Roughly 24 hours before the 2019 NBA All-Star Draft will be televised, our Kyle
Ratke and Julian Andrews did a little mock draft action to project where some
players might go. Read it and let us know what team you liked better. Thanks to
a coin flip, Ratke will get the first pick as Team LeBron.
Not only was Steph Curry made for real basketball, he was made for All-Star Game
type of basketball where nobody plays defense. This is convenient because Steph
Curry plays really good offense even when other teams play OK defense. Spoiler:
Nobody will play OK defense in this game. It will be really, really bad.
Because this team starts with Giannis, who is one of the most impressive wings
in the league, I’m going to build on strength and take Kevin Durant. Imagine
trying to score on these two! I know nobody plays defense in this game, but my
team will! We’re going to buck the trend and ride it to victory. Also Durant is
an unreal scorer. I’m feeling good about this one.
Kevin Durant hasn’t talked to the media for like nine-straight days. I can’t
handle that on my media-friendly squad. This one is easy. James Harden has lit
the NBA on fire with his scoring this season. They especially don’t call travels
in All-Star games, so Harden’s step-back threes shouldn’t be a problem. When
refs see travels in an All-Star Game, they just blink really fast to pretend the
don’t see it.
At this point, though I love the idea of an all-wing squad–positionless
basketball anyone??–it seems like your plan so far is to take all the point
guards, so I should get mine now. Kyrie Irving is having an incredible season on
top of being one of the most interesting quotes in the league on a daily
basis–Durant doesn’t want to talk to the media? That’s fine, Kyrie will handle
it and let Durant focus on hitting threes over people.
Please. Let’s have Kyrie discuss his thoughts on shapes and planet Earth. My guy
Kawhi Leonard will laugh at him.
Leonard is a lockdown defender and while defense is frowned upon in this game,
it feels like Leonard won’t be able to stop himself from a few steals, blocks or
deflections. He’s not going to win MVP, but I need a glue guy for this team and
Leonard can do a bit of everything.
This squad is lacking a big man, and Embiid is the perfect man for the job. He’s
talented, athletic and a great defender, and most importantly, he seems like the
type of guy would would be very into playing hard in the All-Star Game. That’s
not a knock–I’d be thrilled to have the All-Star Game feel more like a regular
NBA game, but with only the best players in the world.
I have no idea who on my team is going to guard Embiid. This seems problematic,
but there’s no traditional big man left among the starters, so here we are.
Guess what, Julian? Threes are worth more than twos. You can have Giannis and
Embiid hit their cute two-pointers, but I’m out here launching bombs from deep
with Curry, Paul and Jimmy Harden.
I just now noticed that Embiid is the only true center to be an All-Star
starter. Interesting. Anyways, this pick is by default I guess, but I’m thrilled
with it. Kemba has been one of my favorites since he led UConn to their
championship in 2011 and he’s undoubtedly going to try to light it up in front
of his hometown fans.
Because you got the first pick for the starters, I get the first one for the
reserves. It’s kind of crazy to me that Davis is a reserve, not that the current
starters don’t deserve it. He’s having one of the more insane seasons we’ve seen
from an NBA player, and he’s going to make an excellent backup center for my
squad. Imagine having AD as your backup center, it’s an embarrassment of riches.
Our guy KAT. Towns was teammates on Team Stephen last season with Curry and
Harden, so there’s some chemistry there. Towns was a stud in that game,
finishing with 17 points and a team-high 10 rebounds off the bench, shooting
7-for-11 from the field. I needed another big man, so this works out quite well.
If I have to play small ball for this whole game, I will, and Towns fits that
well considering he can play on the perimeter.
Fans don’t want to see post-up moves in the All-Star game. This isn’t 1997 – a
year Julian might not remember because I don’t think he was born yet.
I’ve always been told that telling people your age on the internet is dangerous,
so, no comment. If you’re going small I’m going bigger. Jokic is the pinnacle of
huge, slightly unathletic, but wholeheartedly brilliant NBA players. In fact, he
might be the only one. Imagine a Jokic/AD frontcourt… the lob passes… the
open shooters… I’m in. Fans may not like post-up moves, but they love
full-court passes. Jokic will deliver.
