Projecting the 2018 NBA All-Stars
East Reserves – Centers
Centers: Joel Embiid
Decision: “Trust the process” they said. “It would be fun” they said. Well, after years’ of tanking, it looks like the 76ers are finally competitive again. In large part to Joel Embiid. When healthy, Embiid is without a doubt a top center in the entire league. Key words though. When healthy*. Embiid was the best “rookie” last year and would have hands down been the Rookie of the Year if he didn’t miss half of the season. But so far in 2017-2018, he HAS been healthy and he has absolutely dominated the competition. Embiid continues to amaze with his play on the court and his words off of it – his twitter game is almost as poppin’ as mine. In my opinion, one of the funniest players in the league, Embiid has certainly backed up his goofy attitude with his powerful play on the court. Along with young stud Ben Simmons, Embiid has 76ers fans excited for the first time in a long time. If Embiid continues to play the way he has throughout the entire first half, I believe he certainly gets his first All-Star selection.
Centers: Andre Drummond
Decision: While Drummond has improved his overall game almost every season since entering the league, it still seems like for some reason that Drummond isn’t living up to his own potential. Nevertheless, he’s still a marvelous basketball player, especially in the rebound department. He currently leads the East in rebounds with 14.8 per game and is averaging a double-double for the season with 14.0 points per game. One weakness of Drummond’s game over his career however has been his free throw shooting. There have been some horrendous free throw shooters in NBA history. Shaq, DeAndre Jordan, Ben Wallace, to name a few.. But none are worse than Andre Drummond (statistically), who’s 38% from the charity stripe is the worst free-throw percentage of all-time. If Drummond fixes this problem, he then becomes one of the most elite centers in the entire league.
