2013 NBA No-Star Team: Eastern Conference
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Not only has Raptors forward Andrea Bargnani underachieved this season, his team has played better without him. (Chensiyuan/Wikimedia Commons)
We now know the starters and reserves for the 2013 NBA All-Star Game, to be played Feb. 17, 2013 in Houston. While everyone celebrates the first-timers, lauds the perennials, and debates the snubs, I decided to go the other way and create the 2013 NBA No-Star Game.
This game will be played in Toronto, a city that has never hosted an All-Star game, and will be played during the Super Bowl to ensure that no one will watch the game.
The starters for each conference were chosen based on their unspectacular, underachieving, or simply terrible play throughout the first half of the season, while the reserves from each team are more like "injured reserves" -- players who have had forgettable seasons due to their injuries. They will attend the game, but will remain on the bench due to their injuries.
You can check out the Western Conference roster here. Here is the Eastern Conference roster:
Starters
SF Alonzo Gee, Cleveland Cavaliers: Did you know that Gee has played the 34th-most minutes in the NBA? Well, he is, and he's not producing a whole lot on the floor, averaging only 10.9 points per game in 32.8 minutes. He is also shooting only 40 percent from the field and 30 percent from three.
PF Andrea Bargnani, Toronto Raptors: Bargnani has complained about the franchise, so what better way to commemorate his awful season by having him start in the No-Star game in Toronto? Bargnani has shot poorly (40 percent from the field, 32 percent from three) while averaging an embarrassing 4.3 rebounds per game. What's worse, he has been injured, and while the Raptors started the season 4-17 with Bargs in the lineup, the team has a winning record (12-11) without him. Ed Davis may keep Bargnani's starting job when Bargnani returns.
C Bismack Biyombo, Charlotte Bobcats: Biyombo has "anchored" the worst defense in the conference, and the seventh pick in the 2011 NBA Draft has not shown any offensive improvement. Biyombo shoots only 43 percent from the field, which is awful considering his limited range, and averages only 4.5 points per game. He has the worst PER in the conference for players who have played at least 1,000 minutes, making him the worst starter on the worst team in the league.
SG Jason Richardson, Philadelphia 76ers: Richardson got old real fast on the Sixers, and his lack of production is why the team should still be concerned about their playoff hopes regardless of whatever Andrew Bynum can do. Richardson has reached the Nick Anderson stage of his career, struggling mightily at the free throw line (61 percent) while shooting a career-low 40 percent from the field and his worst three-point percentage in eight seasons (34 percent). He's also averaging career lows in points (10.5) and assists (1.5), while his knee problems are not going away.
PG Brandon Knight, Detroit Pistons: The eighth pick in the 2011 NBA Draft is the worst starting point guard in the conference, shooting only 41 percent from the field while averaging only 4.4 assists per game and only 0.6 steals per game. Combine that with 3.0 turnovers a game, and you have the worst assist-to-turnover rate of all point guards in the NBA. He has begun to lose time to Will Bynum.
The 76ers have struggled to score without Andrew Bynum. (Keith Allison/Creative Commons)
C Andrew Bynum, Philadelphia 76ers: Other Eastern Conference teams are waiting for All-Stars who have been out all season with knee injuries to suit up (Derrick Rose and Danny Granger come to mind). Unlike the Bulls and Pacers, the 76ers have failed to defend while waiting on their All-Star center. The 76ers dropped from 3rd in the NBA defensively last season to 19th this season without Elton Brand and Andre Iguodala. But that was expected. Without Bynum, the 76ers are 28th in the league in scoring and haven't had a winning streak since starting the season 10-6.
SF Corey Maggette, Detroit Pistons: Maggette missed the first eight games of the season with a calf issue, and the Pistons started 0-8. Even when Maggette returned, he didn't play much and the Pistons weren't all that good, sporting a 7-11 record while Maggette averaged career lows across the board. Maggette has not played since mid-December while the Pistons shop Austin Daye, and the team has actually won without him since then (9-8), but that's a damning return for a player the Pistons traded Ben Gordon and a future first-round pick to get.
SF Landry Fields, Toronto Raptors: Fields signed a three-year contract worth close to $19 million to leave New York. Fields struggled early, then missed 24 games with an elbow injury after never missing a game in New York. He's back now, but he's still struggling to shoot, going 0-for-8 from three after making 117 the previous two seasons while scoring only 5.1 points per game.
PF Glen Davis, Orlando Magic: Despite the absence of Hedo Turkoglu and Al Harrington virtually all season, the post-Dwightmare Magic actually had a respectable start to the season (12-13) while Big Baby put up career-year numbers (15.4 points per game, 7.4 rebounds per game). But then Davis injured his shoulder and missed 11 games. The Magic promptly went on a 10-game losing streak, and though Davis is back now, the Magic have lost 15 of 17 games since Davis was hurt.
C Anderson Varejao, Cleveland Cavaliers: For the second year in a row, Varejao was putting up All-Star caliber numbers (career-high 14.1 points, 14.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.5 steals per game). For the third year in a row, Varejao's season ended prematurely, this time due to a quad injury and blood clot after only 25 games. The Cavaliers were poor with Varejao in the lineup (5-20), but Varejao was still having a great season, and he's only been able to play in 81 games since LeBron James left Cleveland.
PG John Wall, Washington Wizards: The Wizards are glad to have Wall back now, as they are 6-3 since his return from a knee injury. But the Wizards were awful while he was out, losing 28 of the 33 games he missed while sporting the worst offense in the NBA.
PF Byron Mullens, Charlotte Bobcats: Mullens went down with a high ankle sprain in December, and the Bobcats have gone 4-12 since. Mullens is a terrible defender and has a ridiculous green light that is abused (he shoots 4.5 threes a game, making only 30 percent, while shooting a terrible 37 percent from the field). However, he is the only big man in Charlotte who can score consistently (11.8 points per game), while he leads the team in rebounds (7.8 rebounds per game).
Coach
Mike Dunlap, Charlotte Bobcats: I have restrained from using the "Charlotte Bobkittens" line this season, but I might have to bring it back, because the Bobcats show the least signs of hope of any team in the Eastern Conference. It took half the season, but the team that went a historically bad 7-59 last season is back to being the worst team in the league. New coach Dunlap got the Bobcats off to a 7-5 start, but then the team promptly went on an 18-game losing streak. The Bobcats also just broke a 16-game home losing streak, and they haven't won consecutive games since mid-November. In addition, if you're going to have a No-Star team, the coach should definitely be from the franchise with exactly one All-Star selection in franchise history!
That's the Eastern Conference No-Star team ... who would you put on (or take off) the roster?
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