NBA All-Star Game Rosters 2016: Stat Predictions for East and West Starters

The NBA All-Star Game is about scoring, celebrating one of the league's cities and fanbases, scoring, providing a midseason respite for the players, scoring and more scoring. 

The All-Star Game is a perfect environment for the Russell Westbrooks of the world who will shoot 28 times in less than 26 minutes of action in pursuit of the game's MVP award. The exhibition is not traditionally the place for the Hassan Whitesides of the world who promise to ferociously swat shot attempts that would normally go uncontested. 

With the starting lineups left up to the fans, defense was once again not a priority, taking a back seat to the promise of offensive fireworks and the pageantry of aging stars on parade.

Five of the league's top 10 scorers as of Feb. 22 were selected to start in the All-Star Game, and the winning conference has averaged 153.8 points per game in the last five years. Those stats, plus Westbrook looking to build on his 41-point outing last year and Stephen Curry likely shooting something in the neighborhood of 6-of-10 from half court, suggest the 2016 All-Star Game will provide the avalanche of scoring to which we've grown accustomed. 

Eastern Conference Starters

Position	Player	Team	Votes	All-Star Games	All-Star PPG
Guard	Dwyane Wade	Miami Heat	941,466	12th	17.3
Guard	Kyle Lowry	Toronto Raptors	646,441	2nd	10
Frontcourt	LeBron James	Cleveland Cavaliers	1,089,206	12th	25.3
Frontcourt	Paul George	Indiana Pacers	711,595	3rd	17.5
Frontcourt	Carmelo Anthony	New York Knicks	567,348	9th	20.3

Western Conference Starters

Position	Player	Team	Votes	All-Star Games	All-Star PPG
Guard	Stephen Curry	Golden State Warriors	1,604,325	3rd	13.5
Guard	Russell Westbrook	Oklahoma City Thunder	772,009	5th	22
Frontcourt	Kobe Bryant	Los Angeles Lakers	1,891,614	18th	26
Frontcourt	Kevin Durant	Oklahoma City Thunder	980,787	7th	20
Frontcourt	Kawhi Leonard	San Antonio Spurs	782,339	1st	N/A

Eastern Conference Stat Predictions

Player	Minutes	Points	Rebounds	Assists	Steals
Dwayne Wade	15	14	4	5	1
Kyle Lowry	30	20	2	10	7
LeBron James	28	28	5	10	2
Paul George	20	25	10	3	2
Carmelo Anthony	24	22	6	0	1

East Headlines

James and Wade reignite old flame

Jason Miller/Getty Images

The 2016 All-Star Game will be the first time James and Wade take the floor in the same uniform since Game 5 of the 2014 NBA Finals. Wade was held out of the 2015 All-Star Game due to injury, robbing him of the chance to reunite with his old teammate in James' first season since leaving Miami. 

This year, the 34-year-old Wade is presumably healthy enough to take the floor on Feb. 14. He's seeing the least minutes per game of his career so far this season, so don't expect to see a ton of Wade in the game. But when he is on the floor, you better believe he'll be exchanging passes with the other fourth of the banana boat crew, per TMZ, that was voted into the game. 

James' teammates tend to perform better when the two parties are on good terms. Just ask Kevin Love. So with his pals Wade and Anthony starting the game alongside him, James should rack up some assists facilitating them. 

Lowry stuffs the stat sheet at home

Claus Andersen/Getty Images

The Toronto Raptors are second in the Eastern Conference standings at the moment, so it would make sense that their roster would bear some All-Star Game candidates. Combine that with the fact that Toronto is the host city for the 2016 festivities, and it would've been a borderline crime for no Raptor to earn a starting spot for the East. 

The fans did not neglect their responsibility in that regard, and Lowry was selected to represent the conference. Teammate DeMar DeRozan finished fifth in Eastern Conference guard voting, with Jonas Valanciunas and DeMarre Carroll earning 11th and 13th place, respectively, in the East frontcourt vote. 

Lowry narrowly missed a double-double in the first All-Star Game of his career, dropping 10 points and eight assists in just under 26 minutes of action last season. 

This year, the Raptors point guard will expand on that performance in his second All-Star outing. He'll double his points, reach double-digit assists and sniff a triple-double by thrashing around the hands that have him second in steals per game this season. 

Western Conference Stat Predictions

Player	Minutes	Points	Rebounds	Assists	Steals
Stephen Curry	27	29	5	9	3
Russell Westbrook	26	35	4	0	5
Kobe Bryant	24	19	2	2	0
Kevin Durant	26	36	5	4	1
Kawhi Leonard	18	14	8	3	6

West Headlines

Durant and Westbrook battle for ASG MVP

Kathy Willens/Associated Press

If you thought Westbrook's ferocious crusade to win the All-Star Game's MVP award in 2015 was motivated by the pursuit of Wilt Chamberlain's record of 42 points or the desire to strengthen his case for the league MVP, that was a smart guess. 

It was also wrong. The Thunder point guard went on Live with Kelly and Michael back in September and offered the real story behind his determination (h/t CBS Sports' Ananth Pandian). 

"I made a bet with somebody before the game, a friend of mine," Westbrook said. "She had a cast. I wanted to sign it. So she is like 'If you get MVP, you get a chance to sign my cast.' She was actually at the game, so every five or 10 minutes, I'd look up at her and she'd be holding her cast out." 

Assuming he won't have the benefit of his friends' broken bones this time around, Westbrook's motivation will likely come from a desire to retain his crown and the fact that teammate Kevin Durant will start alongside him in Toronto. 

The two stars have learned to coexist in OKC, with Durant comparing their relationship to that of brothers, per ESPN. But in the same interview, Durant also said there are, "times we cuss each other out." 

And there's no better stage than the All-Star Game to metaphorically cuss out your teammate by neglecting open passes in favor of a selfish points-related agenda. 

In last year's game, Durant was limited to just under 10 minutes of action, scoring just three points. That's a massive departure from his historic average in All-Star Games. 

In the 2016 installment, Durant is healthy enough to participate fully in the game and see minutes comparable to his Oklahoma City teammate. 

The two prideful Thunder stars will trade blows, one eventually edging out the other and claiming the game's MVP award. 

Kobe can't Benjamin Button this one 

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

In Bryant's farewell tour, he's averaging the lowest field-goal percentage of his career and the fewest points and minutes per game since his sophomore season. The Kobe that makes this final trip to Toronto as an NBA player will not be reminiscent of the Kobe who scored 81 points against the Raptors 10 years ago. 

Bryant will likely see as many minutes as he feels necessary, shooting at an above-average clip in an effort to stoke a fire that has looked extinguished for the last several seasons. But Bleacher Report NBA analyst Ric Bucher isn't looking for a transcendent performance from Bryant in his final All-Star Game. 

"I just don't feel as if there is going to be this Kobe scoring 50, dominating the game," Bucher said. "From the way he's approached this season, I think he realizes that that time is passed."

As Bucher suggests in the video, Bryant will be appropriately honored outside the parameters of the game. The Air Canada Centre will probably be forced to endure some footage from that 81-point maelstrom as the future Hall of Famer's career is remembered during the league's annual celebration of itself. 

Bryant will dominate the game in the sense of storylines and conversation topics, but not in the sense he became used to starting in 1996. 

*Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com  

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