Divisional All-Stars: East

This idea came to me via a twitter proposal; what if instead of conference all-star teams, each division put forth a team of their top players to compete tournament-style? I've made them teams of ten with one wild-card player, a young and intriguing guy along for the ride who are mostly rookies but I made a few exceptions for talent or for lack of talent on a certain team within a strong division. If each city/ team had to be represented in the Divisional All-Star team with at least one player, here's what the lineups might look like in the Eastern Conference divisions, and how they might play.

Atlantic Division

C - Tyson Chandler
PF - Kevin Garnett
SF - Carmelo Anthony
SG - Paul Pierce
PG - Deron Williams

Joe Johnson
Brook Lopez
Rajon Rondo
DeMar DeRozan
Rudy Gay
and... Nerlens Noel

With KG and Pierce staying Atlantic, they could have divisional chemistry from the outset. Melo and Pierce are crafty scorers and Melo can slide up to the four-spot if KG heads to the bench. The defensive tandem of Chandler and KG at the rim is as intimidating as we'll see in this tournament and make up for this teams lack of elite perimeter defenders and allow Rondo to cheat in passing lanes. Gay and JJ are great scorers off the bench, DMDR gives depth on the wing, and Brook Lopez provides a scoring alternative to Chandler in the post. If Noel gets healthy it would be interesting to see him up front with one of the other interior defenders, plus who else are you taking from Philly?

SouthEast Division

C - Chris Bosh
PF - LeBron James
SF - Ray Allen
SG - Dwyane Wade
PG - John Wall

Paul Millsap
Al Horford
Kemba Walker
Al Jefferson
Nik Vucevic
and... Victor Oladipo

Remember when this ^ happened? This post-game summit sparked more than a few forum threads titled, "What were LeBron and Wade saying to John Wall?" Could they have been recruiting him to play in Miami? Well in a divisional tournament they'd get their wish. The effectiveness of the pairing depends on whether you think Wall is overrated or underrated, which is pretty much an even split right now. Back in 2006 when the Heat steamrolled the SouthEast behind Shaq and Wade everybody realized what a weak division it was. Now? It's even worse. You would have to start what amounts to the Heat plus Wall and bring a couple of notable big bodies off the bench. You could have made a case for Nene over any of these bigs, but why? Oladipo is a rookie I'm bullish on who could score from the perimeter off the bench. This makes for a strange team, but I'm not counting any team with LeBron out.

Central Division

C - Andrew Bynum
PF - David West
SF - Paul George
SG - Kyrie Irving
PG - Derrick Rose

Luol Deng
Joachim Noah
Josh Smith
Roy Hibbert
OJ Mayo
and... Anthony Bennett

With a healthy Bynum in the middle and Rose running the point, this is the division to beat in the East. Not that they'd necessarily need Bynum but his offensive potential would draw defenders opening up even more space in the mid-range for David West. Plus Bynum with Hibbert and Noah coming off the bench gives this team ridiculous size, shot-blocking and rebounding. Add in the back-court of Rose and Irving with the inside-out defense of George, Deng and Josh Smith and this is a great all-around team. I've placed Kyrie at the off-guard because he's still probably a better shooter than Rose though we don't know what we're necessarily getting out of the post-injury former MVP. Throw Mayo in the back-court just in case they need a slight scoring boost, and so that the Bucks are represented somehow. Bennett fits both inside and outside and can score, plus with this lineup he won't be forced to play any specific position.

Which division do you think would win? Compare these Western Division's with my All-Star selections for the Western Conference's divisional teams by scrolling up or clicking on this link - Western Division All-Stars. Let me know in the comments section below or tweet me @devingray33

Top 10 Dunks of 2012-13

Each of these dunks rattled our souls and broke the time-space continuum. If you weren't near a computer set at the time of the dunk, you surely rushed to one after hearing about it on twitter. For days afterwards you couldn't keep your mind off that dunk; the ferocity, the athleticism, the ability to master gravity. These dunks all interrupted our lives at some point this past year, made us drop everything and just watch, so once again gaze in horror at the sublime slams from a season gone by.

