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Who should fill All-Star bench spots?

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All-Star benches will officially be filled out Thursday night, when NBA coaches' selections for both the East and the West will be announced. Which players should make the cut? Our panel makes their picks.


1. Who are your seven choices for East All-Star reserves?

Tom Haberstroh: Jeff Teague, Atlanta Hawks; Jimmy Butler, Chicago Bulls; Al Horford, Atlanta Hawks; Paul Millsap, Atlanta Hawks; Kyle Korver, Atlanta Hawks; Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers; Chris Bosh, Miami Heat.

Scoop Jackson: Kyrie Irving: A double nickel? Nuff said. Jimmy Butler: The other half of the best backcourt in the East. Jeff Teague: Someone else on ATL needs to represent. Dwyane Wade: Flash showed flashes (of brilliance) all season long. Chris Bosh: Has returned to his Toronto days. Andre Drummond: Pound-for-pound the best big in the East not named Joakim Noah. Nikola Vucevic: The most slept-on player in the first half of the NBA season.

Ethan Sherwood Strauss: Jimmy Butler, Dwyane Wade, Kyle Korver, Paul Millsap, Al Horford, Chris Bosh and Jeff Teague.

Michael Wallace: Let's start with three Hawks in Jeff Teague, Al Horford and Paul Millsap. From there, it's Kyrie Irving, Jimmy Butler and Nikola Vucevic. The final spot goes to Chris Bosh, considering Heat teammate Dwyane Wade is out for another injury absence due to a strained hamstring.

Royce Young: Al Horford, Paul Millsap, Kyle Korver, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, Chris Bosh and Jimmy Butler. Or just the entire Hawks starting five plus their mascot and social media guy. Either way.


2. Who are your seven choices for West All-Star reserves?

Haberstroh: James Harden, Houston Rockets; Chris Paul, Los Angeles Clippers; DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento Kings; Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs; Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers; Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder; Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors; (Klay Thompson as Bryant's replacement).

Jackson: Klay Thompson: In the MVP conversation for real. James Harden: The single most important player to a single team's success or failure. Tim Duncan: His last one, he deserves the moment. Russell Westbrook: NBA's version of Beast Mode. Kevin Durant: Can't hold the 21 games missed against him with the way he's played when healthy. Boogie Cousins: If he were on a winning team in the West, he'd be the MVP front-runner. Damian Lillard or LaMarcus Aldridge: Choose one. Someone from the Blazers deserves to be in the Garden.

Strauss: James Harden, Klay Thompson, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, DeMarcus Cousins, Damian Lillard and Russell Westbrook.

Wallace: Klay Thompson, James Harden, LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard should all be locks as reserves. Kevin Durant gets the respect nod as the reigning league MVP despite missing the start of the season to recover from foot surgery. Dirk Nowitzki gets the legacy nod and DeMarcus Cousins has nudged past Dwight Howard.

Young: James Harden (Kobe's replacement), LaMarcus Aldridge, Klay Thompson, Damian Lillard, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard, DeMarcus Cousins. Picking the West reserves is like choosing your favorite vital organ. No matter what, you're going to be wrong.


3. Who was your toughest cut?

Haberstroh: For each team: Dwyane Wade and LaMarcus Aldridge. Wade has been spectacular offensively when he's been on the floor, but his lazy transition defense has killed the Heat and he's missed a bunch of time. LaMarcus Aldridge should be on the team, but alas, there's just too many elite West bigs this season.

Jackson: Michael Conley Jr.: Easy. Without him the Grizzlies are the Jazz.

Strauss: LaMarcus Aldridge. His team is really good and he scores a lot. I just haven't loved the efficiency (52.9 percent true shooting). He's a fine player and certainly important to Portland's offense, but I tend to take the Real Plus Minus view of Aldridge (he ranks 44th) over the PER view (he ranks ninth).

Wallace: Monta Ellis, Mike Conley, Dwyane Wade, Russell Westbrook and any one of the Spurs' big three are finalists here. But the toughest cut was Dwight Howard. He hasn't been a complete monster on both ends of the court this season, but he's a huge key reason for Houston's success alongside James Harden. With Kobe's season-ending injury creating an extra spot, Howard should find his way in via attrition.

Young: Mike Conley. The Grizzlies are a legit title contender and while Marc Gasol is the backbone, Conley is the engine. He's having his best season yet on both ends of the floor, and has been crucial for Memphis in close games. He's quietly one of the most dangerous clutch-time players in the league. Sometimes it's just not fair being a point guard in the West.


4. Should players who miss too many games be disqualified?

Haberstroh: No, but it's a small part of the rubric. I think it's silly we're forced to give full-season awards for half a season's work in the first place. This is how Jrue Holiday was an All-Star despite finishing outside the NBA's top 100 in win shares in 2012-13.

Jackson: No. Players should have had to play at least half of the games leading up to All-Star Game (whatever that number is, it varies each year) in order to be eligible. Unless they are voted in by fans. Then all policies and rules are void.

Strauss: Yes. I don't believe the All-Star Game should actually be a popularity contest. Maybe you believe it should and that's okay if you do. I prefer the game as a marker for who had the best season. All that said, I can't cut Kevin Durant. He gets in under my somewhat arbitrary, "He looks like the game's best player when he plays" rule.

Wallace: Maybe. I'm not necessarily on the fence here, but it depends on the circumstances. Durant's case is weird because it's shocking he wasn't voted a starter by fans. That puts the onus on coaches to make one of the league's marquee stars a reserve. Wade is a similar case in the East. If stars are healthy by the All-Star voting deadline, they should be eligible to play.

Young: Yes. And no. This has to be a case-by-case thing. Without a doubt an All-Star nod should be built on merit. But with Durant, he's the reigning MVP and widely considered the second-best player in the world. The All-Star Game is about the NBA putting its product on display and entertaining the fans. Who do they want to see: Kevin Durant or Draymond Green?


5. Should the NBA expand All-Star rosters?

Haberstroh: Yes. The league has expanded by threefold since the first All-Star Game. Allow me to quote my man Kevin Pelton from a recent Insider Daily column: "All-Star rosters first went to 12 in 1968, when there were 12 teams in the league. That season, 15.9 percent of all NBA players were selected as All-Stars. To maintain that same proportion in the 30-team league, we would need to expand All-Star rosters to 38 players -- for each conference."

Jackson: No. Of the 12 players who do make it, every game there's 3-4 players on each squad that barely get 20 minutes of run. Makes no sense to add players to the roster for résumé purposes if they aren't going to get a true opportunity to play in the game. It's not that serious.

Strauss: Sure. Since the league expanded NBA rosters to 13 people, we might as well mirror that in the All-Star Game. One additional fix, please: Don't base the teams on conferences. The East has a dearth of actual All-Stars and the West has a surplus. I'd rather see the best players from a season playing against each other. I endorse choosing the top 26 guys, then lottery selecting the teams.

Wallace: Yes. By one or two spots, which shouldn't water down the product too much. Better yet, just create a legacy roster spot for each conference that assures an all-time great doesn't get overlooked because his numbers and minutes are down for preservation. This would give Dirk or Duncan a spot in the West and Wade a spot in the East without potentially coming at the expense of a younger and deserving player on the rise.

Young: No. Expanding rosters doesn't magically create more minutes to go around. There are already players who make the team and barely play in the game. What's the point of an All-Star Game DNP-CD? Just to have something to look nice on your Wikipedia page? Expanding rosters waters down the honor of being selected.

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