All-Star Week Roundtable [GRADED]

[New York]

All-Star Weekend is right around the corner so we decided to get a few of Ultimate ABCA's GMs together and have them provide their thoughts on the upcoming events. 

I will be the grader for the roundtable and as such will obviously not be competing. Final grades for each question will be posted following the sim due to this being a prediction based roundtable. I should note that 100% accurate predictions won't be the only thing I look at because there's no real fun it that but it will be taken into account. Following previously established pp rewards for the roundtable: 

Participating: 100

First Place: 100

Second Place: 75

Third Place: 50

Organizing: 100


And since I appreciate everyone that participated, throw in an extra 25 PP for the 4th, 5th, and 6th place guys. Might not be a lot but every little bit helps. 

The Participants Are: 

New Orleans

Toronto

Sarawak

Brooklyn

Vancouver

Taipei

So with that out of the way, let's get started.

1) Give me a player from each conference that you believe will be a first time all-star this season? Why?

New Orleans

There are a few guys on each side that have a real shot. In America the two most obvious are Carmelo Anthony and Mitch Richmond. Melo has a much more difficult path at the forward position so I think Mitch is the more likely and most likely is a shoe in to make it and possibly start. In that same vain and the same draft class is Dirk Nowitzki from Eurasia who will most certainly make his first all-star game this year and could be starting as well if it weren’t for McHale.

Toronto

In the Americas I’ll shamelessly pick Carmelo Anthony as a 1st time all-star. He’d be an absolute lock if he were playing at SF as the competition is much slimmer…but his improved stats after coming to Toronto should be able to get him in as the backup PF over Tommy.

In Eurasia, I expect to see a first appearance from another guy wearing a new uniform in Andre Drummond. Despite a slight down season relative to last year I think he’ll get the nod as Mchale’s backup, or possibly an 11th/12th spot with Dirk in the picture.

Sarawak

In the Americas I think this is a pretty easy question. The answer is Magic Johnson. Without even considering his impressive stats let it sink in that as of answering this question the Nets are 28-18 and battling for potentially having home court advantage in the first round. Need another non-statistical reason? He is a rookie, so it is his first opportunity to make the game. Now onto the on court production, Magic has put up 18.2 points, 7.7 boards, 7.4 assists and 2.0 steals while posting a 20 PER as a rookie. Sure he has some growing to do defensively but this guy does it all for the Nets and I would be shocked if he didn’t make the all star game.

In Eurasia there were two who stood out in Dirk Nowtizki and Karl Anthony Towns. At the end of the day, while I think both are deserving All Stars I think KAT is the surer thing putting up 22.9 points (13th in the league), 11.7 boards (4th in the league) and 4.0 blocks (2nd in the league). He is truly a monster and hasn’t even yet gotten close to his massive potential. He screams being made by an overzealous TWolves fan. Now excuse me while I duck for cover and move on to the next question!

Brooklyn

America - Mitch Richmond (VAN) should make his first career all-star appearance in his 3rd season in the league. He’s scoring 21ppg on 52% shooting, with 5.5rpg, 6.7apg and 2.1spg.

Eurasia - Karl-Anthony Towns (SHA) should make his first career all-star appearance in his 4th season in the league. He’s averaging 23 and 12 with 4 blocks per game.

Vancouver

From America, I’m going to be a homer and say Mitch Richmond. He is averaging 21/6/7/2 while shooting 53% from the field, which includes 43% from downtown. He is having a great season on the team leading it’s division and he’s been an all-around player both offensively and defensively.


From Eurasia, I’m going to go with Dirk Nowitzki. He’s averaging 25/8 on the first place KK Partizan and is shooting 37% from downtown as a PF! He’s enjoying a breakout campaign and gives KK Partizan a cornerstone to build around forever.

