2023-24 Role Player All-Stars
For the PJ Tucker's and Mike Miller's in this world, this article goes out to you.
As the 2023-24 All-Star voting window closed on Saturday, there is no better time to honor those players who rarely get in the limelight but who star in their roles every single night.
The Criteria
Per the Role Player All-Star selection rules, candidates for this team must meet the following criteria:
Play under 30 minutes per game.
Play in over 75% of their team’s games.
Average less than 50 touches per game and/or not be in the top 3 in average touches on their team.
The Sniff Test — an unimpeachable metric developed by yours truly that allows me to throw out the other three rules to include or exclude players as role players where I deem necessary.
The team will include 12 players — five starters and seven bench players with the following positions:
Starters: Guard, Wing, Forward, Center, Wild Card
Bench: Guard, Wing, Forward, Center, Wild Card, Wild Card, Wild Card
Let’s get started!
Starters
Alex Caruso (Guard, Chicago Bulls)
Bogdan Bogdanovic (Wing, Atlanta Hawks)
Duncan Robinson (Wing, Miami Heat)
Herb Jones (Forward, New Orleans Pelicans)
Isaiah Hartenstein (Center, New York Knicks)
Caruso and Jones are everywhere, all the time, all at once. An opponent will see an opening to the basket, bursting through the initial layer of the defense, only to see that gap disappear in an instant. Before they know what’s happening, the ball is racing up the floor to the other end.
Both players support a team full of below-average defenders and turn those same teams into average to above-average defenses.
On top of the defensive contributions, both are putting up career-best shooting numbers with over one three-point field goal per game. Caruso has started to take over more ball-handling duties; which, coupled with his shooting, has given him a positive offensive box plus-minus for the first time in his career.
They are easy choices as starters on the Role Player All-Star team.
Hartenstein’s two-way play has saved the Knicks season after a serious injury to starter, Mitchell Robinson. His numbers won’t stand out to the casual observer — for players playing less than 30 minutes per game, he is 15th in blocks per game, seventh in rebounds per game, and 11th in assists per game (only including centers for assists). But, he is doing everything the Knicks have asked of him.
His 3.3 offensive rebounds per game rank 5th for all players who have played more than 30 games - a boon for a Knicks team that makes a below-average amount of shots. (Mitchell Robinson was averaging an obscene 5.3 offensive rebounds per game before his injury.)
Defensively, Hartenstein is holding opponents to a shooting percentage 4.5% worse than they would typically shoot when he is the nearest defender — good for ninth of all players to play more than 30 games. Hartenstein’s contract expires at the end of this season and he is earning himself a nice pay upgrade.
At wing, Bogdanovic and Robinson bring similar skill sets — top-notch shooting coupled with below-average defense. Bogdanovic is a capable secondary ball handler who pairs well with Trae Young and Dejounte Murray — as evidenced by his positive scoring margin when in lineups with either guard, something that Young and Murray have not been able to do when they are on the floor together. When Bogdanovic is on the floor, Atlanta’s defense goes from horrific to merely really bad resulting in a net rating of +8.2 in Bogdanovic’s minutes.
As the Hawks likely begin a retooling at this deadline, Bogdanovic is a name to watch for teams looking to add shooting.
After being exiled to the fringes of the rotation for most of last season, Robinson started to make a comeback in the playoffs last year. (In the finals against the Nuggets, I thought Robinson brought much-needed juice and unpredictability to their lineups on offense.)
Robinson has capitalized on the momentum from last year’s playoffs by adding more to his offensive skillset than just movement shooting. He is cutting and coming off handoffs with the same verve as always — however, Robinson has also added attacking closeouts to his repertoire.
(The Heat added Terry Rozier to the team on Wednesday afternoon. His passing and scoring ability should also act as kitty litter for a team that’s been spinning its tires on offense. That said, I’m a little skeptical of the long-term lineup options — particularly on the defensive end — of playing Rozier, Herro, and Robinson together.)
Attacking closeouts has added the benefit of unlocking Robinson’s passing as he’s up to 3.1 assists per game, by far a career-high.
Other, defensive-minded wings were considered for a starting spot but I think the shooting that Robinson and Bogdanovic provide has been a little more valuable to their teams.
Bench (The First Four)
Collin Sexton (Guard, Utah Jazz)
Luguentz Dort (Wing, Oklahoma City Thunder)
Nicolas Batum (Forward, Philadelphia 76ers
Walker Kessler (Center, Utah Jazz)
Since Sexton was inserted into the starting lineup on December 13th, the Jazz have gone 15-7 entering the play-in conversation in the deep Western Conference. (They have started to come down to earth of late with three straight losses.) Sexton’s offensive output has gone through the roof since being inducted into the starting lineup averaging over 20 points per game on significantly higher field goal percentages.
Since that date, the Jazz have had the 11th-best net rating while being led by Sexton and star, Lauri Markannen.
On the interior, Kessler has proven just as valuable as Sexton. Veteran John Collins starts as the center next to Markannen — however, in my eyes, Kessler has significantly outplayed Collins. (Don’t be surprised if the Jazz look to trade Collins at this year’s deadline to get more minutes to Kessler, Kelly Olynyk, and rookie Taylor Hendricks.)
