The All-League Pass Team

As most of you already know, NBA League Pass is probably the greatest invention since the wheel and has revolutionized the way we watch our favorite game (and if you don't, you really need to).

Not only are all games available at the touch of a button, but teams and players who were seldom seen outside the quiet realms of local TV are now being exposed to a national audience, their status only further proliferating with the explosion of social media and the (awesome) sudden ability for the random thoughts of JR Smith to make him an internet celebrity. 

The excessive abundance of selection forces one to prioritize: There's certain players who are simply must-see additions to any well-balanced night of NBA channel-surfing; guys who for a variety of reasons - both related to their basketball skills and otherwise - are simply too entertaining to pass up. 

The regular season's winding down, and awards are due out soon. So as a warm-up, here's a nod to the excellence of those who, night in and night out, kept us on the edge of our seats; who threaten to do something completely unforgettable whenever they step onto the court: The All-League Pass Team

Close Cuts - Michael Beasley (the prototype for a "guy who should be really good, is amusing to watch from an unintentional hilarity point of view, but ultimately too frustrating), Gerald Green (stopped dunking a lot/playing basketball well), Ricky Rubio (spent too much of this year injured/on early curfew), Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant (as amazing as they are at this age, it's not like we're seeing anything new from them), Steph Curry (casualty of an elite PG class), Josh Smith (has toned down his dunking, can no longer fight w/ Mike Woodson nightly), JR Smith (has toned down his erratic shooting and refuses to fight w/ Mike Woodson nightly), Tony Allen (one of the NBA's best players at losing the ball on the way to the hoop, regaining possession, drawing contact from an innocent bystander and completing the and-one defenders) the J. Crawfords (painful exclusions), Blake Griffin (a unanimous pick if Lebron and Durant weren't having two of the best seasons in recent memory) and DeMarcus Cousins (I really enjoy watching highly-skilled big men who regularly scream at their teammates mid-game for not getting them the ball enough, but every time I tune into a Kings game, I'm expecting to hear he's caught a CDT suspension and isn't with the team)

and now without further ado, the 2013 All-League Pass Team:

G - Chris Paul, Los Angeles Clippers  

Only so much needs to be said about the brilliance of a player who consistently averages more steals than turnovers and is a Lebron James-in-his-prime away from being the NBA's most complete offensive player. Paul - in his awe-imposing physical stature - regularly and methodically destroys opposing defenses however he sees fit, utilizing his own seemingly endless arsenal of moves, while also conducting a smooth-flowing basketball symphony, helping teammates hit high notes they couldn't without him. He plays with a tremendous IQ and the leadership ability to make it permeate through the rest of a once-mocked franchise that's considered among the legit contenders. It's must-see TV.

G - Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder

Westbrook's (by a very wide margin) the sharpest double-edge entertainment threat in professional basketball. Not only is he an insanely athletic, skilled and well-built guard who goes hard every game and is never short on highlight-reel material, but he's also one of the League's most highly-combustible players, prone to emotional blowups and occasional spans of on-court judgement that force you to question his mental development. There's very few point guards who cram on seven-footers as regularly and casually as Westbrook, and even fewer who've let a 5-second violation create a fight during and timeout and then flee to the locker room in distress. When their team was up 20. 

F- Lebron James, Miami Heat
This weighs on me personally because I don't want to watch the Miami Heat. I hate most things about their team, and find myself rooting against them in 99% of games. Despite this, the rational side of me usually wrestles some screen time for South Beach, because despite my feelings, it's hard to turn away. They play an engaged, unique, and energetic brand of basketball that's well-executed and (pretty much naturally) produces more than its share of poster shots. While the entire team has been playing out of their minds - not only individually but as a unit - a lot of this stems from Lebron James quite simply dominating this game on a level right now that only Michael Jordan has ever exceeded. Plain and simple. And if you don't want to watch that, then you're not a basketball fan.

F - Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder
"Video Game Mode" is a term that's been gaining some steam in sports conversations these days. For those born after 1980 and not living in Siberia, it's an obvious reference, but in case you're a Siberian NBA fan, "Video Game Mode" is an homage to NBA Jam/Courtside with Kobe Bryant/Hangtime/Live/Street/ 2KWhatever, and the unrealistically good play spawned therein. Whether through poor game design, the "Easy" difficulty setting and "Off" fatigue toggling, a user calling his superstar's number on every single play, or the sudden ability to leap 40 feet in the air for a quintuple-flip while igniting the ball in flames during a dunk, players just seemed to be able to do a lot of shit that just seemed... Skeptical. This term most often applies to cases of overt offensive dominance, where a particular player shows a ruthless unwillingness to miss, as though he's discovered a cheat code that sends every shot out his hands straight through the mesh. This term also most often applies to Kevin Durant, which is why he's a no-brainer starter on this team.

C - Javale McGee, Denver Nuggets
What Javale McGee has managed to do with his NBA career is truly fascinating. He exists in the minds of some as much (and in others even more) a social media entity as an actual basketball player. McGee became a staple of the YouTube/Twitter generation with his death-defying dunk attempts, and displays of general cluelessness both on-court (sprinting back on D when his own team had possession, or perhaps nearly killing James Jones after attempting to jump over him from the foul line and dunk), and on the mic (making an ambiguously-racist, live-national-TV reference to a certain Shaquille O'Neal segment), while confounding coaches with his inconsistent play. Javale is helping to maintain the NBA's social media profile with his tomes of wisdom and sagacious antics is almost like a second job; the Denver Nuggets are paying him a shade under $11 million this season, and bringing him off the bench for 18 minutes/game, so he has plenty of time on his hands. You might think such sparse appearances would make him a longshot for this team, but call McGee this team's "character guy" - if you're only looking at his on-court production, you're missing the whole picture.