NBA All-Star Rosters: Power Ranking This Year's All-Star Players

I know how excited you are for the All-Star games. After that NFL Pro Bowl, we could truly use an All-Star game where the players actually attempt to make an effort.

Not that the NBA players try, but it's fun to see games go into the 140s with every shot coming from within five feet. Not to mention that you also get to see some of the league's best players, instead of the fourth replacement because the previous three NFL players decided that a free trip to Hawaii wasn't worth the risk of an injury.

The All-Star game is never anything to be taken seriously, unless you're in the MLB. It's nothing more than an exciting exhibition and a pre-Olympics game that displays just how athletic and talented some of the league's greatest players can be when no one is playing defense. Even though the Slam Dunk Contest is the night before, it's basically a prequel to the game the day after.

With the reserves being named, we can finally begin to analyze where the coaches went right and where they went wrong. While all of these players are certainly deserving, it's just that there are other players who deserve to be on it more.

Instead of focusing on that, we'll instead rank each All-Star on how well they've played this year.

24. Roy Hibbert

One of the larger surprises of the selection for reserves on Thursday came out of Indiana where it was Roy Hibbert, not Danny Granger, making it to the All-Star game.

For the first time in a long time, we're going to have multiple centers in this that aren't named Shaquille O'Neal and Yao Ming. There might have been guards that deserved to make it more, but with big men being such a commodity, they will usually get the nod.

Thus the reason why you see the Indiana Pacers center on the All-Star team for the first time. He'll be one of only four pure centers in the All-Star festivities on Sunday despite only averaging 14 points, 10 boards and two blocks per. Even with the low statistics, Hibbert is deserving of the nomination on account of how well he has improved and just how dangerous he can be.

At 7'2", Hibbert is a rare breed of center that can not just score, but in a variety of ways. He has a short consistent jumper that extends as far out as 10 feet and even has the footwork to support his post game. The 14 points he's currently averaging are a career high as he's consistently increased his scoring production in each of his four years at the NBA level.

His 51 percent field-goal shooting and the 10 rebounds per also happen to be career highs for the big man.

23. Luol Deng

One of two players representing the NBA's top team, record wise at least, Luol Deng will be making his first All-Star appearance after a solid first half of the season.

Deng has been criticized for a large part of his career on account of his lack of production after securing a lucrative contract in the 2008 offseason. This year, however, has been a stellar year as he's grabbing more rebounds than ever before, making his three-pointers and helping to support the team on both sides of the ball in the spotty absence's of teammate and fellow All-Star nod Derrick Rose.

The Sudanese-born product is currently averaging 16 points, seven boards and three assists per as the starting small forward for the Chicago Bulls. He's shooting 43 percent from the field overall and converting on one three-pointer per game at a 37 percent clip. His stats have been relatively average for his standards, but his effect and outlook on the game has changed considerably for the better.

Deng is playing excellent defense, making timely shots, stretching the floor and offering up plenty of support for his reigning MVP of a teammate.

He's also taking smarter shots closer to the rim after taking over four three-pointers per game and converting on 35 percent of them last year.

22. Andre Iguodala

At 13 points per game, Andre Iguodala is on his way to having the lowest-scoring output of his career since his second year in the league.

He's scored over 20 points only four times and has scored less than 10 points seven times, yet the longtime Philadelphia 76ers small forward is more deserving than ever for his first All-Star nod. Why you ask? Because you're finally beginning to notice that Iguodala is not a scorer and is more of a player that does everything, while giving you stellar defense.

For years, it was perceived that Iguodala was capable of leading the Sixers through scoring. He did average as much as 20 points per and did average 18 points or better for three consecutive seasons, but he wasn't the type of explosive scorer that was going to lead his team each and every night through offense.

Now with Doug Collins leading the way, he has put Iguodala into a niche where he is comfortable. Collins has made this Sixers team a well-oiled and well-balanced machine and it explains their hot start leading to the top spot of the Atlantic Division.

Iguodala's scoring production has decreased, but he is hitting a career-high 39 percent of his shots from beyond the arc while making one three-pointer per.