Taipei

Eurasia: C Karl Anthony Towns 22.8ppg 11.7rpg 4bpg 46.7%FG 81%FT per: 22.4



Towns appears to be doing the right thing in his extension year, and is having career years in points, rebounds and blocks. He's probably the #3 center in Eurasia right now, behind Shaq (25.2/9.6/1.9/58.1% per: 23.2) and MVP candidate Anthony Davis (29.7/10/3.5/60% per: 32.1). Perennial All-Stars Bill Rusell (per: 17.1) and Andrew Bynum (per: 17.7) are having down years and should open up a slot of Towns on the All-Star team. Dirk is another first-timer with potential to make the squad, but there is a lot more depth at the F position.



America: G Mitch Richmond 21.3ppg 5.5rpg 6.7rpg 2.1spg 51.5%FG 86.2%FT 42.8%3FG

Seems like an easy answer here. Richmond is having a great season on one of the better teams in the league. 50/80/40 is pretty much unheard of for a guy getting as much shots as he is. Lou Hudson also has a shot, but he'll be behind Richmond for sure.

Grader Thoughts

So with the first question we've got half of the GMs that guessed 100% correct for both Eurasia and America and those GMs are Taipei Fubon Braves, Brooklyn Nets, and Sarawak Firehorse. For Taipei and Brooklyn they guessed correct on Mitch Richmond and Karl Anthony Towns becoming first time all-stars while Sarawak guessed rookie Magic Johnson along with KAT. Now this is where my scoring is mapped out, as I am going to give Sarawak the spot behind the other two because I think going with Magic was a bit too easy of a choice. First off there was no real competition for him whereas Mitch was a neck and neck contest with both Lou Hudson and Larry Nance. Also I think picking Magic was a bit too obvious with him being a rookie. Don't get me wrong it's silly semantics and I loved the thought put into Sarawak's responses which is why he'll get the next spot. Next up there is another tie with Grizzlies & Jazz both giving really good reasons for Dirk making it and despite him somehow missing, I was in agreement that he was deserving of a first time all-star nod. Toronto comes in at the end due to the pick of Andre Drummond who I don't feel was close to an All-Star nod this year as arguably the 5th or 6th best PF in the conference. 

Grades

New Orleans: 4

Toronto: 3

Sarawak: 5

Brooklyn: 6

Vancouver: 4

Taipei: 6

2) On the flip side, give me a player from each conference that was an All-Star last year that you don’t think will make the cut this season? Why?

New Orleans

The most obvious guy who won’t make it is Grant Hill who has gone from All-Star to 27 total minutes played this season in Eurasia. There is little doubt he’ll miss the game. In Eurasia it’s maybe not as sure of a thing but still looks to be pretty obvious as Charles Barkley just isn’t putting the numbers up anymore. Don’t see any way he gets into the all-star game this year after making it last year.

Toronto

2) Andrew Wiggins has no chance of coming back as an American all-star, after getting the starting nod last year. Buddy has fallen off the map statistically and could be out of ASG contention for good. Close second: America’s leading scorer last season – Charles Barkley.

Impossibly more obvious is last year’s Eurasian all-star Grant Hill. He played 26 minutes in last season’s event, putting up 10 points. His stats this season in Shanghai are eerily similar – 27 minutes, 10 points. Total.

Sarawak

Grant Hill, Shanghai. From all star to having played 27 minutes this year on a bad team is a steep fall. Hill has scored 10 points on the year after averaging 20+ the previous 6 years. This was the easiest choice of the RT.

Andrew Wiggins, Minnesota. PPG is down 7 and without being a big time scorer Wiggins is simply a nice athletic starter. His 3PT shot has abandoned him he is taking a career low 11.6 FGA/per game. Still a solid player he is no longer in the all star realm in terms of production.

Brooklyn

America - Charles Barkley (SFW) was an all-star last year (and led America with 29 points in the game) but he won’t be on the team this year. He has declined significantly this year, averaging just 15ppg on 43% for the lowly San Francisco Warriors.

