Reaction to the NBA All Star Game Selections

Last Thursday, the NBA announced the reserves for the 2017 All Star game, finalizing the full All Star lineups.  There were a handful of great selections for the lineup this year, but in my opinion, the significant amount of snubs and questionable decisions outweigh the good ones.  The actual All Star game will of course be a joke, with insanely high scoring and virtually no defense, regardless of who is on the court, but the accolade of being called an NBA All Star is something that is permanent on a player’s career, and getting left out, or added to the reserves when they truly should not have been added, can directly affect a monumental player’s career.  

I first want to mention the large group of players who missed the All Star game this year.  Of course, you can always argue that there is a massive pool of talent in the NBA and it’s impossible to not leave someone out from the All Star Game lineup, but there are definitely some notable players who should be featured on the reserves.  The 2017 All Star Game marks the end of two All Star Game streaks.  Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade both had impressive, consecutive All Star Game appearances until missing out on this year’s lineup.  Melo, who had 7 straight All Star appearances, and Wade, who had an insane 12 consecutive appearances, both will not play in New Orleans this year.  Don’t get me wrong, I agree that these players should not play for the Eastern Conference team this year, but it is odd to think that I was 9 years old the last time Dwyane Wade didn’t play in an NBA All Star Game.  

However, with Anthony and Wade set aside, there are still 5 players who were seriously snubbed from the lineup this year.  Karl Anthony Towns and Avery Bradley are both having seasons that could be considered All Star caliber seasons.  Bradley, who is averaging 17.7 ppg, 6.9 rpg, and 2.4 apg, is having a career best season, and in my opinion, made a strong case to become an NBA All Star.  Unfortunately, practically every Eastern Conference selection, with the exception of Paul Millsap, who is barely performing at a higher level than Bradley by averaging 18.1 ppg, 8.2 rpg, and 1 blkpg, is having a season far greater than Avery Bradley.  So even though he is doing a fantastic job alongside teammate Isaiah Thomas, the only All Star he could beat out is Paul Millsap.  

Karl Anthony Towns, on the other hand, is putting on a stellar performance in only his sophomore season.  Averaging a Double Double this season with 23 ppg and 11.9 rpg, KAT is proving to the rest of the NBA that he will be one of the best players in the league in the near future.  If Karl Anthony Towns played in the Eastern Conference I guarantee he would’ve knocked out Paul Millsap for the last spot on the reserves, but since the Timberwolves reside in the Western Conference, his eligibility for the All Star lineup is definitely not as strong.  In the West, the last spot on the reserves is taken by Gordon Hayward of the Utah Jazz.  Even though Hayward is not averaging a Double Double like Towns, his stat line is more balanced with 21.6 ppg, 3.5 apg, and 5.7 rpg, giving him the edge over Towns for the last position on the lineup. Karl Anthony Towns will definitely be an All Star one day, and even though he barely missed out on this season’s lineup, I wouldn’t be surprised if he earns a starting spot on the lineup in future seasons.  

In my opinion there are 3 players who truly got snubbed from this year’s lineup, and of course, they are all in the stacked Western Conference.  Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, and Chris Paul, without a doubt, should be on this year’s Western Conference All Star lineup.  With Lillard averaging 26.2 ppg, 5.8 apg, and 4.7 rpg, McCollum averaging 23.4 ppg, 3.6 apg and 3.6 rpg, and CP3 averaging 17.5 ppg, 9.7 apg, and 5.3 rpg, it’s insane to not label these guards as All Stars.  I understand that the NBA needs to balance out their All Star lineups with an equal combination of Guards, Forwards, and Centers, but I find it extremely hard to believe that the league couldn’t find a single spot for one of these superstars.  Especially with Lillard and Chris Paul being strong contenders for league MVP this season, it’s ludicrous that neither one of these superstars would make the NBA All Stars lineup, yet FOUR Golden State Warriors players were able to find spots on the Western Conference roster.  