10. Lord Byron

BJ Mullens is kind of an enigma. A white, Russell Brand-looking, seven-footer with athleticism that can shoot from outside and throw down big jams? Apparently during the lockout he went and played prison basketball, just visiting of course. And yet he plays in Charlotte so we've never really seen him. Until now. And what was LaMarcus Aldridge thinking?

9. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist on Greg Monroe

This is a beautiful dunk for it's deceptive degree of difficulty. MKG starts his gather with basically no momentum before he explodes upwards off of two feet after just one hard dribble. A great dunk plus it happened in the fourth quarter and helped swing momentum. Two Bobcats dunks so far, I guess that can be their legacy after they become the Hornets again.

8. Jeff Green on Al Jefferson

Jeff sat in his basement at home unable to play. Recovering from heart surgery that may have saved his life as well as his career he itched to be back on the court again. "I want to fly again!" he told his teammates and friends and they gave him pleasant responses; "Ya buddy, you'll get there," "stay strong," "that's the spirit!" but they didn't look him in the eye. They wanted to believe, and Jeff wanted to believe so he started a list. It was titled "Guys to Dunk On."

7. DeMar DeRozan on Timofey Mozgov

Timofey had been having nightmares. He couldn't sleep well and even when awake he had begun to cower when a bird flew overhead or when passers-by attempted a high-five. The doctors said he'd suffered physical and emotional trauma. In order to get "away from it all" the Russian decided to go to Canada where he'd have some time to recollect himself, but then, on a play like any other...

6. Paul George on Birdman

Paul woke up and slid out of the covers into embroidered slippers. After fixing his glasses, and taking his pills, one-by-one he put on his championship rings. He gently eased out of bed and looked out at the coast from the retirement house window. His family was here to visit. When he met them at the lobby he noticed his grandson had a mohawk and he laughed as he remembered the very first moment when he knew he just might be the best player in the NBA.

5. Interlude/ A Toast To Coast-To-Coast

When a player can take the ball and dominate on both ends with defensive and offensive highlight all rolled into one, it's worth a watch. Kevin Durant and Jeremy Evans both impressed with such plays this season. Fourteen steps for KD, ten for Evans but he started from further out. And I don't know if we'll ever see a player look as foolish on both ends as Turiaf looked there.

4. Harrison Barnes on Nikola Pekovic

Rookies aren't supposed to move mountains in their first season. Incoming NBA rooks carry the bags, do the dirty work, say "Yes, Sir!" and quietly put in the hard work before they get a chance to shine. Harrison decided to break the rules one day. And when there was a real mountain in front of him, he made the mountain move. Somewhere, somebody is still Bazemoring right now.

3. "The Half-Windsor"


Blake chased down the offensive player in front of him, expecting some form of Lob City to emerge to his benefit, but this one was going to be different. See, Blake could never really get a handle on Jamal and neither could anybody else on the Clippers. The only one that knew what he was going to do next was... well, nobody knew, not even Jamal himself. Jamal's game is organic and grows from the flow of the game rather than the mechanics of drills and practices. So when he decided to tie knots around the Bucks, it's not something he thought about - it just happened. Over, under, around, and through.

2. LeBron lob poster on Jason Terry

The Jet knew it was going to happen. As soon as he felt the tap of Dwyane Wade knocking the ball loose he recognized his dilemma. Caught between two point guards and a vengeful basketball King desperate not to lose he could run out of the way and avoid the poster or stand there and submit, take it like a man. It may have been destiny from that moment and some say you can't change the future even if you can see it, but whatever Jason did he knew he'd be grounded. A sad reminder of his short time in Boston.

1. DeAndre Jordan lob poster on Brandon Knight 

DeAndre paced the hallway of his house in LA. One of the greatest moments of his career had happened earlier that night and yet he didn't know quite how to feel about it. Sure his teammates loved it, the crowd loved it, and by the morning the world would love it if they didn't already. Still, DeAndre looked at his phone and the message he'd typed out. It said he was sorry, that he didn't mean to, and that he'd make it up to him. He pressed send. Somewhere, Brandon Knight's phone buzzed like it had all night and he ignored it, rolled over, felt the lump on the back of his head, and tried to forget.

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Honourable mention - Kobe on Josh Smith, JaVale self-oop vs Rockets, Kawhi on Mike Miller, Griffin on Hawes hand-switch