Eurasia - Grant Hill (SHA) was an all-star last year, but has played nothing but garbage minutes this season (9 games played, 3 minutes per game). At a salary of $20M, he joins Julius Randle and Zach LaVine as one of the most overpaid players this season.

Vancouver

For Eurasia, I’m going to go with Shaquille O’Neal. This is basically the same answer as #5, so hopefully he actually misses otherwise I’m screwed here. He is scoring but besides that, everything else has gone down in %, plus his team stinks, so I think KAT emergence will make him slightly miss.


For America, lets go out on a limb and say Kevin Garnett. With his move from PF to C, I think he gets pushed out by Gasol for the backup C gig.

Taipei

Eurasia: C Bill Russell 16ppg 13.2rpg 1.7spg 4.1bpg 51.1%FG per: 17.1 

Seems pretty unusual to say that a guy with these numbers isn't going to make the All-Star team; but as it stands now, he's the fourth or fifth best C in Eurasia. As outlined above AD and Shaq seem like locks for the ASG, so that leaves Bynum, Russell and Towns to fight it out for the final spot. These one was more of a reach as Hakeem Olajuwon and Grant Hill will both definitely miss the ASG this year.  

America: G Andrew Wiggins 15.1ppg 4.3rpg 2.6apg 1.5spg per 15.5 

This is one of the worst drops we've seen. Wiggins has fallen from being a two-time All-Star to a role player at the age of 25. His per has fallen from 21.6 at his peak three years ago, to a mere 15.5 this year. He is has career lows in points, rebounds, and assists. That contract, that looked so promising a few years ago, may end up as one of the league's worst by its end. Barkley is another guy that will surely miss the ASG this year.

Grader Thoughts

- Garnett making the All-Star team as the 12th man cost Vancouver the #1 spot because I LOVED his Shaquille O'Neal prediction because unlike 4 of the other contestants, he didn't go with the obvious George Hill Eurasian pick. However as the only one that got one of his predictions wrong, I have to begrudgingly give him the bottom spot. Now onto the other GM that picked someone original in Eurasia but also got the American pick right as well, Taipei. I know he just won the last round but calling Bill Russell who is very much still an active member of a rotation and has made the All-Star game the last 2 years was the type of out of the box pick that I personally was looking for. The 4 GMs in between went with some combination of Grant Hill, Charles Barkley, and Andrew Wiggins for the likely misses and as mentioned all 3 did miss. I'm not going to split hairs on Barkley and Wiggins because I think the likelihood of them both missing was about the same so I'll award all 4 GMs an equal amount of points. 

Grades

New Orleans: 5

Toronto: 5

Sarawak: 5

Brooklyn: 5

Vancouver: 4

Taipei: 6

3) Predict the All-Star Game starters for Eurasia? Remember unlike real life the game goes with 1 PG | 1 SG | 1 SF | 1 PF | 1 C for the starting lineups.

New Orleans

PG – Isiah Thomas, Taipei
SG – Dwayne Wade, Perth
SF – Lebron James, Istanbul
PF – Kevin McHale, Piraeus
C – Anthony Davis, Newcastle

Toronto

PG – IT
SG – Dwyane Wade
SF – Lebron James
PF – Kevin McHale
C – Anthony Davis

Sarawak

C: Anthony Davis, Necastle
PF: Kevin McHale, Pira.
SF: LeBron James, Istanbul
SG: Dwayne Wade, Perth
PG: Isiah Thomas, Fubon

Pretty clear choices for the the Eurasian lineup IMO. Brose’s SG Darryl Griffith might sneak in past Wade but this is a team that does it all and all have extremely high outputs across the board, which matter in FBB.

