Grant: Josh Smith probably should have been an All-Star already at some point in his career. But when you’re a forward in a conference that has featured LeBron James, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Chris Bosh and lately, Carmelo Anthony, at the forward spots, those All-Star nods can be tough to come by. That said, if you look at Smith’s career stats, you’ll notice one thing: consistency. While he might add a wrinkle here or there – he randomly shot almost no three pointers in 2009-10, a feat Detroit fans are praying repeats – he is a virtual lock each season for at least 16 points, 8 rebounds, four assists, close to 2 blocks and close to 2 steals. There isn’t another player (at least, whose name doesn’t rhyme with Spa-cron) in the NBA that stuffs the stat sheet like that, year after year.

There is a knock on Smith that he’s something of a knucklehead, and that might have some merit. That 09-10 season aside, he gets crucified for shot selection, particularly when he jacks up bad three pointers. But even taking that into account, his career FG% sits right at 49%, which is excellent for someone who takes as many shots per game (just under 13) as he does. That year when he stopped shooting threes? Yes, he averaged a career high in FG% but he was just one percent higher than that career average. It might look pretty on the stat sheet but it didn’t really make much of a difference. The assists are another big part of things. Smith is a fantastic passer and is constantly creating for his team mates. That doesn’t sound like knucklehead behaviour to me. His teams in Atlanta were always solid, if unspectacular. With Joe Johnson and Al Horford, he led a triumvirate of talented players who weren’t quite good enough to beat the Big Three in Boston or the followup super-team in Miami. After trading Johnson, Smith became the ‘man’ and Atlanta decided it didn’t want to pay him like one, so he jumped to the Pistons this off-season, surprisingly signing for less than a max contract.

Detroit will be an interesting team this year, as they have also acquired the polarizing Brandon Jennings and have holdover big man Greg Monroe, as well as emerging behemoth Andre Drummond. They also have 17 million dollars in expiring contracts named Rodney Stuckey and Charlie Villanueva. I think Smith will thrive starting alongside Monroe and provide a devastating defensive combination when paired with Drummond. With Pierce and Garnett on limited minutes in Brooklyn to conserve for a playoff run and Chris Bosh’s stats falling off a cliff in Miami, I think this is the year Smith breaks through and finally makes his first all-star appearance.

Osubronie: Everyone seems to forget that Derrick Rose wasn’t the only point guard in the east to miss a lot of games last year due to injury.  John Wall spent half the season watching his Wizards from the sidelines last year and his return is being swept under a rug. Yes, he didn’t miss the entire season or play on a contender, but the notion of a healthy John Wall should not be ignored. Finally, with a decent supporting cast, Wall is primed to become the biggest first time All-Star in the Eastern Conference this year.

Since All Star players are voted in, Derrick Rose’s spot is locked. Rondo’s place on the team however, is up in the air, since we do not know when he will return from injury. This should be Wall’s spot for the taking. If Rondo does return before the break and gets voted in, John Wall should will be a unanimous choice for a spot on the bench. After having a successful second half of last season, he returns to the Wizards hoping to maintain the 20.7 points per game he scored after the break. With a new cast of supporting players who can space the floor, Wall will be able to do what he does best. Since this team will be rising in the power rankings as the season progresses, Washington will make more headlines that will only increase Wall’s chances of getting voted in. If he is selected, I’m confident that Wall will cement his status as a superstar guard for years to come.

Reynolds: Please tell me you remember when Dikembe Mutombo used to make the All-Star team. No? OK, but you remember the finger wag, right? At least you have to remember that we still don’t know how old he actually is. Dikembe Mutombo played until he was allegedly 42. He may have been older. But he did two things that always guaranteed him a spot in the upper echelon of the NBA: rebound and block shots. With an offensive game that looked like what would happen if a rusty tin man met a pogo-stick, Mutombo managed to make eight All-Star teams purely on being the best at snatching the ball from the air and making sure it didn’t go into his team’s basket.

You see where I’m going with this? Mutombo has a logical spiritual successor in the Eastern Conference right now. A young man who just signed a cushy 44 million dollar extension. A player who was recently declared to be the best interior defender in the league. A player poised to become the next ‘everywhere on the court’ centre, proudly clutching the ball, ripping it away from offending players, stopping sure drives to the basket. Of course I’m talking about Larry Sanders, he who will be on the All-Star team this year during a season where he may very well lead the league in rebounds and blocks. Mutombo is gone but Larry Sanders is here. Look out.

Grant: I enjoy basketball history. So even though it might seem unsporting to root for the favourite in the Miami Heat, I want to see them manage a three-peat. In NBA history, only Shaq and Kobe’s Lakers, Michael’s Bulls and Russell’s Celtics have pulled off winning three straight NBA titles. Magic and Bird never managed it. Hakeem couldn’t get the third one. Duncan’s Spurs have actually never even repeated. There’s just that list of three and I want to see it expand.

When you watch LeBron James play basketball, there’s a weird feeling like you’re watching something important, all the time. I saw him play twice while on Cleveland, here in Toronto. Both times the Raptors actually won but in one game, he had a near triple double and in the other, he scored 56 points. Even though Toronto was the winning team, he was what I came away remembering. I had a friend (not a basketball fan) recently tell me that he found basketball to be sloppy. I told him that he needed to stop watching the Raptors (sorry guys!) and watch any game with LeBron James in it. What he does on the court is so cerebral that it can be understated one moment and absolutely physically dominating the next. He’s got four MVP awards and is poised for a fifth. He’s the best player in the universe and it isn’t close. I want to be able to look back on these seasons twenty years from now and see empirical evidence that LeBron James was the best player I ever saw. It’s kind of like what guys in their late 30’s and 40’s do with Michael and Magic and Bird, because Lebron is that good. So while I could see the Bulls or the Pacers knock off this Heat team and next summer is going to be a shit storm of free agency regardless, I do want to see the Heat win this year. I want to see history.