Lillard is constantly unhappy with how much attention he isn’t getting compared
to the rest of the stars in the league. He had 21 points in last year’s game and
I wouldn’t be surprised to see him hit 30. Legitimately everyone on my team
could score 20 points in this game. Team LeBron might score 250 points. This
isn’t fair. I’m starting to feel bad for your team.
I’m not sure where this confidence is coming from given that my team is built
around two of the most versatile defenders in the league and two of the greatest
centers in history, but whatever, I’ll add some shooting. Thompson hit 14 threes
in a regular NBA game, if you’re counting on a game with no defense, which is
obvious, Thompson could hit 20 threes. That’s 60 points if you’re following
along at home.
This was tough since Westbrook hasn’t been able to find his shot this season and
there’s no big man worthy of taking quite this early. I’ll say this, though: If
any player on this team can grow a foot throughout the game and become a center,
it’s Russell Westbrook. This is a guy who loves hunting stats and in the
All-Star Game, it’s something that is encouraged.
I’m feeling good about my team’s shooting ability and my bench’s firepower, but
I need someone to tie it all together. With Simmons running the point for AD,
Jokic and Thompson, this is looking like a deadly lineup. This group would be a
pick-and-roll nightmare. We’re going back to basics in Charlotte this year.
Another shooter.
(Yawn.)
Curry, Harden, Lillard, George, Towns, Beal. My team might make 100 3-pointers
in this game. That’s 300 points if you’re following along at home.
Clearly we have different team-building approaches here. I believe KD, Kyrie and
my three elite stretch fives will hit more than enough three-pointers. I think
what you’re forgetting is that while the All-Star team is partially about
threes, it’s even more about dunks. My team is the dunk team, and on the dunk
team, Blake Griffin is the backup three!! Can he play small forward?? Who
knows?? But this has to be the biggest, most athletic bench in NBA history.
Yes, we do have different team-building approaches. I want to win and it appears
you want to do the opposite of that. Julian, you don’t get a lottery pick if you
lose badly, FYI.
I’m adding another big man to the mix. Big Vuc. It’s his first appearance and
some guys might just be happy to be here. Not my guy Big Vuc. He’s gonna light
it up.
If there’s a knock on my reserve picks it’s that I don’t have a ton of guys who
can go out and get their own shot. While that’s not the end of the world because
we’ll be playing beautiful team basketball, it can’t hurt to add an explosive
guard like Russell. He’s young and hungry too. I like that combination.
I need someone to drink wine with LeBron when this game gets out of hand midway
through the second quarter.
You might be focused on this verbal sparring contest, but I’m perfectly content
with picking up yet another talented wing to round out my rotation. Middleton
can shoot, he can defend and he knows Giannis well. Perfect pick.
The roster is starting to balance out a little bit here. LaMarcus is one of the
more underrated players in this league. He’ll do the dirty work and in this
game, it will be getting a few buckets, grabbing 10-12 rebounds and replacing
the nets when they start on fire after my team shoots 85 percent from the field.
Kyle Lowry is my team’s culture guy. He refuses to not play hard, he always
seems to hit the big shot and I have no doubt he knows exactly how to get into
Kawhi’s head. Give me that guy. Lowry will get up in the faces of your shooters
and shut them down while the rest of my guys swat shots into the stands.
You didn’t draft a legend. Do you hate basketball history? The basketball gods
aren’t going to like this, Julian. I can’t wait for Dirk to drill a three right
in Jokic’s face and wink at him while whispering, “How sweet was that, Big
Honey?”
Ratke’s Team: LeBron James, Stephen Curry, James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Paul
George, Karl-Anthony Towns, Damian Lillard, Russell Westbrook, Bradley Beal,
Nikola Vucevic, Dwyane Wade, LaMarcus Aldridge, Dirk Nowitzki
Julian’s Team: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Joel Embiid,
Kemba Walker, Anthony Davis, Nikola Jokic, Klay Thompson, Ben Simmons, Blake
Griffin, D’Angelo Russell, Khris Middleton, Kyle Lowry
You can tune into the 2019 All-Star Draft on Thursday night at 6 p.m. CT. It
will air on TNT.
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