21. Paul Pierce

Remember when people began to dismiss the Boston Celtics as a contender? Yeah, I thought it was pretty stupid too.

The Celtics aren't going to be done until either Danny Ainge begins to trade away the core players or when they eventually retire within the next five years. Too many veterans and too much chemistry is going to keep this team afloat even if their three-man core is getting up there in age and beginning to deal with injuries that are going to be a lot more long term than when they were younger.

Leading the charge this year has been longtime Celtics small forward Paul Pierce. The 34-year-old is leading the team in scoring at 18 points per game on 42 percent shooting.

Even though his overall field-goal percentage is far below his career average of 45 percent, his three-point shooting has been exceptional at 40 percent while making two three's per game.

Pierce is also averaging a career high in assists at six per. The nagging injuries of Rajon Rondo has led Paul to become a facilitator for the first time since the days of old where Antonie Walker was his main running mate. If he's able to keep this up, it'll be only the second time in his 14-year career that he's averaged at least five assists per.

20. Joe Johnson

No, not Ivan Johnson, we're talking about that other Johnson on the Atlanta Hawks.

Joe Johnson will somehow be making his sixth trip to the All-Star game this year and will be the sole representative of an Atlanta Hawks team that stands at 17-9, despite not having Al Horford for the past two weeks.

It's been a pretty standard year for Johnson. It's just that he's improved so much more from last year's abysmal showing and the fact that the Hawks have been playing quality ball that has allowed Johnson to make it back to the All-Star team for the sixth consecutive season. He's currently averaging 19 points, four rebounds and four assists per.

Perhaps the best stat is the two three-pointers per he's converting at a 38 percent clip. Compared to the one three-pointer per he was making last year at the near career-low 30 percent he was shooting from deep last season, then this is the greatest thing to happen to the Hawks in a long time. For a second there, we actually thought that $120 million was going to waste.

Oh, wait it still did. At least Joe is making a career-high 87 percent of his free throws.

19. Marc Gasol

Who would have guessed that the NBA recognized talent when they saw it?

After an amazing postseason run that's been followed up with solid play to start the 2011-'12 season, Marc Gasol will earning his first trip to the All-Star game. It'll also be the first time, of probably many more times, that he has made it in over his brother Pau, who has been having an off year with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Without Zach Randolph, the Memphis Grizzlies called upon Gasol to deliver and deliver he has. Averaging 15 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks per, Gasol is averaging career highs across the board as he helps to aid the Grizzlies in yet another loss of a key player. You might remember last year when Gasol and Randolph were the ones helping the Grizzlies achieve success without Rudy Gay.

In a league where the art of a true center is dying out, Gasol is giving hope to all of the former legends that used to play the position that there are still big men out there who attempt to replicate their game. Gasol is one of the few big men in the league who relies heavily on his feet rather than either being a body for defensive and rebounding purpose or being a brutish figure that solely uses his size to score.

No, Gasol is a different breed. He's learned the game well and it's now translating to success in the form of the first of many All-Star appearances.

18. Tony Parker

They're doing it again. We really have to stop dismissing the San Antonio Spurs every year because they're never going to go away.

Tim "I can't feel my legs" Duncan and the injured Manu Ginobili have had little impact this year, yet the 18-9 San Antonio Spurs are currently laughing at us from atop their usual spot at the peak of the Southwest Division. Despite having two-thirds of their core either hurt or old, the Spurs are only three games out of the top spot in the Western Conference.

If not for one Frenchman point guard, the Spurs would most likely not be in this position. Alas, they're lucky enough to have Tony Parker leading the way and getting them off to another hot start. The league's top scoring guard in the paint is averaging 19 points per game, the most he's averaged in that category in three seasons.

Parker also happens to be averaging a career-high eight assists per to go along with three rebounds per.

Tony's made it to the All-Star game not just for where he has the Spurs, but for the scoring output he has done this year. In particular, Parker has gone bananas when it comes to scoring over the past three games as he has scored a combined 100 points in the past three contests alone.

He scored 42 points in a win against Oklahoma City and then scored 37 four nights later in a win against Philadelphia.

17. Chris Bosh

So much for being soft, Chris Bosh quickly shed that ignorant label with a hot start to the season that was supported by the absence of Dwyane Wade.

