The Boston Celtics are playing well at the moment, sitting on top of the conference. It‘s a realistic scenario that they‘ll stay on top when the 2023 All-Star game in Salt Lake City arrives next month. Right now, they have two clear cut all-stars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
But do they deserve a third one?
First, let’s look at the data. I’ve taken last 25 years of All-Star games and checked how many teams had more than two All-Stars from the same team. It’s not that unusual. The Lakers, Pistons and Hawks have done that once, the Suns two times, and Boston, Golden State and Miami have done four times.
What can the Boston Celtics offer this time around?
There are two candidates in my opinion — Marcus Smart and Al Horford. Either one can make the squad and it wouldn’t cause an outrage. Yeah, the East is super deep this year and there are a lot of candidates, but you have to reward winning.
Let’s dig deeper.
Since 1990 only three players became All-Stars who averaged less than 10 points: Dennis Rodman in 1990, Ben Wallace in 2004 and 2005, Draymond Green in 2022. All of those players were defensive studs. In a way, you can apply it to Al Horford also. The question is will it happen?
It’s hard to say. If you’re going to judge by teams performance, then one of the two should make it. A big reason the Boston Celtics are on top of the conference is because of the two-way contributions both Smart and Horford have displayed this season.
With that said, the Eastern Conference is deep and there are a bunch of good choices, so several players will have a case to make the game on other east squads. If it was the Western Conference, it’d be a different story.