Is Deng an all-star? Not without some help

Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau was on the verbal campaign trail this weekend, offering the opinion that Luol Deng is having an all-star season.

The timing was perfect, because Deng had a nice weekend. On Friday, he outscored Orlando’s Hedo Turkoglu 24-1 in the second half. Then he produced 19 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds against Indiana’s Danny Granger.

Considering the Bulls’ 33-14 record, no one should question Thibodeau’s basketball knowledge right now. So does Deng deserve a spot among the Eastern Conference reserves?

The East isn’t exactly overflowing with all-star candidates. It would reasonable to suggest four Boston Celtics among the seven subs.

Here’s an odd fact about the NBA: Of the current top 25 scorers, only eight play in the Eastern Conference. There are the five all-star starters, plus three guys who barely even deserve all-star consideration — Toronto’s Andrea Bargnani, New Jersey’s Brook Lopez and Granger. Maybe if one of those guys could find a way to average 6 rebounds per game, it would be different.

The obvious East reserves are Boston’s Paul Pierce (18.9 points), Rajon Rondo (12.5 assists) and Ray Allen (17.1 points, .452 3-point percentage), along with New York guard Raymond Felton (17.3 points, 8.9 assists).

Somebody from Atlanta needs to be there, with Al Horford (16.2 points, 9.8 rebounds) slightly ahead of Josh Smith or Joe Johnson. As much as people won’t like it, Miami’s third wheel, Chris Bosh, has all-star numbers (18.6 points, 8.2 rebounds).

That leaves one spot for a front-line player, and Boston’s Kevin Garnett (15.0 points, 8.9 rebounds) figures to have an edge on Milwaukee’s Andrew Bogut.

By this call, Deng (17.6 points, 6.2 rebounds) is not an all-star this season. But if Pierce, Allen or one of the Miami guys back out, Deng could easily be No. 1 on the replacement list.

The West reserves are almost impossible to trim to seven. Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki, Utah’s Deron Williams and Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook have to go. San Antonio has earned two spots, which go to Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker.

That leaves two spots for big men. Will the West coaches prefer team success with the Lakers’ Pau Gasol and New Orleans’ David West, or go with the gaudy stats of Minnesota’s Kevin Love and the Clippers’ Blake Griffin?

There is no wrong answer. No one should complain if Love or Griffin is selected.