The All-Star starters will be announced on Thursday evening, and so as we wait for those names to come down, we take a look at the RealGM Player Rankings in order to objectively examine who are the most deserving 24 players in the NBA thus far in the 2008-09 season.

In parentheses below are the season FIC rank, FIC40 and Reina Value.

Eastern All-Star Starters

F: LeBron James (1st, 22.8, +72%)

LeBron is second in points per game with 27.8, 11th in assists with 6.8, fifth in steals with 2.0, 11th in offensive rating with 119.6, and fourth in defensive rating with 96.3.  In just about every category imaginable, James is posting career highs, and the intangibles on the defensive end have been at an entirely different level as well.

F: Chris Bosh (5th, 17.4, +46%)

Bosh lobbied to RealGM on YouTube in an attempt to become an All-Star starter last year, and there have been no such pleas this season with the Raptors struggling tremendously.  Bosh's numbers have remained relatively constant from the past two seasons, and you can't blame him for the Jose Calderon injury or the Jermaine O'Neal trade not working out as planned.

C: Dwight Howard (4th, 21.9, +55%)

Howard leads the NBA in rebounds and blocks and is 19th in scoring with 20.2 points per night.  He leads the NBA in defensive rating with 93.5, and he truly has no peer from his generation at the center position with Andrew Bynum and Greg Oden still trailing by a wide margin.

G: Dwyane Wade (3rd, 19.7, +48%)

Wade is far closer to his 05-06 and 06-07 seasons than the anomaly that was the 2007-08 campaign.  He is leading the NBA in scoring with a 28.8 per night mark while shooting 47.4% from the floor despite the ill-advised increase in his 3-point attempts.  He is averaging 7.3 assists per game (9th) and 2.3 steals (2nd) while blocking as many shots per game (1.5) as a solid big.

G: Rajon Rondo (17th, 17.0, +1,049%)

Rondo has made such significant strides in all aspects of his game that I believe he is the early favorite for Most Improved Player.  Jameer Nelson's surge has been more recent while Rondo has been playing at a whole new level from the outset, and he has easily displaced Ray Allen in Boston's Big 3.  He is averaging 8.9 assists per 36 minutes, up from 6.1 last year while shooting better than 50% from the floor and 34.5% from beyond the arc.  When Rondo came into the league, I thought it would take him six or seven years to reach 30% in that category, and so for him to get there already shows extraordinary development.

Western All-Star Starters

F: Tim Duncan (6th, 19.6, +132%)

One would almost imagine that the almost 33-year-old Duncan would be a legacy All-Star at this point, but he's having another excellent season and has his highest offensive rating since the 04-05 campaign.  

F: Dirk Nowitzki (9th, 17.1, +13%)

Nowitzki clearly isn't the game player that became the MVP in 06-07, but he is still one of the very best at his position.  His shooting efficiency is down, as are his assists and rebounds, but he is still averaging 26.0 per night, and Rick Carlisle has called on him to play more minutes per night.

C: Andris Biedrins (7th, 19.8, +132%)

It is nearly impossible for a player on a team with a .300 winning percentage make his first All-Star game and clearly shows a flaw in using an objective system for things like this.  But Biedrins is second in the NBA in total rebounds and is shooting 55.6% from the floor.  His offensive rating has dipped significantly from the incredible 127 in 07-08, but 115 is still very solid considering the team he plays for.

G: Chris Paul (2nd, 23.0, +367%)

Paul has the been the best player in the NBA on a per minute basis for me this season, so don't get me going on Tracy McGrady.  The Hornets are third in the Western Conference despite a horrendous season from Tyson Chandler and a down year from David West, and that is strictly because of all of the things Paul does on the floor.  He leads the NBA in assists and steals while averaging 21.2 points per night (14th).  His offensive rating of 125.9 leads the NBA, and he is in shouting distance on the defensive end with a mark of 102.2.  His supporting cast is far worse than LeBron's in Cleveland, and he is easily doing the most with less for me.

G: Kobe Bryant (8th, 17.7, -3%)

For the third consecutive season, Bryant has a 115 offensive rating and at 47.6%, he has never been a more efficient floor scorer. His usage (32.1) is up from last season, though it remains a long ways away from his 'I'll do it all' 05-06 when it climbed to 38.7. Everything else remains virtually the same although he's had a 0.4 decrease in steals per 36 minutes, and he isn't getting to the line with as great of frequency.

Eastern Reserves

Kevin Garnett (12th, 18.1, -27%)

Garnett has been every bit as good defensively and on the glass, but he hasn't been as efficient of a scorer and is averaging almost one fewer assist per 36 minutes than he did last season.

