I could be wrong, but this seems like possibly the most competitive year in recent memory in terms of deciding the all-NBA first team. At center, both Embiid and Jokic are MVP finalists, yet one will be relegated to the second team At forward, Giannis is a lock, but LeBron, Durant, Derozan, and Tatum all have legit arguments for the other spot At guard, the main competition in Booker, Luka, Curry, and Morant missed 14, 17, 18, and 25 games respectively. And the seemingly most obvious selection (best record, played the most games) is arguably not even the best or most important guard on his own team. So... if you were voting for the all-NBA team, who you got?
impossible for me not to factor the playoffs into the equation right now I only Have Giannis and Embiid on the team. candidates at forward are Lebron, Tatum. At guard, Derozan, Young, Booker, Morant, Curry. Doncic is there kind of floating between guard and forward
Derozan at guard? Hasn't he been playing forward all year with Lavine, White, Caruso and Ball handling most of the guard minutes?
And LeBron is still a candidate for you, even though you have to factor playoffs into the equation, but he didn't even make them?
SG-->SF-->SG-->SF = wing....doesn't really matter The way it is in the new NBA: PG Wing Wing Stretch-4/Wing (Giannis) C (Embiid) think about it: if you're listing elite all-NBA players, are there really any big men on the list besides Embiid/Jokic/Giannis? (AD disqualified because he's always injured) And if you're being technical, Giannis (and AD) play and defend like Wings as much, if not more than they do as big men that wasn't the case 20-30 years ago. The NBA is a perimeter-outside-->inside game now
Just saying, if you're talking about role on the team and within the offense, Derozan's this year was much more in line with Lebron's and Tatum's than with Curry, Doncic, Morant, and Young. Given where you classified everyone else you listed, it just seems odd you would list Derozan amongst the players you did.
I would agree with you. Booker was outside the top 15 in VORP this year, with like 7 other guards ahead of him. Interestingly, I didn't realize that Dejounte Murray has very quietly had a third-team-worthy season. I doubt he'll get many (if any) votes, but he should be on the cusp.
Embiid in a whisker over Joker. Giannis and Tatum Backcourt....whoever I pick right now, I might change my mind in an hour. Imho there are several defensible candidates, but none who really stand out.
Look at the advanced numbers-- there are several guards that are ahead of him in all of them, including his own backcourt-mate.
I didn't say the playoffs were the only factor, just one of them. He averaged 30-8-6 at 37 years old. That's really impressive. Missing 26 games isn't though
