B/R

The NBA All-Star teams for the Eastern and Western Conference have already been announced and celebrated, but we're not here to discuss the actual All-Star teams. Rather, it's time to honor players whose value is reflected in the margins.

In the space below, we've highlighted players based on their specific skill sets as captured by various statistical measures: shooting, rebounding, passing, driving, numerous defensive attributes and more.

We'll call it the "Advanced-Stats All-Star Team."

There are 20 total players honored here—10 from each conference—representing 17 of the league's 30 teams. Some of them are All-Stars already, while others were deserving but didn't make the cut, and still more wouldn't ever be thought of for the "real" squad. But they all have value to their teams, and it shows up when you look just a bit beyond the surface.

Note: All statistics current as of Monday, February 9, and courtesy of NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com.

A measure of shooting efficiency that takes into account field goals, three-point field goals and free throws.

East: Kyle Korver (0.739)

West: Tyson Chandler (0.714)

These two players really could not be more different. They come by their efficient scoring in polar opposite ways. Korver is the NBA's preeminent long-range sniper (he's shooting a league-leading 53.1 percent from three this year), while Chandler dunks everything in sight and rarely shoots from outside the paint.

But they both have exactly what you want from supplementary offensive weapons: gravity. Korver's shooting draws defenders away from the paint to open things up for Jeff Teague, Al Horford and Paul Millsap, while Chandler's pick-and-roll dives suck defenses into the paint to create opportunities for Dirk Nowitzki, Monta Ellis and Chandler Parsons.

An estimate of the percentage of available rebounds a player grabbed while he was on the floor.

East: Andre Drummond (23.8)

West: DeAndre Jordan (23.1)

USA TODAY Sports

What do you know? The two players who led their respective conferences in total rebound percentage last season are on track to do so again this year.

Drummond, in particular, is so far ahead of the next-closest player in the Eastern Conference (Jonas Valanciunas at 18.9 percent) that it's almost unfair to even put them in the same sentence. There are eight Western Conference players between Drummond and Valanciunas on the leaderboard.

Jordan, meanwhile is having the best season of his career and is on track to lead the league in rebounds per game for the second straight year, though he's just behind Drummond in percentage of available rebounds snagged by 0.7 percent once again.

Rim Protection—Points Saved Per 36 Minutes

Estimate of the points fewer (or greater) the player allows opposing offenses to score at the rim as compared to a hypothetical league-average big man.

East: Hassan Whiteside (3.29)

West: Rudy Gobert (4.27)

Created by our friend Seth Partnow from Nylon Calculus, "Points Saved Per 36 Minutes" takes the SportVU rim-protection data from NBA.com and distills it into one metric based on the number of shots at the rim a player challenges and the field-goal percentage opponents shoot when he does so.

Gobert's rim-protecting prowess has earned him the nickname the Stifle Tower, while Whiteside has burst onto the scene over the last few weeks as not only an offensive and rebounding force but also one who consistently alters shots near the rim.

Shot Blocking—Block Percentage

An estimate of the percentage of opponent two-point field-goal attempts blocked by the player while he was on the floor.

Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

East: Roy Hibbert (5.5)

West: Anthony Davis (5.9)

We should note that the Western Conference's leader in block percentage is actually Rudy Gobert, but he's already on the team, and we don't have the ability to clone him...yet.

Also, since block percentage only accounts for two-point field-goal attempts blocked and Davis is a master at blocking threes, it's entirely possible he's being underestimated by this metric.

Hibbert, meanwhile, continues to solidify his reputation as one of the NBA's premier interior defenders, helping Indiana to a borderline top-10 defense even after it lost Lance Stephenson to free agency and both Paul George and George Hill to injury for either all or the majority of the season.

An estimate of the percentage of opponent possessions that end with a steal by the player while he was on the floor.

East: Shane Larkin (3.1)

West: Tony Allen (4.0)

Larkin narrowly edges out Milwaukee's Khris Middleton for this spot. I was all ready to write about Middleton's crazy length and ball denial being a big part of Milwaukee's strong defense, but alas, we'll have to talk about how Larkin's ability to generate steals with his quickness and anticipation is a lone bright spot in an otherwise calamitous New York Knicks defense.

It should come as no surprise that Tony Allen earns this slot for the West. He's been one of the NBA's foremost perimeter defenders for some time, and he's come close to leading the league in steal percentage in a few different seasons. His hounding defense has helped Memphis back to a top-three defensive efficiency since the start of the new year.

Driving—Points Created Per Drive (min. 4.0 drives per game)

A measure of points scored plus points assisted per drive, where a drive is defined as any touch that starts at least 20 feet from the hoop and is dribbled within 10 feet of the hoop and excludes fast breaks.