Without Wade, Bosh found himself with a more prominent role in the offense and it translated to a better player overall. Bosh is attacking far more than last year, becoming less reliant on his jump shots and playing with a great deal of confidence which has shown in the 19 points per game he's currently averaging in his second year with the Miami Heat.

In fact, it's argued that Bosh should be the one starting instead of Carmelo Anthony. It's not because it would be amazing to see Bosh playing with Dwyane Wade and LeBron James in the starting lineup, but because he's been plain better than any other power forward in the Eastern Conference.

Bosh is shooting at a 51 percent clip and is grabbing eight boards per. His rebounds are a little lower than we'd like to see, especially on a team with Joel Anthony as its center, but he's making up for it with outstanding play on offense that's truly giving the Heat a consistent third option to work with.

He's already scored 30 points or more four times this year with a high of 35 coming in a win against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

16. Andrew Bynum

Finally, we are no longer cursed with voters having an injured Yao Ming or an old Shaquille O'Neal as the starting center in the Western Conference.

Instead, we get a fresh new face for an extremely deserving starter at the center in first-time All-Star Andrew Bynum. After serving a four-game suspension to start the season due to a malicious elbow he delivered on J.J. Barea in last year's postseason, Bynum has come back to the game healthy and with the intent on proving to himself and his team that he's a lot better than the player we've seen.

Sure enough, Bynum is playing the best basketball of his career. He's 100 percent healthy for the first time in a long time and it's translated to a great deal of individual success, as well as team success. It was huge for Bynum to step up this year in the absence of Lamar Odom and he has on offense, defense and rebounding.

He's currently averaging 17 points on 56 percent shooting, 12 boards and two blocks per. He's had two games of at least 20 points and 20 rebounds, the only other player in the league not named Dwight Howard to have multiple games with those stats. A healthy Andrew Bynum can do a lot more than one who has played injured since his third year in the league.

It's certainly helping for the Lakers. The team desperately needed the advantage that Bynum provides and they've received it with a polished center that's playing aggressive and smart.

15. Steve Nash

It's not everyday when you have a 37-year-old leading the league in a statistical category as significant as assists per game.

It's also not everyday when you see a 37-year-old point guard like Steve Nash. The Phoenix Suns floor general is doing all he can to keep his team afloat and while it's only resulted in an 11-14 record, which is a miracle for that team when you see the roster, the NBA has taken notice and gave an extremely deserving spot to Nash on the All-Star team.

Nash is currently averaging 15 points, 10 assists and three rebounds per. He's shooting a career-high 56 percent from the floor, which is good enough for fourth in the league and is nearly equivalent to that of your average NBA center. It's not like he's getting that high of a percentage off of easy shots either as he's also converting one three-pointer per game at a 46 percent clip.

The league's top facilitator, Nash continues to defy the odds with excellent play despite nearing his mid-life crisis. He's having the best year of his career in regards to his shooting percentages as he continues to maintain that historic 50-40-90 average. In case you're new, those averages are field-goal percentage, three-point percentage and free-throw percentage.

Including this year, Nash has done that six of the past seven seasons.

Just a quick reminder: He's 37 years old.

14. Deron Williams

The New Jersey Nets are 8-19. Considering that they're playing without Brook Lopez and rookie MarShon Brooks is the leading scorer, it's nothing less than a miracle that the Nets have more than five wins.

Of course, they have no one else to thank but former Utah Jazz point guard Deron Williams. The perennial All-Star is beginning to assimilate to New Jersey Nets basketball after a slow start to his tenure in the final quarter of the 2010-'11 season. Williams averaged only 15 points per on 35 percent shooting to go along with 13 assists per.

This time around, Williams is better adjusted and is shooting much better. He's averaging 21 points on 41 percent shooting, converting on two three-pointers per at a 35 percent clip, dishing out nine assists and grabbing four rebounds per. You may not have heard from him lately, but that's just because he's in New Jersey and no one is paying attention.

While you haven't been watching, we'll take you up to speed and let you know that Williams is shooting well from everywhere, dishing out as many assists as he can to teammates that might have spots in the D-League soon waiting for them and continuing to assert himself as arguably the league's top point guard.

