NBA Power Rankings: January 31 (All-Star Selection Edition)

By Joe Manganiello and Dave Holcomb

1. Oklahoma City Thunder: Kevin Durant would win the MVP award if the season ended today, so of course he is starting the All-Star game. (Go Slim Reaper!) But how weird is it that the best team in the West only gets one All-Star? Chalk it up to Westbrook’s injury, and the field being completely loaded – Serge Ibaka is really having an amazing year.

2. Indiana Pacers: Paul George is starting the All-Star game for the first time in his career, and Roy Hibbert is joining him in New Orleans as a reserve. Lance Stephenson had a strong case, but the coaches sided with scorers over his well-rounded stat line (more on this to come).

3. Miami Heat: LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are starting for the East, and Chris Bosh was selected as a reserve, and combined now “The Big Three” have 29 All-Star appearances… Is it the Eastern Conference Finals yet?

4. Houston Rockets: Dwight Howard nearly earned a spot in the starting lineup, but will take a reserve selection alongside teammate James Harden. The Rockets are 10-4 in January, and scored over 70 points in a half on two separate occasions.

5. Los Angeles Clippers: Chris Paul was a strong MVP candidate before his injury, and would have most likely been starting the All-Star game if he hadn’t gotten hurt. With his target return date hovering around the All-Star break, the best point guard in basketball should be playing in his seventh All-Star game. Blake Griffin and all of his debunked myths are starting the All-Star game.

6. San Antonio Spurs: Tony Parker is the only Spur averaging over 30 minutes per game, and by extension, is the only Spur on the All-Star team. The Frenchman is having an unbelievable shooting season, and was a lock. Fourteen-time All-Star Tim Duncan was not selected to the big game for the second time in the last three seasons, despite nearly averaging a double-double.

7. Portland Trail Blazers: It’s no surprise that LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard were selected as All-Star reserves after leading the game’s most efficient offense this season, although Aldridge probably has an axe to grind about not being selected as a starter – he’s transformed into the game’s best power forward.

8. Golden State Warriors: He was The All-Star Snub a season ago, but now that Stephen Curry is the most popular guard in the NBA, and on pace to have a season only seen before from Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson, and Jerry West (although none of them ever made hundreds of three-pointers in one season), he is going to start for the West. David Lee, we should add, won’t be making a second consecutive All-Star appearance, despite being one of six players with 870 points and 450 rebounds on the season.

9. Memphis Grizzlies: They stayed afloat without Marc Gasol largely because they have gotten career-best production out of Mike Conley, who is more and more underrated each day. This is less of a snub and more an example of how ridiculously deep the point guard position is in the West.

10. Phoenix Suns: It would have been interesting to see if Eric Bledsoe had better luck cracking the uber-competitive West All-Star team than teammate Goran Dragic. Still, Dragic had a case: he is one of just three players with a PER above 21, averaging 19 ppg, 6 apg and 3 rpg in at least 40 games (James, Curry).

11. Dallas Mavericks: Dirk Nowitzki may or may not be an ageless superhuman. He’s made the second-most field goals between 15-19 feet, and is shooting 50.4 percent on 230 attempts, per NBA.com. Putting that in perspective, only Chris Bosh is shooting a higher percentage on such shots with at least 140 attempts (Bosh has had 154 attempts from that range, much less than Nowitzki).

12. Toronto Raptors: Kyle Lowry appears to be a snub, but DeMar DeRozan made it in as a reserve, and regardless, Raptors fans must honestly just be happy that Rudy Gay is gone. They’ve won 13 of their last 20 games.

13. Minnesota Timberwolves: Kevin Love is a star, and whether or not the T’Wolves make the playoffs, Love is a fine choice to start the All-Star game – even if it should have been Aldridge.

14. Chicago Bulls: The Bulls have had an an emotional season – another lost year for Derrick Rose, the Luol Deng trade – but they remain firmly in the playoffs of the lowly East because of their team’s heart-and-soul, Joakim Noah. If they can keep winning games like they did on Wednesday then Noah might be in line for his first Defensive Player of the Year award.

15. Atlanta Hawks: Paul Millsap has been having one heck of a debut season in the Eastern Conference, and with Al Horford out for the remainder of the season, the best player on one of the conference’s better teams needs to be an All-Star.

16. Brooklyn Nets: It’s not that surprising that the coaches went with a veteran like Joe Johnson over younger guards like Lowry and Stephenson. But is he really having a stronger season than either of them?

17. Denver Nuggets: Ty Lawson was sort of in contention for a reserve spot in the West. Yeah, like the other four actresses nominated for Best Actress at this year’s Oscars sort of have a chance to beat out Cate Blanchett.

18. Washington Wizards: After being passed over in the USA Basketball player pool and the All-Star starting lineup, John Wall thankfully was selected as a reserve All-Star on Thursday. The Wizards have an impressive .500 record in road games with Wall, and he’s having an amazing year.

19. New York Knicks: Carmelo Anthony scored 62 points in a single game; he’s a deserving All-Star starter. For everybody else on the Knicks: enjoy the weekend off because you’re going to need all of your energy to climb back into the playoff picture.

20. Charlotte Bobcats: The Bobcats have fell off a bit in January with a 6-9 record, but we were surprised that Al Jefferson (averaging a double-double) and Kemba Walker (one of only eight players averaging 18 points, five assists and four rebounds) hardly got any buzz when the Bobcats are technically in the playoffs right now.

21. Detroit Pistons: There was some clamor for young stud Andre Drummond to make it in the East, but his All-Star candidacy had a Christian-Bale’s-Belly-In-American-Hustle size hole in it.

22. New Orleans Pelicans: Anthony Davis got snubbed. We’d love to know why the coaches left off the only player in the NBA averaging over 20 points, ten rebounds and three blocks in at least 37 games.

23. Cleveland Cavaliers: Kyrie Irving (aka Uncle Drew) will start the All-Star game for the first time in his career. How much of the selection, however, is because of his play, and how much of it is because of his hilarious alter ego?

24. Utah Jazz: They are playing better in January (and with rookie Trey Burke in general) but this is not a team that should be yielding any All-Star selections.

25. Philadelphia 76ers: The 76ers are going to make plenty of headlines during the second half of the season because they have multiple trade assets and the frontrunner for Rookie of the Year. But it’s no surprise they won’t be represented in the All-Star game.

26. Boston Celtics: Rajon Rondo’s future in Boston is unclear. What is very clear, however, is why there are no Celtics on the East’s All-Star team.

27. Los Angeles Lakers: Kobe Bryant has all but announced he is not playing. This seems like the perfect way to get one of the game’s youngest stars (COUGH… Davis… COUGH) into his first career All-Star game.

28. Sacramento Kings: DeMarcus Cousins – much to the chagrin of Bill Simmons and Jalen Rose – was left off the team. We wonder, though, how many more years that will be the case, particularly after making the 28-player pool for Team USA.

29. Orlando Magic: It’s bad enough Joe Johnson stole what certainly could have been his spot, but then Real GM snubbed Arron Afflalo from their Snub List?

30. Milwaukee Bucks: The Bucks probably thought Larry Sanders would flirt with an All-Star selection in the first season of his new $44 million contract extension. Well, yeah, that didn’t happen.