Brooklyn

Eurasia starters:

PG Isiah Thomas (FUB)
SG Dwyane Wade (PER)
SF LeBron James (IST)
PF Kevin McHale (PIR)
C Anthony Davis (NEW)

Vancouver

C – Anthony Davis

PF – Kevin McHale

SF – LeBron James

SG – Dwayne Wade

PG – Isiah THomas

Taipei

C Anthony Davis

PF Kevin McHale

SF LeBron James 

SG Dwyane Wade

PG Isiah Thomas

Not sure there is much controversy here. The most competition is probably at PF or SF, but LeBron and McHale are just too good.

Grader Thoughts

For this question and one more down the line, I'm not going to bother trying to get too creative and analyze what each GM did or didn't say. They all had the exact same starting 5 for Eurasia with what appears to be the same reasoning so due to that they all get the same amount of points. 

Grades

New Orleans: 6

Toronto: 6

Sarawak: 6

Brooklyn: 6

Vancouver: 6

Taipei: 6

4) Predict the All-Star Game starters for America?

New Orleans

PG – Gail Goodrich, San Fran

SG – Mitch Richmond, Vancouver

SF – Magic Johnson, Brooklyn

PF – Greg Oden, New York

C – Dario Saric, Seattle

Toronto

PG – Kenny Anderson
SG – Mitch Richmond
SF – Kevin Durant
PF – Greg Oden
C – Dario Saric

Sarawak

C: Pau Gasol, New York
PF: Greg Oden, New York
SF: Magic Johnson, Brooklyn
SG: Larry Nance, Knicks
PG: Gail Goodrich, San Francisco

Americas was a much murky set of choices. Gasol has been the 2nd best center in the conference, but Seattle’s Dario Saric has missed too many games to get the starting nod most likely. Mithc Richmond was a near miss at SG and he should make the team, but Nance’s skill set and production get him the nod. Finally at PG I think Si Green has been the most valuable PG to his roster so far this year but Gail Goodrich is just a bit better statistically and has already played 50 games.

Brooklyn

America starters:

PG Gail Goodrich (SFW)
SG Mitch Richmond (VAN)
SF Magic Johnson (BKN)
PF Greg Oden (NYK)
C Dario Saric (SEA)

Vancouver

C- Dario Saric

PF- Greg Oden

SF – Kevin Durant

SG – Mitch Richmond

PG – D’Angelo Russell

Taipei

C Dario Saric

PF Greg Oden

SF Gerald Wallace

SG Mitch Richmond

PG Gail Goodrich

This one was more of a reach. There were a few guys like Nance and Heinsohn who play SF but weren't listed there. The PG and SF classes are pretty weak. Smart (18.7 EWA/ 5.9 PER) may end up the starting PG over Goodrich (19.2 PER / 7.1 EWA) I feel like I am missing someone, but oh well. Next up we've got 

Grader Thoughts

Taipei continues to be perfect with his predictions here but this time around the New Orleans Jazz & Brooklyn Nets were right with them. I am tempted to give Taipei the 1st place spot here and the Jazz & Nets 2nd because Taipei actually took the time to write out why he thought guys were going to get their spots but if I'm being honest, while I am not super concerned about keeping things close, I'm not going to split hairs like that when Taipei has dominated this roundtable so far. So all 3 GMs get the 1st place spot. Next up we've got three GMs who predicted three of the five spots correctly with Vancouver missing on Kevin Durant and D'Angelo Russell, Sarawak missing on Larry Nance & Pau Gasol, and Toronto missing on Kenny Anderson & Kevin Durant. So here's the thing of the players just mentioned only one of them didn't make the All-Star team. Vancouver went with D'Angelo Russell rather than going with Kenny Anderson or Gail Goodrich and that's going to cost him here. Plus as mentioned I do like when people explain their picks which both Sarawak (thank goodness he didn't pick Si Green) and Toronto did so they finish slightly ahead of Vancouver

Grades

New Orleans: 6

Toronto: 5

Sarawak: 5

Brooklyn: 6

Vancouver: 4

Taipei: 6

5) Give me one player from each conference that deserves to make the All-Star game but likely won’t. Obviously this question can be a bit tricky but take into account things such as who they are competing with for spots and things like that when giving your why for this question.