He deserves to be in the argument since the Nets have eight more wins than they would have if he wasn't playing.

13. Dirk Nowitzki

Consider this as more of a legacy pick because Dirk Nowitzki is probably having the worst season of his career since his second year in the league way back in 2000.

Legacy picks are basically selections given to players who have made it to so many All-Star teams that they get the nod just because of their name. Trust me, Rudy Gay, Kyle Lowry and Monta Ellis all gave far more convincing arguments than Nowitzki.

Either Dirk is suffering from a championship hangover or the lockout took much of a toll on the 33-year-old since there is no other explanation for Nowitzki having this awful of a statistical season. He's averaging 18 points on 46 percent shooting, six boards and two assists per.

All of those numbers are his lowest since the 1999-'00 season, which happened to be the first year that he began to start and receive significant minutes.

There's not much of an explanation for Nowitzki's struggles. He has a jump shot that is impossible to stop, so this is obviously an issue within Dirk. There's no possible way that defenders just began to figure out how to play Nowitzki and that explains his low shooting percentage because there's never going to be a way to stop Dirk. Unless you're an extremely physical defender, the only player stopping Dirk is Dirk.

Perhaps the most disturbing stat is his three-point percentage. The 21 percent shooting percentage from deep is the lowest he has shot from deep since his rookie year.

12. Blake Griffin

Blake Griffin's good, but he is the least deserving starter outside of Carmelo Anthony in the East.

Griffin making it to the All-Star team is the exact reason why fans should not be doing the voting for the starters. It's all a popularity contest and obviously Griffin is a lot more popular than superior power forwards in Kevin Love and LaMarcus Aldridge. If Griffin wasn't flying around and throwing down power slams for every one of his points, his name would be getting announced as a reserve on Thursday.

But this is how the NBA makes it and Griffin will be your starting power forward for the Western Conference.

It's not all bad though. It's not like the All-Star game accounts for anything, and a player like Griffin is going to put on a show. This isn't a game for competitors, but rather for entertainers and there aren't many players in the league better at getting the fans out of their seats than Griffin. He's had a number of vicious slams already, but none better than his ferocious throw-down over Kendrick Perkins.

Griffin is currently averaging 21 points, 11 boards and three assists per, but has yet to improve on his jumper or his defense. It's still extremely difficult to keep Griffin out of the paint, but once you find the solution to that, defending him becomes unbelievably easy. He is hesitant on every one of his jumpers and shoots with no confidence or rhythm.

He's also shooting 53 percent from the line.

I feel like I'm tearing apart Griffin too much, so here's all the dunks he did last year.

11. Russell Westbrook

One of three point guards representing their squads in the Western Conference, Russell Westbrook is probably going to be the one that puts on the best act for his team.

As magical as it can be to watch Steve Nash's artistry of facilitating an offense and as perfect as Chris Paul can be when he runs the point, it's going to be Westbrook's athleticism and skill set that the fans are going to be excited for.

In only his fourth year in the league, Westbrook may still have the mindset of a rookie, but he has the game of a 10-year veteran. He's averaging 22 points per on 46 percent shooting, but dramatically regressed in the three-point shooting department as he's only converting on 28 percent of his two three-point attempts. His overall scoring didn't decline, however, as Westbrook finds himself taking even more shots than the year before. 

Even with the increased field-goal attempts, Westbrook and teammate Kevin Durant haven't had too many confrontations this year aside from one early in the year. They got the Thunder at the top of the Northwest Division and with one of the best records in the NBA. These two may not agree with each other all the time, but we can agree that they're one of the NBA's top duos.

The six assists per by Westbrook is a troubling stat, however. The fact that he's taking more shots than last year and is averaging two assists less than the previous two seasons isn't leading us to believe that Westbrook wants to be a true point guard.

10. LaMarcus Aldridge

The Portland Trail Blazers may be a disappointing 14-12, but when you consider that they could be so much worse, you begin to feel better if you're a fan of "Rip City."

