The Inaugural Antonio McDyess NBA All-Star Team: Star Role Players
By Corey Rausch
As the NBA season comes to a close it is time to hand out the awards to commemorate the weird season that was. Instead of naming an All-NBA team, we will be doing something a little bit different. For the first time, HoopsHabit will be debuting the Antonio McDyess All-Stars, named after the former journeyman role player.
Because this is the first time, let’s explain the naming of this team and the criteria to make it. As a Detroit Pistons fan, Antonio McDyess stands out for me as a player who comes in every night and plays his role. He was a full-time starter earlier in his career before injuries derailed him and would eventually discover a role as a role player instead of a leading man.
In that vein, we will be picking a team of guys who are not the top options on their team but deserve recognition for the roles they have played this season. Since McDyess made one All-Star appearance in his career we are allowing the naming of on All-Star on the roster. The rest of the team will be a mixture of starters and reserves who are in a more focused role. Games-played is considered, hurting someone like LaMelo Ball is unfortunately penalized.
The introductory Antonio McDyess NBA All-Stars honor the role players and starters who made their team better in a more focused way than the traditional All-NBA team.
The format or this will be the same as an All-Star team. There will be two starting backcourt players, two reserve backcourt players, three starting frontcourt players, three reserve frontcourt players and two wild cards. This list is mostly subjective so feel free to give your own contributions. Given that there is a long list of honorable mentions in no particular order:
De’Andre Hunter, Nicolas Claxton, LaMelo Ball, Larry Nance, Killian Hayes, Josh Jackson, Frank Jackson, Draymond Green, Reggie Jackson, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma, Jonas Valanciunas, Jrue Holiday, Cam Johnson, Nassir Little, Keldon Johnson, Khem Birch, Daniel Gafford
Without further ado, let’s begin with the starting backcourt.