Marc Stein, ESPN Senior Writer 9y

Stein's picks for All-Star reserves

Coaches in the East and West were required to submit their votes for All-Star reserves to the league office by Tuesday at noon.

What follows here, then, is the annual Stein Line Live reserve ballot, employing the exact same rules that the coaches were required to follow after learning the identities of the starters chosen by the fans.

Those rules:

1. Coaches must vote for three frontcourt players, two guards and two wild cards.

2. Players must be ranked in specific order of preference in all three categories.

3. Coaches are explicitly told as part of the voting process that the position at which a player "is listed on the All-Star ballot should have no bearing on your vote." Each coach is encouraged, furthermore, to vote for players "at the position he thinks is most advantageous for the All-Star team" and "not necessarily the one he plays most often during the season."

4. Coaches are obviously not allowed to vote for their own players.

The starters in the East, as announced Thursday, are John Wall and Kyle Lowry at guard, with LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Pau Gasol in the frontcourt. The starters in the West are Stephen Curry and Kobe Bryant at guard, with Anthony Davis, Blake Griffin and Marc Gasol in the frontcourt.

The respective benches, which will be announced Thursday on TNT, would look like this on ESPN.com's mythical ballot:


EASTERN CONFERENCE

FRONTCOURT

1. Al Horford, Hawks

2. Paul Millsap, Hawks

3. Chris Bosh, Heat

Maybe Horford's across-the-board numbers won't wow you, but Atlanta's ridiculous 30-2 surge since Thanksgiving has been sparked by its transformation on D from a team in the bottom five in defensive efficiency to a top-five unit. And Horford's gradual return to form, after all of his injury woes over the past two seasons, is the factor that largely triggered that turnaround. His frontcourt partner Millsap, meanwhile, provides the Hawks with a tremendous amount of versatility and dependability that East coaches, I'm sure, will reward for the second successive year. Which brings us to the third slot and a choice, essentially, between Bosh and Nikola Vucevic. As impressive as the young Orlando big man continues to be, flirting with a 20-and-10 season and nudging his PER into the 22s, I can't ignore the load Bosh has shouldered for the Heat in the wake of LeBron's exit.

BACKCOURT

1. Jimmy Butler, Bulls

2. Kyrie Irving, Cavaliers

As the runaway leader in the league's Most Improved Player race, having hiked his scoring average by a heady seven points per game, Butler is almost unanimously regarded as the first name on the list when it comes to Eastern Conference reserves. Coaches will then have to decide between Irving and Dwyane Wade for the second slot, which is rather amazing when you think about it. Lowry not only bumped Wade out of the East's starting lineup with that late Justin Bieber-fueled push in the fan vote, but also joined Wall in racking up more votes than Irving. Who would have predicted that after Irving's successful Team USA summer and LeBron's arrival in Cleveland? Instinct tells me Kyrie has the slight edge over D-Wade here, but the MVP of the 2014 All-Star Game in New Orleans must be somewhat stunned not to have snagged one of the two starting spots.

WILD CARDS

1. Dwyane Wade, Heat

2. Jeff Teague, Hawks

East coaches have a clear dilemma. Taking four Hawks, as romantics out there (like me) would love to see them do, means either Bosh or Wade has to be left home. Not that I can come down too hard on the actual voters when I ‎couldn't quite talk myself into giving Wade's spot to Kyle Korver. The Heat have certainly fallen far since LeBron's return home, but injuries have undeniably contributed to Miami's 20-24 start. So I just can't picture the coaches omitting one of the two Heat stalwarts. Especially when Wade has played at a very high level (third among shooting guards with a PER of 22.6) despite missing 10 games with various ailments. And as much as it pains me to say it, I likewise can't see the coaches selecting our beloved Korver -- even though he's on par with Horford when it comes to identifying the most influential Hawk -- when his overall numbers are on the pedestrian side, while Teague ranks fourth among point guards in PER at 22.6. Korver is indeed bidding to record the first 50/50/90 season in NBA history, but Teague trails only Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul in that aforementioned PER race. I would argue that the Hawks have looked plenty good with Dennis Schroder at the point, which suggests they could cope without Teague better than they could without another of their other three mainstays, but he's going to be on this team.

