All Star Game: 3 Players Who May Beat Out Knicks’ Julius Randle

3 Players who may beat out Knicks’ Julius Randle: Ben Simmons

I do not have the exact figures in front of me, but it feels like one of the twelve roster spots always goes to a player from the coach’s own team who may have edged out one or two more deserving players.

Buh gawhd, that’s Doc Rivers’ music! And who is that with ‘im…why it’s…it’s…BEN SIMMONS!

I would not be surprised in the slightest if Doc Rivers selected Simmons to join the pool of All-Star players for Lebron James and Durant to choose from. It would give the 76ers, the team sitting in first place in the Eastern Conference, two total All-Star selections with him and Joel Embiid. That’s just good for the franchise, baby!

Simmons is a defensive stalwart with some solid numbers. He’s averaging 15.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 8.0 assists per game according to Basketball-Reference. Those figures combined with the 76ers record make a pretty reasonable All-Star cocktail.

What is difficult here is that the fans do not really seem to want Simmons in this game. Fans voted Simmons as the 11th guard from the Eastern Conference. For comparison — Players and media ranked him sixth and seventh respectively.

It makes some sense. A player whose biggest worth comes on the defensive end of the floor isn’t what fans want to see in the All-Star game. Still, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Rivers snubbed all three of Adebayo, Randle, and Sabonis to ensure that Simmons got one of the 12 roster spots.