New Orleans

I think both players who end up missing come from the center position. In Eurasia you’ve got Bill Russell, Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Davis, and Shaquille O’Neal and one of those is likely to miss the game. I think Towns or Shaw is the guy who misses out. For arguments sake, lets say Towns is that guy. In America it’s a similar position with Marc Gasol, Pau Gasol, Dario Saric, and Alonzo Mourning or one of the Bulls players who split so many minutes. I think all three of the Bulls bigs could be All-Stars if they got more minutes so I’ll go against the grain and say that trio deserve to be in the most but won’t be.

Toronto

Myles Turner in Chicago is having a monster 6th man season with 17.6p/7.7r/3.1b and shooting 41% from deep. He’s only getting 27 minutes per game, stuck behind Embiid and Horford, which likely takes him out of all-star consideration.

In Eurasia, Rasheed Wallace might be on the outside looking in, as the conference is absolutely stacked with PF talent. Sheed’s competition includes McHale, Drummond, and Dirk Nowitzki and despite fantastic numbers plus huge team success, he may come up short of an all-star selection.

Sarawak

Rasheed Wallace, Sarawak. Homer pick some would say but I don’t think he beats out McHale/Dirk for a PF spot this year and he is the best player statistically on the best team in the conference record wise. FWIW I am not sure anybody off of Sarawak will make it but Sheed has put up 22.1 poiints, 7.8 boards, 2.9 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.6 blocks. The other player I think might miss is Mikawa’s Bill Russell who might get muscled out of the game by Shaquile O’Neal. Russell is a defensive and rebounding monster (leads league in both categories).

Lou Hudson, Toronto. He has been great this year 21.6 points, 5.9 boards, 3 assists and 2.7 steals but I think he may be the first guy out due to Vancouver’s Mitch Ritchmond. He has been an integral part of a fast rising Raptors team and is just entering into his prime. Look for Lou to be among the leagues best SG’s for years to come.

Brooklyn

America - Al Horford (CHI) is having another strong season (20 and 9 with 2.4bpg on 56% shooting), but with Greg Oden back in New York and the emergence of Carmelo Anthony in Toronto, Horford might be left off the team again this year. Despite a stellar career, he's only made the all-star game once in his career.

Eurasia - Chris Paul (SAR) has led Sarawak to the top spot in the conference, and is deserving of an all-star spot averaging 17ppg, 10apg and 3spg. Unfortunately with Isiah Thomas having an MVP-type season, and with many PGs having strong seasons (Tony Parker, Joe Dumars, Dave Bing, John Stockton, Guy Rodgers) it looks like Paul might get left off the team.

Vancouver

I’m going to go with Carmelo Anthony for America. If he had stayed as a SF, he definitely makes the team but at PF there’s just too much competition ahead of him. For Eurasia, I don’t know who’s going to make it as a center but I’m guessing KAT gets in over Shaq, so for that I’m going to go with Shaquille O’Neal. He’s 3rd in points but his team stinks, so I think he’ll be a sad omission.

Taipei

Eurasia: PF Dirk Nowitzki 24.7ppg 8.1rpg 51%FG 81%FT 37%3FG 19.5 PER 7.2 EWA

He's having a great year and is a legit scorer, but playing PF puts him up against some tough competition. Guys like West (22 PER/7.2 EWA) McHale (26.4 PER/ 13.2 EWA) , Wallace (21.7 PER/8.3 EWA), and Horford (21.2 PER/7.8 EWA) are all having arguably better seasons. Russell is another guy who probably won't make the team, but deserves to. The Eurasia squad will probably leave off a few good players. 