The Western Conference isn’t the only side of the league lacking superstar talent in their lineups.  After the NBA All Star lineups were released last week, I was surprised and shocked to see the blatant lack of Centers on the Eastern Conference roster.  Out of the 12 total spots available on the roster, not a single Center is listed, and just to clarify, Kevin Love and Paul Millsap are NOT Centers.  In fact, Millsap and Love really shouldn’t even be All Stars to begin with.  When you look at the Western Conference lineup, you’ll notice that phenomenal, true Centers like Marc Gasol and DeAndre Jordan are listed on the roster.  Also, probably the best actively playing Center in the world right now, Demarcus Cousins, is only two spots away from starting in this year’s All Star game.  Now I get that the league is evolving to the point where the idea of a “True Center” who guards the paint on defense, snags rebounds on both ends of the court, and puts up easy 2’s under the basket is practically obsolete, but when you have an “All Star” lineup that doesn’t feature a single player that actually plays the position of Center, whether or not they play the position in a more old fashioned style of play or one that is more modern to the league, it makes me question the legitimacy of these All Star selections.  In case you were wondering, the Eastern Conference has some extremely successful Centers in their conference.  Off the top of my head, two Centers who absolutely should have their names listed in the 2017 NBA All Star reserves are Hassan Whiteside and Andre Drummond.  Both Whiteside and Drummond not only ACTUALLY play Center, but they both have more impressive stat lines than the “All Star Centers” Kevin Love and Paul Millsap.  Whiteside has averaged 16.6 ppg, 13.7 rpg, and 2 blkpg this season and Drummond has averaged 14.6 ppg, 13.8 rpg, and 1.2 blkpg, which is without a doubt more impressive than Love’s 19 ppg and 11 rpg and Millsap’s stat line, which was mentioned earlier.  With Drummond and Whiteside missing out so that Love and Millsap could find a spot on the reserves, it leads me to believe that a lot of these All Star selections are clearly made based off what players will also have the best all star jersey sales and help bring in the best TV ratings.  Overall, it’s shocking that you could call the 2017 Eastern Conference All Star team a true All Star lineup without a Center on the roster.

The final problem I have with the All Star lineups this year is more of a question to Adam Silver.  How the hell is Russell Westbrook not starting in the NBA All Star game?  Of course the infamous fan vote primarily elects players into the starting 5 for the All Star Game, but the league truly has a final say (as we saw when the sub-par Zaza Pachulia almost earned himself a starting position in the Western Conference lineup days before the fan voting ended).  There is literally no excuse as to why Russell Westbrook isn’t a starting All Star.  He’s leading the league in scoring, averaging a TRIPLE DOUBLE EVERY NIGHT with 30.7 ppg, 10.3 apg, and 10.6 rpg, and has recorded an absurd 24 Triple Doubles this season, practically twice as many as the James Harden’s 14 Triple Doubles, which is the second highest in the league only behind Russell Westbrook.  Westbrook isn’t having just a great season, he’s having the greatest season in the history of the NBA.  Comparisons between him and Oscar Robertson, who is the only player to ever average a Triple Double over an entire season, show that Westbrook may be one of the greatest players in the history of professional Basketball, and there is literally nothing anyone can say that can justify the fact that he is not starting in this year’s All Star Game.  James Harden, who is averaging 28.4 ppg, 11.5 apg, and 8.2 rpg, while also having the second highest total of Triple Doubles this season at 14 and recording multiple 50 point Triple Double games, is the greatest player to ever wear a Rockets jersey.  If it wasn’t for Westbrook’s uncanny season, Harden would be the clear favorite for this year’s MVP award.  However, Steph Curry, on the other hand, does not have ridiculous stats like Harden that could earn his starting spot over Westbrook.  Averaging a mere 25 ppg, with 6.1 apg and 4.3 rpg, Curry does not have the accolades this season to be considered a starting All Star, in my opinion.  The 2017 starting guards should be Westbrook and Harden clearly, and the failure to do so by the NBA is unquestionable proof that they value potential profits over statistics.

There are also a lot of positive things to come out of the 2017 NBA All Star Game selections that I think are extremely important to mention.  For starters, one of my favorite players in the league, Giannis Antetokounmpo, is not only an All Star for the first time in his career, but he will actually be starting for the Eastern Conference despite the fact that this is only his third season in the league!  DeAndre Jordan will also be playing in his first NBA All Star Game, which I was surprised to see that he had never played in one before.  Gordon Hayward and Kemba Walker are the other first timers in the NBA All Star Game this year, and they are the first All Stars for Charlotte and Utah since Gerald Wallace in 2010 and Deron Williams in 2011.  Lastly, as much as I don’t agree with it, Golden State is the first team, since the Hawks in 2015, to feature 4 players on the All Star lineup.  

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the Warriors, even though this post might beg to differ.  In my opinion, having 4 out of the 12 available spots go to players all on the same team is redundant and takes away the opportunity of being an NBA All Star away from a handful of deserving players.  Of course there will always be players that miss out on the All Star game that have seasons that make an extremely good argument as to why they should be an All Star, but this year definitely featured a handful prominent players that probably should’ve seen their names announced on the All Star list.  Even for those who did see their names announced, players like Russell Westbrook and Isaiah Thomas got robbed of a starting position for reasons that are pretty controversial in my opinion.  However, no matter what players are on the court, I guarantee the final score of the All Star Game will be a total close to 300 points, and if Zach Lavine and Aaron Gordon square off again, we’ll be in for yet another electric Dunk contest.

Written by Erik Clark