Whenever Kessler steps on the floor, the entire geometry of the floor warps as opposing offenses veer away from his long arms at the rim as if two positive magnets are being forced together. A player will see an open shot at the rim — only for that same look to vaporize as quickly as the last piece of pie on Thanksgiving.
His 2.7 blocks per game rank third while opponents shoot 6.1% worse when he is the nearest defender than they normally would (10th in the league for all players who have played more than 30 games per NBA.com).
On the 76ers, Nic Batum has been everything they hoped he could be when they received him as part of the James Harden trade to the Clippers. Offensively, Batum has fit right into the Sixers new offense acting as a connector and shooter. He is shooting a career-high 47% (!!) from three while also distributing the ball and keeping the Sixers offense flowing.
His rebounding has also been critical on both sides of the floor for a 76ers team that often suffers on the glass. Defensively, he may not be as young as he once was but he still plays well positionally and can defend star players in a pinch.
Batum’s play (combined with the emergence of Tyrese Maxey and the resurgence of Tobias Harris) gives the 76ers options as the trade deadline approaches. They are my most intriguing team to watch at the trade deadline as they bolster the rotation for a playoff run.
The last spot was a debate between Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Isaiah Joe, Lu Dort, and Tim Hardaway Jr. Alexander-Walker’s defense allowed the Timberwolves to continue to excel even when Jaden McDaniels missed time at the beginning of the season. Hardaway Jr.’s shooting has helped to keep the Mavericks afloat in games that Luka Doncic or Kyrie Irving have missed. However, I ultimately leaned Dort because of his two-way play.
Dort’s size allows the Thunder to play small without risking being torched by big wings such as Kawhi Leonard. He has a slight propensity to foul, though not as extreme as other wings who play with a similar style. He doesn’t get as many steals as you would hope as a defensive specialist, however, he consistently holds opponents to lower percentages than they typically average when he is the primary defender.
It’s the balance he has found in his offensive game that has set Dort’s season apart from previous seasons though. His scoring output is down, but his efficiency is way up. Dort has excised the more difficult shots from his game in favor of open catch-and-shoot threes. As a career 34.4% shooter from 3, he is up to 42.5% this year — well above the league average of 36.7%.
(The Thunder have options at the deadline. With the Jazz’s win streak, Lauri Markannen is off the board — if he was ever even on the block — giving the Thunder few star options that would fit this roster to add in a trade. Instead, it is more likely that they try to add one veteran piece to the rotation — perhaps someone like Dorian Finney-Smith from the Nets — or stand pat. Keep an eye out, this Thunder team is legit.)
Bench (Wild Card Spots)
Malik Monk (Guard, Sacramento Kings)
Isaiah Joe (Wing, Oklahoma City Thunder)
Naz Reid (Center, Minnesota Timberwolves)
I badly wanted to put Goga Bidatze on this team, but I just couldn’t justify him over Naz Reid in the end. Chris Finch has found a few more minutes per game for Reid who has justified the decision by putting up career highs in points per game (13.0), three-pointers per game (2.0), and three-point percentage (41.4%).
On top of that, opponents are shooting 3.6% worse when Reid is the closest defender — a stingy mark that contributes to the Wolves’ league-leading defense.
I had my concerns when the Timberwolves front office paid Reid like a starter to be the backup behind Rudy Gobert and Karl Anthony-Towns. However, Reid has been more than worth it. His flexibility to play offense like Towns and defense like Gobert (both to lesser degrees) has allowed Finch to maintain continuity in how both the offense and defense play throughout the game no matter who is in.
(The Magic have been 4.4 points per 100 possessions better with Bitadze on the floor than off. He’s averaging 1.6 blocks per game — a top 20 number in the league and has been a stabilizing force for the Magic after they lost Wendell Carter Jr. to injury for a large chunk of this season. He would be a worthy pick for this fake role player team.)
Isaiah Joe gets the benefit of playing almost all of his minutes with MVP candidate, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. However, he is the perfect fit next to Shai. Joe is one of the preeminent shooters in this league who uses that ability to open space for Shai and the rest of the OKC penetrators to get into the lane.
Joe takes almost no shots inside the arc and provides little additional ball handling to the Thunder rotation. However, on a team fit with some of the best penetrators in the league, additional ball handling isn’t what’s needed — shooting is and Joe fills that role better than almost anyone. His defense isn’t anything to get excited about but he doesn’t hurt the Thunder defense either.
Last but not least, Malik Monk is your classic bad defense, small guard with electric offense in the mold of 3x Sixth Man of the Year winner, Lou Williams. He is averaging a career-best 15.0 points per game and 5.5 assists per game. He’s making 2.5 threes per game on 39.1% from three. There has been a shift in the way that the public views these offense-first, small guards. However, Monk’s offense has been invaluable to the Kings in propping up their bench and providing spacing and secondary scoring next to De’Aaron Fox.
Honorable Mentions: Cole Anthony, Kris Dunn, Dante Exum, Deni Advija, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Tim Hardaway Jr., Jonathan Kuminga, Bobby Portis, Jabari Smith Jr., Goga Bitadze