David Lee (16th, 16.9, +745%)

Lee is fifth in the NBA in field goal percentage with a mark of 56.9% and is averaging 11.4 rebounds per game, which puts him fourth in the NBA.  He was probably better on a per minute basis in 06-07, but the increase in his playing time has allowed him to move up this ranking.

Antawn Jamsion (18th, 15.1, +52%)

Jamison is having the best offensive per minute season since his one year in Dallas.  He rebounding has dropped, but this is probably his most deserving All-Star campaign, team record notwithstanding.

Andre Iguodala (19th, 14.6, +33%)

Iguodala isn't having his finest season in the NBA, but he has been a steady force for the Sixers who initially struggled with Elton Brand and have been playing very well of late.  He is averaging 17.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game as a sort of very diet LeBron.

Emeka Okafor (20th, 15.8, +57%)

Okafor has maintained his high level of defense while becoming a much better offensive player, shooting 58.7% from the floor, up from 53.2% and 53.4% in each of the past two seasons.  Okafor came into the NBA shooting just 44.7% from the floor, so this is an uptick that many thought would never come.  He has also been more active on the offensive glass, averaging 4.0 per 36 minutes.

Joe Johnson (24th, 13.7, +2%)

Johnson is averaging more minutes per game (40.0) than any other player in the NBA, and he's distributing like he did during his first year in Atlanta.

Danny Granger (25th, 12.4, +519%)

Granger is fourth in the NBA in points per game with 26.2, right after Wade, LeBron, and Kobe and ahead of Dirk, Durant, and Bosh.  He has a career best 113 offensive rating on a Pacers' team that has struggled in the Eastern Conference.

Western Reserves

Jason Kidd (10th, 17.4, -14%)

The great play of the much younger Devin Harris and the overall decline of the Mavericks has made last year's trade look bad from the Dallas perspective, but I don't think Kidd can really be blamed for not taking his new club over the top.  He is having the best shooting season of his career, and while continuing to play very good defense, his drops in assists and rebounds are fairly negligible.

Pau Gasol (11th, 18.2, +20%)

Gasol's numbers this season look better than his total from 07-08, but not when you isolate out the Memphis games from the equation. He has scored at a slightly less efficient clip (55.6% from the floor compared to 58.9%), but it was unrealistic to expect him to maintain the 128 offensive efficiency from his 27 games with the Lakers last season and, at 125, puts him behind just Chris Paul and Carl Landry.

Marcus Camby (13th, 20.5, +78%)

Like Biedrins and the player next on this list, it is difficult for players on such bad teams to get All-Star attention, but Camby is second in rebounds per game (13.8) and blocks per game (2.6).  He is eighth in the NBA in defensive rating (100) with no Clippers' teammate close to him at all in that category.  I'm not sure there is a better active player that has never made an All-Star team than Camby.

Al Jefferson (14th, 17.0, +50%)

How would a team with an improved Rondo, a healthy Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen fare with Al Jefferson down low instead of Kevin Garnett?  Surely not good enough to beat the Lakers in the Finals, let alone reach it, but they would still be the best team in the Atlantic.  Despite the constant attention from opposing defenses, Jefferson has put up excellent offensive numbers with the Wolves.

Yao Ming (15th, 17.7, +5%)

Unlike certain instances in the past, Yao definitely deserves his All-Star trip this season.  He is shooting 54.4% from the field and putting up nearly identical numbers to his career marks in rebounds, assists, and blocks while Rick Adelman wisely limits his minutes.

Amare Stoudemire (21st, 15.5, -2%)

Stoudemire is still one of the best scorers at the power forward position, but his offensive rating has dipped from a high of 124 last season to 116 this year.  He also isn't rebounding nearly as efficiently, with just 7.7 per 36 minutes compared to 9.4 for his career.  His blocks and trips to the line have also decreased.

Chauncey Billups (22nd, 15.7, +33%)

Billups has taken John Elway's number and has endeared himself to Denver yet again as he's been largely responsible for the Nuggets' surge.  He is averaging a career best 19.1 points per 36 minutes since coming over to Denver.

My Subjective All-Stars

Eastern Conference Starters: Same as above

Eastern Conference Reserves: Garnett, Johnson, Devin Harris, Lee, Paul Pierce, Iguodala, and Okafor

Western Conference Starters: Paul, Duncan, Kobe, Gasol, and Yao

Western Conference Reserves: Dirk, Kidd, Stoudemire, Billups, Roy, Biedrins, and Millsap