The 2015 All-NBA White American Team

Let me precede my writing by saying this article is not intended to be offensive or racist. A majority of NBA players are African-American, and many of the non-black players are European. Therefore, to create a limiting factor for the sake of entertainment, I am naming the best White American team I can think of. In order to make this task even more difficult, I am not including half African-American players such as Klay Thompson. I will be limited to current NBA players, and will analyze how this team would fare against other NBA teams

THE STARS

Kyle Korver (Shooting Guard)- As the only player included in this lineup from the 2015 All Star Game, the Atlanta Hawk’s top tier shooter would be an integral part of the offense. Korver is having possibly the best shooting season by any player ever, making 51% of his field goals, 52% of his threes, and 91% of his free throws.

Kevin Love (Power Forward)- Although Love is having a down season and has yet to fully synchronize with the newly revamped Cavaliers, he is still undoubtedly one of the best players in the game. Much like Korver, he is a strong offensive weapon. Although he’s averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds per game this season, well down from the 26 points and 13 rebounds per game last season, the talent level is still apparent.

THE OTHER STARTERS

Gordon Hayward (Small Forward)- Hayward is a top ten small forward and has been one of the bright spots in a pretty bad season for the Jazz. He’s averaging 20 points per game to go along with 5 assists and 4 rebounds, and would be the third best player on the team.

Steve Blake (Point Guard)- Point guard is probably the biggest weakness on this team. Blake isn’t terrible, but he’s not particularly good either. He’s well into his decline, averaging about 5 points and 4 assists per game and is six years removed from his best season. Most likely, we would have a shooting guard man the point for most of the game.

Mason Plumlee (Center)- Similar to our point guard situation, the lack of depth at center is quite noticeable. Plumlee is averaging a fairly good 10 points and 7 rebounds per game, but just is not that great. David Lee would probably play a lot of minutes here as well, although he’s more suited as a 4.

BENCH

Chandler Parsons- Parsons would be the first off the bench and would play both the 2 and the 3.

David Lee- Although Lee was injured most of this season, he is at least a top fifteen power forward and would be expected to pick up the slack at center.

Ryan Anderson- ‘The Assassin’ is a deadly sharpshooter who would spend time at the 3 and 4.

J.J. Redick- Redick would get a lot of minutes at point as well as backing up Korver at the 2.

Jordan Farmar- Farmar is not a very good point guard, but with the limited talent, he would end up playing some minutes each game

Chris Andersen- ‘Birdman’ is well past his prime, but would bring energy at center off the bench and would be valuable with the limited talent at the position.

Luke Ridnour- Similar to Farmar, he’s definitely not the best and is only on the team because of the minimal talent at point guard.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Jimmer Fredette

Miles Plumlee

Doug McDermott

HOW WOULD THIS TEAM FARE?

Based on win shares, this team would win about 40 games in a season. However, both David Lee and Kevin Love’s win shares this season are well below their averages, so this team could easily win 50 games and be in good shape for a playoff run. Our main strength with this team would be offense, especially shooting. There’s a lot of depth at the 2,3, and 4, so some of these players would probably end up playing minutes at the 1 and 5 to make up for the lack of talent there. Overall, the team is really weak defensively, and would have to put up a lot of points to keep up with its opponents.

If there’s anyone you think we left out or should not have included, please leave a comment. Thanks for reading!