Far Fetched Friday: Zach LaVine's All-Star Potential

02/16/2018

This is the first in a line of articles we call Far Fetched Friday. Every Friday, one of our writers will hit you with a prediction that seems far fetched but we believe in. Welcome to Far-Fetched-Friday.

Far Fetched Friday: Zach LaVine will be on the 2019 Eastern Conference All-Star team.

My Far-Fetched Friday prediction is that Zach LaVine will be an Eastern Conference All-Star next season. He missed a year due to his ACL injury, Zach LaVine is already showing us his perennial all-star like potential since his return from the injury.

Although, the title of this segment is Far Fetched Friday, I do not think a Zach LaVine 2018-19 all-star nod is that crazy of an idea. Take the below graph that shows the per-36 numbers for two players in their 4th seasons:

Would you have guessed that player A was Kobe Bryant in year 4 and player B is Zach LaVine in this current season. This comparison is appropriate when you consider the fact that Zach LaVine might be the closest thing we have to Kobe in terms of playing style and shot selection. It seems as if Kobe emulated Jordan and Zach LaVine is doing his best impersonation of Kobe down to the jersey number.

The real reason Zach LaVine is prompted for the 2019 all-star game is the fact that guard play in the Eastern Conference is relatively mediocre. Of the 9 Eastern Conference All-Star guards for this season only Demar Derozan and Kyrie Irving would have earned the same recognition in the Western Conference.

The Eastern Conference all-star guards this season are Kyle Lowry, Bradley Beal, Demar Derozan, Kemba Walker, Kyrie Irving, John Wall, Goran Dragic and Victor Oladipo. Of those 9, we can assume Derozan, Irving and Wall are the only all-star locks for next season. This means the only other non-injury replacement all-star guards for this season were Oladipo, Beal, and Lowry. As LaVine continues to find his pace post-ACL surgery we are in for a player that could soon become a top-5 shooting guard in the NBA. LaVine is prompted for a career full of accolades and next year's all-star team is only the beginning.

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