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“What if?” Team World vs Team USA for the All-Star Game

18/Feb/18 17:56

The All-Star Game changed the format this year to make the game more competitive, but what if it changed again to something more obvious: Team USA and Team World?

By Dionysis Aravantinos / info@eurohoops.net

For the last few years, the Rising Stars game has been played featuring two teams of ten young players. Team USA and Team World. But wouldn’t it be fun for the fans and the players if this format applied to the real All-Star Game, featuring twenty-four top players from the league?

The best American players would be going up against the best non-American NBAers in a matchup that would make the game more interesting and maybe give a new meaning to the old separation between East and West.

The league experimented this year with a different set-up, as Team LeBron and Team Steph are ready to compete on Sunday night, but Eurohoops brings you a unique, alternative and different idea that could spice things up in the All-Star weekend. Starting it off with Team World and our choices for 2017-2018.

Team World

Starting Five:

  • PG: Goran Dragic (Slovenia / Miami Heat)
    • The 31-year old veteran is ready for his first All-Star Game, coming off the bench for Team LeBron, but in our imaginary scenario, he would be the starting point guard. He is averaging 17.4 points and 4.7 assists per game leading the Miami Heat to a 30-28 record.
  • SG: Andrew Wiggins (Canada / Minnesota Timberwolves)
    • Andrew Wiggins is averaging 17.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per contest for a very good 36-25 Minnesota team. He can provide highlight plays on both ends of the court and would be fun to watch, especially when he would have to go up against twelve of the best Americans.
  • SF: Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece / Milwaukee Bucks)
    • With averages of 27.8 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 4.8 assists, the numbers speak for themselves. Giannis Antetokounmpo would be the face of this team as the Greek super-star can do it all on the court. The fun moments, highlight plays, laughs would be there but in the final quarter, he would want nothing less but the win.
  • PF: Nikola Jokic (Serbia / Denver Nuggets)
    • The 22-year old made history in the game against the Bucks as he recorded the fastest triple-double in the history of the game. He is emerging as one of the best front-court players in the league, scoring (16.9), rebounding (10.6), while also assisting (5.9) night in and night out. The Serbian would assists his teammates in every way possible, with flashy passes, no-look alley-oops and would light up the arena.
  • C: Joel Embiid (Cameroon / Philadelphia 76ers)
    • For a re-building 76ers squad, Joel Embiid is having a phenomenal year averaging 23.7 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. What makes him special is that he is only 23 years of age and has a huge upside. The one-time All-Star would also be fun to watch on and off the court.

Bench:

Team World’s bench, would feature talent from five different countries and six different NBA teams. With four front-court players, the squad would compete well enough against Team USA’s bigs.

Ben Simmons off the bench would provide highlight plays, flashy passes as well as dunks, while Evan Fournier and Bojan Bogdanovic would light up the arena with shots falling from everywhere on the court.  Dario Saric can be the ideal sixth player while Clint Capela, Rudy Gobert and Marc Gasol will affect the game down low with their presence.

*Kristaps Porzingis due to injury will miss 10 months and thus could not make the list.

Team USA

Starting Five:

  • Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors)
    • Stephen Curry is the captain of Team Steph in Sunday’s All-Star Game of 2018. The two time MVP is having a great year, scoring 26.6 points and handing out 6.5 assists per game. The 29-year old would shoot from everywhere on the court, while also having fun on the defensive side of the court.
  • James Harden (Houston Rockets)
    • The front leader for the 2018 MVP award, James Harden would be unstoppable together with Curry, Durant, and James. The Houston Rocket is averaging a league-leading 31.3 points and 9.0 assists.
  • LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers)
    • Back in January, LeBron James became the youngest player to reach 30,000 points and he is on pace to break Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s scoring record. The 14x All-Star has put on a show in the All-Star Game every single year and has also been named twice All-Star Game MVP. A natural born leader who would definitely go at Giannis Antetokounmpo in a matchup you wouldn’t want to miss.
  • Kevin Durant (Golden State Warriors)
    • A scoring machine, KD has also been very efficient his whole NBA career. This season, the 2014 MVP has been averaging 26.0 points on a highly efficient 52.3% from the field.
  • Anthony Davis (New Orleans Pelicans)
    • After the injury of his teammate, DeMarcus Cousins, he has been a true leader for the New Orleans. He has been doing it all, posting up impressive numbers across the board (27.4 pts, 10.7 rebs). His length, versatility, and athletic ability would add to this exhibition game.

Bench:

With seven players from seven different NBA teams, Team USA’s bench features players with multiple All-Star appearances, NBA champions, MVP’s but also rising stars. Russell Westbrook, DeMar DeRozan and Kyrie Irving could be a ‘deadly’ weapon off the bench, showing tenacity, moves, highlight plays but also the competitive side, the spirit of the sport. Damian Lillard would also be needed especially down the stretch.

In the front-court positions, Andre Drummond and Karl Anthony Towns would have to go up against Rudy Gobert and Marc Gasol in a tough challenge. Draymond Green would do the trash-talking, defending Clint Capela but also laughing it off with his teammates.

*John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins could not be added to the list due to their injuries.

Tags Andrew Wiggins anthony davis Giannis Antetokounmpo Goran Dragic James Harden Joel Embiid Kevin Durant LeBron James NBA All-Star 2018 Nikola Jokic Stephen Curry
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