First off, this team shouldn't even be in playoff contention. Brandon Roy dealt with injury troubles for the past few seasons before eventually calling it quits only a few weeks prior to the start of the season and Greg Oden is suffering setbacks after having to go yet another surgery on his knee. This team was depleted, frustrated and disappointed with the incessant bad luck that they encounter every year.

Luck may have been on their side in this case as that Tyrus Thomas for LaMarcus Aldridge is paying off tremendous dividends. The power forward is making it to his first-ever All-Star game after a strong start to this shortened season. Aldridge is attempting to lead a shorthanded Trail Blazers team and is averaging 23 points on 51 percent shooting, nine rebounds and three assists per.

Aldridge is one of the most well-rounded forwards you will come across in the NBA today. He has the footwork and strength to post up and play with his back to the basket and the jump shot that extends as far out to 20 feet to support him on offense. On defense, he's got the quick feet to keep up with any type of power forward and the strength to muscle against the larger players.

After assimilating control of the Blazers last year, it appears that the Blazers have no problem with Aldridge leading the way in place of the departed Roy.

9. Carmelo Anthony

Years from now, people will look back at that Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks trade and wonder, "What the hell were the Knicks thinking?"

By the way it looks now, it might actually be fewer than a few years. With this new-look Knicks team, the organization is already exploring trade options involving Amar'e Stoudemire. This isn't like last year with the Miami Heat where the fans started exploring trade options involving Chris Bosh, this is real deal stuff involving the organization.

But back to the fun with Carmelo Anthony. Brought to the Knicks in a trade that sent Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and Raymond Felton among others to the Nuggets, Anthony has yet to bring the prosperity and success that many thought he would transfer to New York. Instead, it's been a rough go as Anthony has struggled to assimilate with the Knicks and his fellow pure scorer in Stoudemire.

Not to mention that the team has absolutely no support outside of those two. When you look at Iman Shumpert or Landry Fields as a third scoring option, the chances are likely that you're going to be in trouble.

Before straining his groin on February 6th, Anthony was averaging 22 points per game, the lowest he's averaged since his second year in the league, while converting on a career-low 40 percent of his field goals. The 30 percent he's shooting from beyond the arc also happens to be a career low for one of the more undeserving starters in this year's All-Star game.

Anthony is averaging a career-high four assists per, however, on account of being the new facilitator of the Knicks. It hasn't exactly translated to too much success as the Knicks are currently 11-15.

8. Kevin Love

He should be starting at power forward for the Western Conference, but having a seat on the bench is just as good for the reigning rebounding champion and one of the league's top scorers.

Ignore the fact that Love is averaging an absurd 25 points and 14 rebounds per game, is converting on two three-pointers per game at a 38 percent clip and is grabbing nearly four offensive rebounds per game, we need to see Blake Griffin throw down dunks.

Either way, Love is an All-Star and the Minnesota Timberwolves should be happy with that considering they haven't had an All-Star since Kevin Garnett. He's got the team at a respectable 13-13 and has them only four wins away from matching last year's entire win total. This squad that they have now is a lot different than the one that went 17-65 last year.

Partly thanks to a pure point guard like Ricky Rubio, but the Timberwolves success can mostly all be attributed to Love. He slimmed down over the extended offseason to make himself more athletic and it's shown as he's throwing down far more dunks than he did last season. The weight loss hasn't affected his rebounding, however, as he's still grabbing as many boards as he did last season when he led the league.

Love is also proving that last year's shooting was no fluke. He's converting on three-pointers like a regular point or shooting guard. He's the best power forward in the NBA because of how he can rebound at a prolific rate on both ends of the floor and hold his own on offense with consistent scoring inside and out.

7. Chris Paul

Chris Paul might have left New Orleans, but he didn't leave his starting spot on the All-Star team behind.

Now with the Los Angeles Clippers, Paul is getting adjusted to his new surroundings as he attempts to lead the team to their first postseason appearance since 2007. He's currently gotten the Clippers into first place in the Pacific Division with a 15-8 record. They'll be contesting with their crosstown rivals the entire year, while Phoenix, Sacramento and Golden State mill about in the final three positions.