America: SG Lou Hudson 21.6ppg 5.9rpg 3.0apg 2.7spg 20.9 PER 8.3 EWA

Hudson is having a good year, but my get edged out by Nance (20.3 PER / 8.2 EWA) as the #2 SG. He could still get a look as an extra guard but could just as easily miss the team. Another guy I'd like to give a shout out to is Guy Rodgers. He's having another solid year, 18 PER and 5.2 EWA, in what looks to be a pretty thin conference at the PG position. He has some competition in Kenny Anderson (16.7 PER / 5.0 EWA) and Marcus Smart (18.4 PER / 5.9 EWA).

Grader Thoughts

The trend continues with Taipei guessing perfectly that Dirk wouldn't make it because Rasheed Wallace and Kevin McHale are having better seasons. Then on the other side he along with Sarawak hit the nail on the head with the Hudson pick because with Richmond and Nance there wasn't much room for another SG on the roster unless he got lucky and won one of the positionless spots. The only thing that tripped me up is the listing of Guy Rodgers in America and Al Horford in Eurasia but that's not enough to hurt his points. So Taipei gets the top spot again for making predictions that I don't think were extremely obvious but ended up being right. On the flip side, the bottom answer will have to go to New Orleans because in Eurasia Karl Anthony Towns made the All-Star game and in America not only did he not give me a specific player instead just listing the Bulls trio, but one of the aforementioned Bulls trio actually made the All-Star game. For the 2nd place spot I'm actually going to give it to Vancouver who predicted what I feel is the most surprising snub, Shaquille O'Neal but also just missed out on a perfect prediction with Carmelo Anthony sneaking on as a positionless player. Then I'll give Sarawak and Brooklyn a tie for 3rd as they both missed on the backup PF from their own conference but nailed it with two picks that I don't think were obvious as I believe Hudson could've beat out Nance or Richmond and had it be believable and CP3 was a huge snub with Stockton, Parker, and Dumars all making it in over him (undeserving imo). Toronto comes in behind them because while he did accurately predict Myles Turner missing I wouldn't call him a snub with Joel Embiid being more deserving right now and Myles Turner still being injured during the All-Star game I'm pretty sure. I personally look at a snub as a guy that is putting up the numbers that warrant being selected but doesn't get picked, not someone who could maybe put up deserving numbers but isn't because of whatever reason.  

Grades

New Orleans: @

Toronto: 3

Sarawak: 4

Brooklyn: 4

Vancouver: 5

Taipei: 6

6) America has walked away with the victory in the All-Star game 4 times out of 7. Which conference is taking the game this year and why?

New Orleans

It may be tough for America to pull off the victory this year. It appears most of the better bigs and guards are somehow in Eurasia. Based on the starters I predicted, you could make the argument that all five positions for Eurasia trump that of America which is a stark change. The development of young players and the movement of teams (mainly Newcastle) have swung the talent from America to Eurasia.

Toronto

Eurasia seems to be a big favourite on paper. Despite less impressive teams (shots fired), the conference has star talent in abundance. I’ll take them to win by 15+ with D Wade taking the MVP.

Sarawak

Eurasia. These games are always an up and down affair and a lot of the better talent from the Americas has changed over to Eurasia since last off season. KAT, Anthony Davis etc have moved to Eurasia and statistically the conference has ALL the top PGs and better guards across the board so they are the pick.

Brooklyn

Eurasia should blow out America in the all-star game. Isiah Thomas, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Kevin McHale, Anthony Davis, and Shaquille O’Neal will be too much for Gail Goodrich and Greg Oden to handle. I’m predicting a 165-114 Eurasia win with Kevin McHale repeating as all-star MVP.

Vancouver

I’m going Eurasia since they have 4 of the top MVP front-runners in Isiah, McHale, Davis and LBJ.

Taipei

I'd say Eurasia should take it pretty easily. The starting lineup is better 1-5, and they have a much deeper bench. It is sort of a crap shoot though, so who knows. 

