Last month, we profiled at length Kyrie Irving, and his importance to the Boston Celtics. Acquired from the Cleveland Cavaliers over the summer, Kyrie represented a giant leap of faith for the long-time 'Reloading' Celtics, and it is working, as Irving has been everything the Celtics foresaw him as being.

Also last month, we looked at DeMar DeRozan, and the season he is having with the Toronto Raptors. Always a big-time scorer, often from the areas of the court teams claim not to want to score from and in a style of play said to be antithetical to the dominant concept of efficiency, DeRozan has taken his play to All-Star starter status, not by changing who he is, but by continually adding to it. DeRozan adds to his game every season, this year adding more consistent and regular outside shooting, and the continued growth is what has gotten him to this level.

The pair have since gone on to be the two leading backcourt All-Star vote getters in the Eastern Conference. And although DeRozan was drafted onto Team Stephen Curry in the inaugural NBA All-Star Draft, thereby facing off with Kyrie rather than pairing with him, they represent the two leading scorers on what are - Cavaliers redux excepted - by far the two best teams in the Eastern Conference this season.

When we looked at DeRozan, he had just started to shoot threes, adding to his already exceptional offensive repertoire. He averaged 25.1 points. 5.0 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game, and averages 23.7 points, 5.2 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game going into All-Star weekend.

Just as they have with fellow All-Star Kyle Lowry, DeRozan’s per game numbers have only tapered off slightly in that time due to his reduced minutes, not to any decline in the quality of his play. In the dog days of the season just before the All-Star break, the Raptors and their head coach Dwane Casey have made liberal use of the depth throughout the roster, and have barely played their starters 30 minutes a game over the last few weeks. With quality backups such as Fred VanVleet and Delon Wright in tow, nor should they.

What DeRozan has done is keep up the three-point shooting rate that, at the time we profiled him, was a new wrinkle to his game. Without going away much from the areas on the court that suit him best – we saw in our profile of LaMarcus Aldridge two days ago the perils of what might happen if, through tinkering, a player is moved away from their comfort zones - DeRozan is incorporating this new wrinkle into his game. And it is not a coincidence that he is shooting a career-high 55.8% true shooting percentage this season.

Now armed with the ability to just raise up and shoot from outside, DeRozan is putting together the total scoring package. He can hit threes - a 33.3% success rate on 5.1 attempts per game needs further improvement, but is nonetheless a weapon to be defended. He can still isolate and fall away in the mid-range, hitting 42.9% of his shots between 16 feet and the three-point line, of which only 29.8% are assisted. He can still drive the ball, finishing at the rim at a 65.3% clip. And he still draws fouls on all of them.

Kyrie, of course, already could just raise up and shoot. He has made a career out of doing just that, including in clutch situations, and particularly in title-winning clutch situations. It can be hit or miss - what is unquestioned, however, is Irving's confidence and desire to take the big shot.

Shooting and shotmaking define and separate Kyrie. A slight decline in talent level would make them a fairly average player - were he not such a good shot maker, a lot of the shots he takes would be bad ones. But given his ability to hit anything, especially at the rim, he instead becomes the good kind of wrecking ball. Our pre-London profile of Irving explored how important this is even to a very good team like the Celtics; should the team offence ever be coming up short, Irving is the ultimate re-feed bail-out option.

In the absence of Hayward, Kyrie is the one Celtic who can consistently create a high-percentage shot for himself. [...]

Kyrie's important to the Celtics lies in the fact that he can do things on the court that none of his team mates can do, to a standard that almost no one else in the league can rival. His ball-handling, shot creation and ability to hit tough shots are among the league's all-time best, and have already won him one title. 

On the season thus far, Kyrie averages 24.7 points per game, shooting a true shooting percentage of 60.2%. The points per game is eighth in the league, and the true shooting percentage is tenth among qualified guards; of those ahead of him, only Stephen Curry, James Harden and Chris Paul share comparable offensive workloads. There are very few players who take as many shots as Kyrie, very few players who make as many, and almost none doing so as well on so severe of a difficulty level. 

The same is true of DeRozan. His Toronto team have been overly guilty at times of playing too much isolation basketball and of taking too hard of shots, seeking too inefficient of ideologies. But even when this was the case, it was only the case because DeRozan's tremendous scoring abilities made it so.

It can be a mistake to excessively come to depend on the abilities of one player to be the stagnant crux of so many half court possessions. But that reliance never comes from nothing. Kyrie and DeRozan head up the two best teams in the Eastern Conference, and lead by their ability to put the ball in the basket. And for that reason, both are worthy 2018 NBA All-Stars.