We have yet to see "Lob City" make its tremendous debut. While we've seen some amazing connections between point guards and big men in Los Angeles, it's not as prolific, automatic and consistent as we imagined. We can probably tack that up to simple inexperience as Paul has only played in 18 games with his new and improved roster.

Paul is currently averaging 18 points, nine assists, four boards and two steals per, while shooting 50 percent from the field and a career-high 47 percent from deep. He's the same player he was with New Orleans and that's only going to mean a tremendous amount of future success for this Clippers team if their All-Star point guard can stay healthy.

Thus far, Paul has only dealt with minor injuries that caused him to miss five consecutive games in the middle of January. The Clippers are most likely still wary over Paul and nagging injuries that have limited him over the past three years.

CP3 has scored over 30 points on two occasions this year and has dished out as many as 14 assists in two contests.

6. Dwyane Wade

So much for injuries possibly throwing Dwyane Wade off of his game, ever since he came back from his ankle injury that he suffered late in a loss to Denver, he appears to be in midseason form already and it shows in his scoring production since returning.

After missing the previous six games, Wade returned on January 27th in a game against the New York Knicks. It was the perfect team to return against as Wade had a number of huge slams and ended the night with 28 points on 11-of-19 shooting in a 99-89 win.

He's scored under 20 points only one time since returning. He's dropped 25 points or more in the past four games and is recently coming off a 33-point performance against Orlando where he shot 15-of-24 and made 9-of-10 shots from the field in the second quarter alone.

Wade's currently averaging 22 points, five assists and four boards per. His numbers are well below his career averages, but it's mostly due to a foot injury he suffered in the third game of the season and a significant ankle injury that appeared to be a whole lot worse than it was actually diagnosed as.

He's already missed nine games this year, the most he's missed since when he played 51 games in the 2007-'08 season.

Even with injuries, Wade is an extremely deserving starter for the All-Star team and will be sure to dazzle in a backcourt with Derrick Rose, being paired up with teammate LeBron James and throwing up oops to Dwight Howard.

5. Dwight Howard

So much for trade rumors deterring Dwight Howard from playing his usual self, he's not just playing up to his usual average, he's playing some of the best basketball of his career.

Averaging 21 points, a league-leading 15 rebounds and two blocks per, Howard has continued to assert himself as the dominant player on the Orlando Magic and as the league's top center. He already has six games of at least 20 points and 20 rebounds. The rest of the league's players can't even match up to those six impressive showings.

In fact, Howard is coming off one of his best games of the season. In a blowout win against the Miami Heat, Howard had 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting to go along with 24 rebounds. It's the third time this season he's had that amount of rebounds and one off his season high of 25 which he recorded in a loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

Howard has scored as much as 45 points this season and set the record for most free-throw attempts with 39 in the same game. He only made 21 of them, had he made all of them he would have finished with 63 points. Free-throw shooting has been a problem all year for Howard though as he's currently shooting a career low of 49 percent from the line.

Dwight has the Magic at 16-10, but hasn't given them much hope of possibly staying. He continues to plant ideas that he's heading to a new team and has included the names of the Chicago Bulls, New Jersey Nets, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers as possible destinations.

The organization has no plans on trading him.

4. Derrick Rose

With Richard Hamilton now by his side, Derrick Rose has seen a slight decrease in his scoring production.

I doubt he cares. That 22-6 record atop the NBA, once again, probably means so much more to the reigning MVP and his Chicago Bulls teammates. The team that finished with the NBA's top record last year at 62-20 would like to make it past the Eastern Conference Finals this time around, however, as they have championship aspirations on the mind.

In order to get to that point, however, they're going to need Rose to be healthy. The youngest MVP in NBA history has been dealing with back spasms and other ailments for the majority of the year, which has led to him already missing five games. You wouldn't tell he's been hurt though as he recently had a stretch where he scored 30 points or more in four out of five games, as well as three consecutive.

Rose has scored 30 or more six times this season with his 35 against the Washington Wizards being his high for the year. It's been a roller-coaster ride of a season for Rose as those stellar games have also been met with a few disappointing showings, including the past two games where he scored a combined 10 points and sat out for the majority of the game due to back spasms.