Grader Thoughts

This was the 2nd question where I didn't put much thought into how to grade it because while I disagree with some of the reasoning everyone landed on the same idea that the Eurasia team had a bit more talent this season. It'll be interesting to see if all that Eurasian talent will be able to get them a title with less than a 30% success rate in the finals against America so far 

Grades

New Orleans: 6

Toronto: 6

Sarawak: 6

Brooklyn: 6

Vancouver: 6

Taipei: 6

7) It’s pretty easy to figure out who will be involved in the Rookie Challenge so let's not waste a question on that. Instead predict whether the rookies or sophomores will win? (there was originally another part to this question asking who'd win MVP of the game but I left it out by mistake in the pms).

New Orleans

Normally you give the Rookies a decided advantage with the extra year of development but that class looks worse and worse by the day and that may mean the rookies who haven’t had time to die as much may have an advantage. However with injuries to three guys who were likely to make the rookie team or at least drafted in position to do so may play a part. Still, a roster with Magic, Penny, Roy, and others looks decidedly better than what the Sophomores have to offer.

Toronto

The sophomores have won every year aside from 2001, but they’re looking especially weak this season. The rookies just lost their highest scorer, Mashburn, to a broken leg….still they look quite a bit more talented with Magic/Penny/Webber leading the way. I’ll take the rookies by double digits, Brandon Roy MVP.

Sarawak

This is a fascinating matchup. The Sophs are led by Big Bill Walton, Janis Krumins, Marvin Barnes and Giannia Antetokounmpo. AKA they have a ton of talented length but are perhaps a bit light in the backcourt where Eddie House Juan Antonio Corbalan and George Gervin are probably the best of the bunch.

For the Rookies they are loaded on the perimeter with Magic Johnson, Penny Hardaway, Brandon Roy, Kyle Lowry and others all having good years. They have some talent down low as well with Chris Webber, Jamal Mashburn, Bill Cartwright and Cliff Robinson and other talents such as Sidney Moncrief, Bill Laimbeer and Calvin Natt.


In looking at it while the Sophs have an advantage down low, the combination of star power (Magic, Roy, Penny) and quality depth across the board makes the rookies the deeper and more talented team. This is accentuated by the standard all star game high pace, uptempo game which should favor the athletic rookies.

Brooklyn

The rookies should blow out the sophomores this year. Magic Johnson, Penny Hardaway, and Chris Webber will be too much for Marvin Barnes and Bill Walton to handle. I’m predicting a 121-81 rookie win, with Cliff Robinson getting player of the game.

Vancouver

I believe the rookies are going to win in a landslide. Sophmores best player is Bill Walton and I think all three top Rookies are better in Magic, Penny & Cwebb.

Taipei

Rookies. Magic and Webber should dominate a relatively weak class last year. The Barnes/Webber match up should be fine to watch, and look out for Bill Cartwright dominating Bill Walton.

Grader Thoughts

Everyone counted out the Sophomores and due to that, no one answered this question correctly. I was actually looking for someone to maybe mention Marvin Barnes as the guy that gives the Sophomores some type of advantage seeing as he is arguably the 2nd or 3rd best player in this game with only Magic clearly in front of him. But all I got was mentions of the Barnes/Webber matchup with some even saying the Webber matchup was in the rookies favor. I've stood behind the fact that I think last year's class is a bit underrated due to there not being a ton of scorers or guys not having the best fit for their current team and while this doesn't prove it, it definitely helps my case.

Grades

New Orleans: 1

Toronto: 1

Sarawak: 1

Brooklyn: 1

Vancouver: 1

Taipei: 1

Bonus: The Dunk Contest & 3-Point Shootout are nearly impossible to figure out the selections of so rather than making this a question for the main roundtable if you can predict the winner of either the 3-Point Shooutout or Dunk Contest you will be 1 point added to your total. If you predict both then you’ll get a bonus 3 points.

New Orleans

Three Point Contest – Doug McDermott

Dunk Contest – Jabari Parker

Toronto

Dunk contest = Doug Wrenn

3pt = Sweet Lou.

