The Blazer’s Edge Mailbag covers a variety of topics but we can never get to all the submissions that readers are interested in. For every question we answer, at least two get left behind. That’s just the reality of the pace, especially during the NBA season.
Today I was going through old questions looking for any diamonds in the rough. This one piqued my interest right now in a way it didn’t when it was submitted last February. It covers everybody’s favorite topic, the NBA All-Star Game.
Dave,
I’m
into the idea of a hockey allstar format with US players versus the rest of the world. Do you think this would fix the current predictability of the game?
Alex
Up until now, I haven’t liked this idea much. The two pools of talent are not equivalent numerically. You’d be picking All-Stars out of a smaller pool of international players and a larger pool of American-born ones. That’s inherently unfair to the larger pool. Being named an All-Star is an honor. To have a player miss out on it because of where he was born seems unjust. You’d be changing history for what is, in essence, a gimmick.
That worry was exacerbated by the abundance of talent on the American end and the more specialized skill sets of the international players. Players from other countries were good, but they flourished in certain systems or as accompanying pieces. The true superstars were, for the most part, American. Frankly, you’d be decorating the bottom of the International All-Star roster with players who weren’t comparable to their U.S. counterparts.
At this point, both of those situations have changed. Last year 125 out of 450 NBA players on opening night were born in other countries. That’s not the exact 225 we’d need to make the two pools exactly equal, but we’ve crossed a threshold there. Also, international players are not just stars, there’s an argument to be made that the three best players in the entire league are all of international origin, with a fourth headed upwards like a rocket. (Pardon me, like a Spur.)
If we were to make a prospective list for an international All-Star team right now, it’d look something like this.
BIGS
- Nikola Jokic
- Victor Wembanyama
- Alperen Sengun
FORWARDS
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Pascal Siakam
- Domantas Sabonis
- Lauri Markkanen
GUARDS/WINGS
- Luka Doncic
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- OG Anunoby
- Luguentz Dort
- Deni Avdija
Granted, the lower third of the group (talent-wise) probably wouldn’t make an All-Star team organically, but they are still really good players, many of them contributing to winning teams. If you look at the upper half, it’d be shocking if they didn’t make the conventional All-Star roster. So at this point, you’re talking about how we shuffle All-Star participants as much as who actually participates.
Given that, I’d support a “U.S. vs. World” format as an occasional attraction, maybe one year in four? It’d be interesting to see it coincide with Olympics years to drum up interest. If three in four years were traditional, you wouldn’t be excluding any longer-term All-Star candidates. Every fourth year we all get some extra excitement and bragging rights. Nobody loses anything.
And who knows? Maybe four years from now international players will comprise half or more of the league, making this an easy sell.
What do you think? Would you be eager to see a United States versus The World All-Star game? Share your thoughts in the comments below. And be sure to send your own questions to blazersub@gmail.com. You never know when we’ll get to them!
