2014 NBA All-Star Weekend Preview: Sports With Biers feature

Skills Challenge Winner

Goran Dragic of the Phoenix Suns

JB: Ah, my least favorite event of all. What is the purpose of the Skills Challenge? This event is entirely focused on luck and speed, hardly skill. Nonetheless, the NBA needs some sort of event to set up Saturday night for the 3-point and dunk contest. This year the Skills Challenge has also been formatted into an East vs. West style. Taken directly from the official All-Star Website:

“Each conference will field two teams consisting of two players. Each team of two players will run the course, competing in a relay format for a single overall time….The fastest East team and fastest West team from the First Round will compete to determine the competition champion.”

I’m going to have to go with Team 2 on the West, Goran Dragic and Reggie Jackson. Not only are they an incredibly entertaining duo, I think Dragic will have the best time of any other player and Jackson is competent enough to complement Goran. Enough to win the Skill Challenge at least.

PA: Ah, reality is restored! Josh, how is this one luck? Just because you can’t put a pass on a dime, doesn’t make it luck when others do. I like Team 1 on the West, Damian Lillard and Utah’s Trey Burke. Mostly, because those two men have skills, and it is the skills challenge. Most say Lillard is going to wear himself out over the weekend, but this is only the second event that night. Assuming he makes it through the Rookie / Sophomore game the night before unscathed (how pissed will Portland be if Lillard comes out of the weekend overworked and worn down?), I think this is his kind of event. Burke is putting up a decent rookie campaign, but I’m going with him in this because I feel like he showed me enough at Michigan that, paired with Lillard, I think he is the best “2nd-best-on-his-team” in this contest.

RR: The thing that scares me in the skills competition is that passing targets, as so many players seem to have trouble over the years of passing the ball without it getting rejected by the wooden edges of the target. Since I imagine players don’t ever practice a skill like this, the competition is a total crap-shoot to me, and therefore my pick will be based on unproven evidence. I think the West team of Goran Dragic and Reggie Jackson will edge the East team of DeMar Derozan and Giannis Antetokounmpo. I would love to see the Greek Freak win because his interview would be epic, but I don’t think he’s quite ready for the precision needed for the passing targets. On the other hand, this seems like something Goran has had to do since he was six growing up in Slovenia. He probably put a Sasha Vujacic face in the opening of the target just so he could improve his passing while hitting that slime ball in the head.

MT: I have to go with Lillard and Trey Burke who would be a sick duo in any real backcourt. Lillard, who was the winner of last years skills challenge, is now paired with Trey Burke who has been an excellent player for the Jazz this season (possibly a little too good for the tanking Jazz). It was tough for me to go against Goran Dragic who I think is the most skilled guard in this competition, but I think back-up PG Reggie Jackson will hold him back. I mean this position was really meant for Russell Westbrook right? I couldn’t go with any East combos either. One team has the Greek Freak who I thought was just athletic and the other comprises two rookies. They aren’t ready to take the throne just yet.