For Funsies: A New Way to Pick the All-Stars

This article is part of our NBA Blog series.

I'm not entirely sure why, but I care about the NBA All-Star rosters. I know it's just an exhibition game, but I just can't stop myself from over analyzing who should make the team, and who actually will make the team.

Lately, I've spent way too much of my time thinking about how the All-Star Game rosters should be constructed. Here is my plan, along with an example of how it would work this season:

1. Eliminate Eastern/Western Conference Teams: A single pool of All-Stars is chosen, from which the two teams are created.

2. The All-Star pool consists of 30 players: NBA rosters are made up of 15 players each, so the All-Star player pool should consistent of 30 players – enough for two teams.

3. Positions: Do away with the silly backcourt/frontcourt designations. The 30 players are made up of 6 point guards, 12 wing players, and 12 big men. These distinctions should be liberal to allow the best players into the game.

4. Tier System: Designate each All-Star a First-Team, Second-Team, or Third-Team All-Star. This would allow the All-Star game to be used in Hall-of-Fame discussions: "So and so was a four-time First-Team All-Star" carries much more weight than "So and so was a five-time Third-Team All-Star".

Only First and Second-Team players are allowed to play in the game. This will make the rotations easier on the coaches. If there is an injury, then a Third-Team All-Star can fill in, but no one is added to the All-Star Team.

5. Criteria: The First and Second-Team players are based entirely on first half of the season performance. The Third-Team players consists of a composite of deserving players as well as certain exceptions like MVP caliber players who missed a big chuck of games (KD this year), or legacy type players (Dirk).

In addition, at least one player from the host city is guaranteed a spot on the third team if they don't make the first or second team.

If these changes were made, here is how the rosters would potentially look:

Note the "Metric Rank" for each player is based on how they rank among other potential All-Stars at their made up Point, Wing, Post position. It is not a reflection of how they rank compared to the rest of the league.

Let's talk about it. What's good, what's bad, and is there anything I missed the mark on? Hit me up on Twitter if you'd rather chat there.