East: Derrick Rose (1.279)

West: Kevin Durant (1.356)

Joe Murphy/Getty Images

Kyle Lowry was the Eastern Conference leader here until the last few days. Rose's 11-assist game against the Magic a few days ago included several drive-and-kicks and pushed him over the top 0.01 points per drive. Rose himself is shooting 51.3 percent on drives to the basket, and that, along with solid shooting from guys such as Jimmy Butler has helped make him one of the NBA's most effective drivers once again.

Durant is averaging fewer drives per game than a lot of the other players near the top of the leaderboard, but his efficiency when taking the ball to the basket has been fairly ridiculous. Only three other players—James Harden, Stephen Curry and Jrue Holiday—have created in excess of 1.3 points per drive with their scoring and passing combined.

Passing—Points Created Per Pass (min. 5.0 ast opps per game)

An estimate of points created via assist on a per-pass basis.

East: John Wall (0.334)

West: James Harden (0.365)

Ned Dishman/Getty Images

The NBA tracks both passes and points created via assist per game with its SportVU cameras. By multiplying those numbers by games played, we can come up with total points created as well as total passes. Set those against each other and you've got points created per pass, a quick and dirty way to see whose passing results in the most scoring for his team.

Obviously there are two ends to this, as a shot has to go in for it to result in points, but with Wall and Harden coming out on top here, we're on the right track. Wall is the engine that drives the Washington attack, and he's averaging an NBA-best 10.2 assists per game as of this writing.

Harden is having the best year of his career dishing the rock, assisting on 35.0 percent of the Rockets' baskets while on the floor. That percentage has steadily risen with every season he's been in the league, as have his assists per game and per-36 minutes.

How often a player draws a foul—either shooting or non-shooting—based on the number of times he touches the ball in a given game.

East: Jimmy Butler (10.34)

West: DeMarcus Cousins (7.83)

As we explained when we introduced "Touches Per Foul Drawn" earlier this season:

Nearly all NBA fouls are drawn by a player with the ball in his hands. Sure, there are off-ball fouls in the half court, loose-ball fouls, illegal screens and such, but most non-Hack-a-Dwight fouls are committed against the ball-handler, and most often while he is attempting to score. Knowing this, we can combine touches and time-of-possession data with the Personal Fouls Drawn stat from the NBA's media-only stats site (subscription required) to come up with a new way to measure foul-drawing.

Cousins led the league last year, and he indeed leads the league by a country mile once again. There should be no doubt that Boogie is the NBA's preeminent foul-drawer.

Butler made a huge leap up the leaderboard, catapulting himself by drawing a ton of fouls on drives to the basket. He's averaging 7.5 free-throw attempts per game, and he's also drawn 32 non-shooting fouls this year, a considerable amount for a wing player.

Ball Control—Turnover Percentage (min. 1,000 minutes)

An estimate of turnovers per 100 plays.

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

East: Al Jefferson (5.4)

West: Dirk Nowitzki (6.7)

Let's first note that Anthony Morrow and Wayne Ellington finished ahead of Nowitzki in the Western Conference, but they haven't played enough minutes yet to qualify. Anthony Davis did as well, but he's already on the team because of his shot-blocking exploits.

Jefferson and Nowitzki are each high-usage players—they sport usage rates of 26.4 and 26.0 percent, respectively. Jefferson takes his spot on the left block and goes to work, usually either scoring or getting fouled, while Nowitzki works pick-and-pop magic with Monta Ellis, Rajon Rondo, Chandler Parsons and others.

The number of points scored by a player or team while on a fast break, on a per-game basis.



East: LeBron James (5.4)

West: Russell Westbrook (7.3)

Westbrook is so far ahead of the next player—Harden—that he should have a leaderboard all to himself. He's carrying a massive offensive load for the Thunder with Kevin Durant sitting out a bunch of games, and his deadly transition game is a big part of why the Thunder have remained afloat in the playoff race, despite KD's repeated absences.

James, of course, has been the recipient of several outrageous outlet passes from Kevin Love, and he continues making highlight plays in the open court for both himself and others. There are few more terrifying things in basketball than when LeBron gets a head of steam in transition.

The Rosters

East: Kyle Korver (TS%), Andre Drummond (TRB%), Hassan Whiteside (Pts Saved/36), Roy Hibbert (BLK%), Shane Larkin (STL%) , Derrick Rose (PC/Drive), John Wall (PC/Pass), Jimmy Butler (Touches/PFD), Al Jefferson (TOV%), LeBron James (FBPPG)

West: Tyson Chandler (TS%), DeAndre Jordan (TRB%), Rudy Gobert (Pts Saved/36), Anthony Davis (BLK%), Tony Allen (STL%), Kevin Durant (PC/Drive), James Harden (PC/Pass), DeMarcus Cousins (Touches/PFD), Dirk Nowitzki (TOV%), Russell Westbrook (FBPPG)