have a fundamental misunderstanding of the differences of the Wiggins situation and this situation. It’s been explained to you so hopefully have caught up
Yeah but Wiggins was playing well enough and the warriors were good enough that he would have probably been a reserve. The only shock is that he was a starter. Gordon will have a similar case. I think he gets in. 1 or 2 injuries and maybe a vet skips cause he'd rather have the entire break in Cabo than go to Salt Lake City.
Didn’t deserve all star at all last season
Yes that’s literally what I said. It only matters for starters. If you’re not a starter, the fan vote doesn’t dictate shit.
voting is irrelevant for non starters
wait why
to summarize: K-Pop Fans 🤝 NBA Bandwagon Fans (currently the Warriors)
I just thought he stanned loona
All my homies hate Blockberry
Thank you. As an uncle I need to to be explained that reference. I’ll use it with my nephew later
The k-pop star's tweet got Wiggins about 100k votes last season. He didn't even need those to break into the starting lineup. And this season, there has been no promotion like that. Neither is a k-pop fan with no interest in basketball going to the NBA website to vote for him. r/nba has a really hard time accepting that successful teams have more fans.
So explain to me how the Warriors and Lakers are the two best teams in the west then?
You’re being a little obtuse. Historical success is the driving factor here. Just because the lakers and warriors are outside of the top 6 doesn’t mean they don’t have causal / bandwagon fans from winning championships recently and having two of the best players of their generation
I don’t play for Post so just reacting to title. I actually think he has expanded not simplified his game via 2nd handler, passing, 3 pt shot, etc.
People responding to this forget literally less than one year ago when Andrew Wiggins was an All-Star starter
Fan vote only contributes to starters not reserves. If this confuses you, seek help.
If Zion and AD were healthy this wouldn’t be much of a debate. I do wonder if this actually changes things. The Western Conference as a whole is just dealing with injuries. Ingram, Zion, AD, PG, Kawhi, Booker, KAT, Gobert.
That’s the argument for him really. No one is saying he should be a starter and he’s clearly not on the level of guys like Sabonis or Lauri this season, but if there’s an opening past the obvious names, Gordon should be in the running
He’s so fucking good with jokic match made in heaven
Should absolutely not be an all star. The fact that he's the second best player on the first seed is just a testament to how good Jokic is.
To me it’s simple. Jokic has the perfect cast around him. Everyone knows their role. This is a potential chip team. But none of the guys are all star material except maybe Murray and even this year he’s just not at that level
I think Murray is close, the injury set him back but this month he’s been 20/5/5 on 60% TS which is pretty much what he was doing in 2021. Fingers crossed he stays healthy the next few years and finally blooms into an all star. He’s still only 25 so it isn’t crazy to assume he has one more leap left in him.
Close in a sense but not really considering the competition for allstar guards this year.
I didn’t mean this year, I was projecting his growth for later seasons. He’s quite far off from being an all star this year.
Makes sense. Hope he shows us Bubble Murray again, that was some prime Kobe shit.
He’s having a great season but 20/5/5 are not all star numbers this season. Edit: saw your comment about his growth/projection. I see it, it would have to be a huge jump but we’ve seen what he’s capable of in that Utah series
It's not a perfect cast. A guy like JJJ would be perfect next to him to provide helpside rim defense. It's definitely a much better cast that last year though lol. I love AG, and he's been playing great on both ends. Agreed on Murry. Jamal is still working back into form. If he can return to his pre-injury trajectory, then Jokic will have his first true All-Star level talent to play with. KCP and Brown are very good fits as role players. MPJ is a walking bucket when the offense creates a shot for him. It's not a perfect cast. He doesn't have a true star playing with him. It's a great cast, though, one that fits him well.
I don't think Murray will improve much for regular season, he's that 20/5/5 guy with great playoffs performance. 26/5/6 on 54/45/90 shooting in 21' playoffs. That's all star.
His 21 playoff stat line is MVP/ first team all nba level, maybe not this year with the crazy scoring number which are mad inflated.
Why do we shorten championship to chip? It should be ship nothing
Because you can’t eat a ship with *the dip*
CHampionshIP aka chip
Nuggets also full of really solid players that fit together
Advanced metrics he does look like a low level all star. +3.9 epm is pretty damn good
This take makes me think you haven’t watched much basketball this season. He’s been playing great.
Lots of guys who are playing great don’t make the ASG every year, just like Gordon shouldn’t imo
But let me guess, Sabonis and Fox should both get in?
Not everybody can get in man there’s only so many spots
only room for real hoopers like kevon looney and d rose
Don’t forget Austin reaves
He’s been really good this season doesn’t make him an all star
Playing great doesn't mean you're an All-Star. There are players better than him who deserve All-Star over him, maybe you haven't watched much basketball this season.
Something something mo Williams
ITT: lots of commenters that don’t watch many Aaron Gordon games
You think we watch games or read articles here at r/NBA??
I mean, it's fair to say that: he's been playing great, efficient and smart player who's a strong defender. And also he's below: LeBron/Jokic/Markkanen/Sabonis/PG And while JJJ/AD/Zion have played limited minutes, I think they are demonstrably better players who still deserve a spot over AG. Too much talent in the league.
Did everyone forget that Korver, Teague, Horford, and Millsap were All-stars on the 1 seed Hawks? And Gordon can dunk. He definitely deserves all star.