The 23-year-old point guard is currently averaging 22 points on 46 percent shooting, eight assists and three boards per. He's converting on a three-pointer per game on 31 percent shooting, and has also reduced his turnovers to below three per.

3. Kobe Bryant

What kind of All-Star game would it be without perennial starting shooting guard Kobe Bryant?

It certainly wouldn't be as much fun. Bryant has won two of the past three All-Star game MVP's, including last year's where it appeared that he was trying a whole lot harder than everyone else. It's tough to blame him. It's in Bryant's competitive nature to be as aggressive as possible, even in an All-Star game, and that's why he has five NBA championships on his resume.

In case you just started watching Lakers basketball this year, Kobe Bryant isn't 27. I know that he's playing like it, but he's actually 33 years old with 50,000 minutes under his belt. Tough to believe, but you'll find it even more perplexing when you realize that Bryant also happens to be playing with a bad index finger and torn ligaments in his wrist on the arm that he shoots with.

When you're the NBA's scoring leader averaging 29 points per game, you wouldn't usually find that sort of track record behind them. Every scoring leader in the past decade has been in either young or in their prime, yet Bryant is defying the odds with some of the best statistics he's posted up since the year before Pau Gasol joined the squad.

Earlier in the year, Bryant went bonkers on the competition with four consecutive games of 40 or more points. He started it off with a 48-point showing against the Phoenix Suns, then 40 against Utah, 42 against Cleveland and another 42 against the Los Angeles Clippers to cap it off. Kobe's had three games of 30 or more since then, but sadly no more 40-point games.

I guess four is enough for now.

2. Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant didn't have much competition on his way to the starting small forward spot.

It's not that the other small forward's in the Western Conference aren't good, it's more along the lines of Kevin Durant being too good.

The Oklahoma City Thunder star will be starting for the Western Conference for the second consecutive years thanks to another stellar start to the season where his individual and team has led his team to a 20-5 start atop the tough Northwest Division. In a setting where the Thunder have to face off with the likes of Denver, Portland, Utah and Minnesota, the fact that they've won 20 games is a clear sign of how powerful this team is.

They've got no one else to thank but Durant. Even though Russell Westbrook has toned down with the attitude and hero shots lately and James Harden has been playing spectacular as well, the Thunder can attribute the majority of their success to Durant. The wiry 6'9" star added some strength over the offseason and it's showing off as he's been driving to the rim more frequently and with aggression.

The back-to-back scoring champ is currently third in the NBA in scoring at 27 points per game, nearly two whole points behind the top two in Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. That's the last thing on the mind of Durant, however, as he's more looking forward to leading his Thunder back to the Western Conference Finals with a victory arising out of it this time.

Durant's averaging 27 points, a career-high eight rebounds and three assists per. He's also shooting 50 percent from the field and 33 percent from deep, while converting two three-pointers per.

1. LeBron James

Kevin Durant better start cooking up a few triple-doubles and a couple 40-point games, because he has an extremely long way to go if he's thinking about catching LeBron James in the MVP race by the end of the year.

Averaging 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists per game, James has been by and far the best player in the league and it really hasn't been close. He's got the Miami Heat at 19-7 atop the Southeast Conference and a few games back of the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. All of this while playing seven games without the support of teammate Dwyane Wade.

Without Wade, James simply reverted back to Cleveland LeBron. As much as the Heat want to stray away from that type of game, it was actually impressive to see just well he plays in that type of setting. LeBron's done well at transitioning his game to this new style of sharing and playing off the ball in Miami, but he hasn't forgotten how to play as the supreme dominant figure that he once was with Cleveland.

In eight games without Wade, the Heat are 7-1 and 6-1 when James is also playing. The other win came by way of a Chris Bosh miracle three-pointer that led to a win against the Atlanta Hawks.

James recently came a game short of tying the record for most consecutive games with at least 15 points, five rebounds and five assists. Oscar Robertson holds the record with 26 and LeBron reached 25 before only recording two assists in a win against Toronto. He made up for it that game with 30 points and nine rebounds.

LeBron has scored as much as 40 points this year and has scored at least 30 points on 13 occasions. He currently ranks second in points per game by a small margin behind Kobe Bryant.