TOUGHEST OMISSIONS

Korver, Vucevic, Cleveland's Kevin Love, Milwaukee's Brandon Knight, Detroit's Greg Monroe and Brandon Jennings, and the banged-up Charlotte duo of Kemba Walker and Al Jefferson.




WESTERN CONFERENCE

FRONTCOURT

1. James Harden, Rockets

2. LaMarcus Aldridge, Trail Blazers

3. Kevin Durant, Thunder

Harden and Curry are generally regarded as the league's top two players so far this season. So we're taking advantage of the wiggle room coaches are afforded by the league office in this voting process (see No. 3 up top) and sending Harden to New York as a small forward, thus ensuring we have enough roster room to take one extra small in a conference with four other guards we feel we have to choose as reserves. Aldridge likewise has to be Gotham-bound if he's healthy enough to play, given his gaudy production for a 32-13 team, but we'll have to wait and see how that plays out, meaning DeMarcus Cousins' hopes of overcoming Sacramento's dreadful record likely hinge on Aldridge's availability. As for Mr. Durant ... your protests are futile. I know he's missed 24 games thanks to his various foot ailments, but I also know that's not a high enough number to dissuade West coaches from finding a spot for the game's reigning MVP. KD will be at MSG. Trust me.

BACKCOURT

1. Damian Lillard, Trail Blazers

2. Klay Thompson, Warriors

As good as Aldridge has been for the Blazers, I suspect Blazermaniacs would say Lillard has been Portland's best player. I also suspect the coaches hold Lillard in similarly high regard, so you can safely count on seeing him on the West bench. Thompson, by contrast, probably can't be regarded as a lock given how crowded this conference is when it comes to backcourt options ... not even after that 37-point eruption in the third quarter Friday night against the helpless Kings. Yet I just can't see, ultimately, how the coaches could leave him out. Klay is the best two-way player on a 36-6 squad that, with a ridiculous record like that, simply has to have two All-Stars. The real drama here should be restricted to Steve Kerr's dilemma: Does Kerr ignore the All-Star traditions of seniority and stature to start Thompson next to Curry in place of the injured Bryant and uncork the inimitable Splash Brothers on the East from the opening tip? Or does Kerr start Harden from the hated Rockets in Kobe's place -- at the risk of rankling his own players -- in a nod to how well Harden is playing in the season of his life?

WILD CARDS

1. Chris Paul, Clippers

2. Russell Westbrook, Thunder

I understand that the Clippers' well-chronicled inconsistency has led to suggestions that Paul is somehow slipping. I'm also well-aware there will be opposition to the notion that the Thunder, barely a .500 team thanks to all the time missed by their two superstars, should be granted two All-Stars. You can safely assume I'm ignoring all that noise and voting for both CP3 (fourth in the league in plus/minus among guards behind only Steph, Klay and Korver) and Russ (on pace for just the fourth 20+ PPG, 7+ APG, 6+ RPG, 2+ SPG season of all time), whose continued excellence ensures that the coaches will see it the same way. Then it's up to Adam Silver to make the truly tough calls, since it'll be the commissioner who must decide who replaces the injured Bryant ... and perhaps Aldridge if he sits. Rest assured that Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki, at this point in their careers, would prefer rest over another All-Star trip, so perhaps that'll increase Cousins' odds of getting in. Boogie is, after all, one of just three players in the league averaging at least 20-and-10 this season, along with Anthony Davis and Aldridge, as well as the league's only player who ranks in the top five in scoring and rebounding.

TOUGHEST OMISSIONS

Cousins, San Antonio's Duncan and Kawhi Leonard, Dallas' Nowitzki and Monta Ellis and Tyson Chandler, Houston's Dwight Howard, Memphis' Mike Conley and Zach Randolph, and Denver's Ty Lawson.

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