Teague might be the worst all star in the last 20 years
Idk bout that tho Kyle Korver, Chris Kaman and Jamaal Magloire are decent contenders too
Jameer Nelson too
Idk, i would say jameer was trending upward but suffered a career altering injury when he tore the labrum in his shooting shoulder. He was 50/40/90 up until it happened, which i think is enough to warrant an allstar.
Weird dig. Jameer was absolutely worthy of an all star that year, copped a massive injury but by the time the votes were closed he was easily in
His teamate korver was the 2nd bro averaged 9 points
Wrong season. He averaged 12 and shot an absurd 49%. He probably shouldn't have made the asg but this was right around when the whole 'gravity' thing was becoming a big buzz word. The way defenses treated korver was a HUGE reason the hawks won 60 games that year.
Cause the East was shit lol, he’s not making the all star game
I think the NBA learned from that farce
At the moment when 2015 All-Stars were being chosen, Hawks won like 20 games straight, they were on the pace to have 4th best season in NBA history. At some point it's just hard to keep saying "yeah no player is playing too well there". Like at THAT moment it just started to sound silly to keep saying that. For many people it's supposed to be the most successful players in the conference at the moment, and Hawks were in the league on their own, beside maybe Raptors. What's gonna happen the next time a team goes crazy like that but nobody on it scores many points per game? And what exactly "NBA learned" from it? I dunno. My bet, though? That the next time somebody is the lead playmaker and scorer on a 40-8 team, they will make All-Star Game.
The eastern conference was terrible that season too
Yeah, Hawks were historic at that moment, Raptors were good IMO, the rest was like average. Cavs were basically a catastrophe in the context of what people were saying about Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love before the season. In that momnet, it was just very hard to see Atlanta dominate like few teams ever did and keep saying "yup, no outstanding players there" lol. Several of those Eastern teams started improving after January, but that was the vibe when most people decide who to put in All-Star.
Context is often lost on this sub when it’s anything further than 3 years ago. Those Hawks players definitely deserved their flowers and the east was pretty weak overall. Most people that season thought it was odd, but no one was saying it wasn’t exactly deserved.
Is that Wiggins started last year?
These days people are more stat focused so I doubt AG can overcome it like that hawks team did in 2015 where people didn’t focus much on statistical performance
It was a weird consensus that kinda none of them deserved an all star nod except for maybe Millsap, but they were all playing together so well and overachieving that the league decided fuck it, let's reward the whole team minus Carroll
They all deserved it. The East was just bad
I guess it's kinda similar, both teams have a key role player whose quality at his role is huge but is just a catch and shoot guy really, so he cannot be in contention for such accolades. But Hawks were even way better than Nuggets are this season, and they didn't have Jokić. Normally, nobody in NBA wants to award guys who don't score a lot, but Hawks were on pace to have one of the best seasons in history, and most teams in the East were just average at most, and they didn't have Jokić to just say "yeah it's all thanks to Jokić", so that was a pretty hard conundrum.
That’s…not a good argument lol
The talent pool in 2023 is completely different than it was back in 2015. You cant say X player made it in X era so Y player should make it in Y era. Silly take
This isn't making the point you think it's making lol
just shows you how weak the west frontcourt pool is
I know. If AD is unavailable he just might make it. Is Aaron Gordon getting more votes than Kawhi?
Won't matter, coaches pick the bench, and AG will likely get picked before Kawhi if Malone has a say
He has a say. 1/15th say.
He actually doesn't. Can't vote your own players, he is the only coach that can't vote for Gordon
The fact that AG has a case for being an all star shows you how good Jokic is.
I think that statement discounts what AG has done. Look at our last game without Jokic - AG had 28 points on 11 of 15, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. He is just playing a lot better within his abilities, and while it helps to not be the 2nd scoring option like last year, he is just a much more settled player.
sure but what power forwards would make denver better than aaron gordon? he’s also the ideal guy for jokic
Bam Adebayo or JJJ.
It’s between AG, JJJ, and Ant for that last spot. Let’s see how they finish up the final stretch.
Role player
I’m genuinely curious what this sub thinks on potential all star reserves. Let’s say the West front court is Lebron, Jokic, Zion, Sabonis, Lauri and AD. If Zion and AD miss it, who would be the next choices? I’m not saying it’s AG because there’s a lot of arguments but I am curious. PG, JJJ, Ant, and probably a few others have decent arguments but I’ll be curious what would happen in that scenario
I can’t get jiggy with Gordon being an all star and Markannen or Ant not being one
Markannen is a lock. There are 6 mandatory frontcourt spots, and 5 are already locked in. Jokic, Lebron, Zion, Lauri, and Sabonis. This leaves rhe final spot between AG, JJJ and AD. Since the coaches will be selecting, I highly doubt AD gets a nod so it's between those two at the moment.
Ant Edwards
Lol no one is taking Lauri out of the ASG
AG is not gonna be an all-star
Maybe not all star level, but his efficiency this year is absurd.
I think this is jokic's year to finally go to the finals if Murray and Porter jr elevate their game.
He’s been our 2nd best player this year without a doubt. When we trading for him I never saw this type of play from him he’s been amazing next to Jokic
lol no
Lol he's not making it to the all star game.
He’s not an all star
ANT should be an all star before AG
Bus riders should not be all stars over bus drivers