Gotta stand by my boys.

Sarawak

3PT Shootout Winner: Eddie House, New Orleans

Slam Dunk Winner: Dwayne Wade, Perth

Brooklyn

3-pt winner – Kevin Loughery (MIL)

Dunk contest winner – LeBron James (IST)

Vancouver

Bonus: 3pt shootout: Kevin Loughery

Slam Dunk: Darrel Griffith

Taipei

Dunk: Zach LaVine

3PT: Loughery

Grader Thoughts

Swing and a miss for all 6 GMs with Sarawak actually coming the closest of anyone by selecting the runner up for the dunk contest. Sadly this was an all or nothing bonus so no points for anyone here. 

Grades

New Orleans: 0

Toronto: 0

Sarawak: 0

Brooklyn: 0

Vancouver: 0

Taipei: 0

---

FINAL STANDINGS
First Place - Taipei Fubon Braves (31 points) (200 PP)

Second Place - Brooklyn Nets (28 points) (175 PP)

Third Place - Sarawak Fire Horse (26 points) (150 PP)

Fourth Place - New Orleans Jazz & Vancouver Grizzlies (24 points) (125 PP)

Fifth Place - Toronto Raptors (23 points) (125 PP)

[Sarawak]

Good stuff and great job by everybody involved in getting the answers in quickly!

[New Orleans]

This was fun and made me do some research. Thanks New York.

People should take part in these more often. When you look stuff up, find all kinda neat things.

[New York]

BUMP w/ grades & thoughts included.

First Place gets 200 PP (100 participation + 100 for 1st place)

Second Place gets 175 PP (100 participation + 75 for 2nd place)

Third Place gets 150 PP (100 participation + 50 for 3rd place)

that's the normal setup but as a thanks to those that participated I'm also giving 25 PP to 4th, 5th, and 6th place as well on top of their 100 for participating. Not a lot but every little bit helps.

[Taipei]

Oct 12, 2016 16:07:15 GMT New York said:

Grader Thoughts

The trend continues with Taipei guessing perfectly that Dirk wouldn't make it because Rasheed Wallace and Kevin McHale are having better seasons. Then on the other side he along with Sarawak hit the nail on the head with the Hudson pick because with Richmond and Nance there wasn't much room for another SG on the roster unless he got lucky and won one of the positionless spots. The only thing that tripped me up is the listing of Guy Rodgers in America and Al Horford in Eurasia but that's not enough to hurt his points. So Taipei gets the top spot again for making predictions that I don't think were extremely obvious but ended up being right. On the flip side, the bottom answer will have to go to New Orleans because in Eurasia Karl Anthony Towns made the All-Star game and in America not only did he not give me a specific player instead just listing the Bulls trio, but one of the aforementioned Bulls trio actually made the All-Star game. For the 2nd place spot I'm actually going to give it to Vancouver who predicted what I feel is the most surprising snub, Shaquille O'Neal but also just missed out on a perfect prediction with Carmelo Anthony sneaking on as a positionless player. Then I'll give Sarawak and Brooklyn a tie for 3rd as they both missed on the backup PF from their own conference but nailed it with two picks that I don't think were obvious as I believe Hudson could've beat out Nance or Richmond and had it be believable and CP3 was a huge snub with Stockton, Parker, and Dumars all making it in over him (undeserving imo). Toronto comes in behind them because while he did accurately predict Myles Turner missing I wouldn't call him a snub with Joel Embiid being more deserving right now and Myles Turner still being injured during the All-Star game I'm pretty sure. I personally look at a snub as a guy that is putting up the numbers that warrant being selected but doesn't get picked, not someone who could maybe put up deserving numbers but isn't because of whatever reason.  

In my defense, I was a little high when I wrote this. Not sure how I mixed them up though. 

Thanks for adding my answers in. 

[Sarawak]

PP credited

150 to NY for grading