Memo to NBA coaches: Fellas, when picking reserves for the All-Star Game, you’re not supposed to make it a popularity contest. That’s the job of the fans when they’re voting for starters.
Obviously, the league’s 30 coaches failed to remember to take the best players from the first part of the season, and not just the most popular, when they filled out the rosters for the Feb. 15 game at the Garden. Selections were announced Thursday night.
In their most egregious mistakes, in our view, the coaches left Portland’s Damian Lillard and Memphis’ Mike Conley Jr. off the West’s team, when the Blazers and Grizzlies deserve to have two players in New York City for the big weekend.
The Blazers have been one of the top teams all season and Lillard has been every bit as responsible for their 32-14 record (fourth-best overall) as teammate LeMarcus Aldridge, who did get to his fourth straight All-Star weekend. Lillard is averaging a career high 21.8 ppg but getting snubbed is apparently nothing new for the third-year point guard. He should have made Team USA for last summer’s FIBA competition but inexplicably did not get a roster spot.
Lillard could still get a berth, with Kobe Bryant, voted in as a starter, sidelined for the next nine months after getting surgery on his shoulder. So perhaps commissioner Adam Silver will make the correct call and get Lillard to New York, with the Nets hosting the Friday and Saturday events in Barclays Center and then the Knicks rolling out the red carpet for the 64th All-Star Game.
The Grizzlies also should be sending a pair of stars to New York, having the second-best record (34-12) in the entire NBA. The West is replete with outstanding point guards and Conley has joined the ranks as one of the most improved players this season. He should be making the trip along with his teammate and the West’s starting center, Marc Gasol.
Dallas has been a playoff team all season and, despite their recent slide, is still tied for sixth place with the Spurs, at 30-17. But somehow the coaches failed to put even one of Rick Carlisle’s players on the West’s team. Cases can be made for perennial All-Star Dirk Nowitzki or Monta Ellis. It’s very difficult to believe that the Mavs got blanked while the Thunder, on the outside of the playoff race at this point, had not one, but two players selected by the coaches. Of course, they’re two of the league’s bold-faced names: Reigning MVP Kevin Durant and standout PG Russell Westbrook. In our view, one should have made the team, at the most.
Durant was the shakier pick, despite his awesome career resume. True, he’s still among the league’s very best, but this season he’s missed more games (25) than he has played (21). Westbrook has been forced to sit out roughly a third of the season because of injuries, but coaches overlooked OKC’s 10th-place standing and also voted him in.
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We’ve got no problem with the coaches putting in Tim Duncan and it’s not just one of those Lifetime Achievement awards. The Big Fundamental has been the defending champion Spurs’ top player, along with being their most durable starter. As Kawhi Leonard, the Finals MVP from last June, and PG Tony Parker have both spent significant time on the sideline due to injuries, Duncan has cranked out 14.7 points, 10 rebounds and three assists per game in only 30 minutes per contest.
We’re a big believer in selecting players for the game only off teams with winning records. So when the coaches left Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins off the West, we could live with that. The Kings’ 16-28 mark has them 9.5 games behind the last playoff spot and in 12th place, and that’s just too much to overcome for one of the league’s top big men, averaging 23.8 ppg and 12.3 rebounds per game.
It’s rare when a team can make a case to have four All-Stars, but this has been such a year for the Hawks. They’ve been the surprise of the NBA and are winners of 31 of their last 33 games. We have not seen this stretch of success since the Michael Jordan-led Bulls won an NBA-record 72 games in 1996 and then came back with a 69-win season in 1997.
But the coaches failed to see the significance of the Hawks’ season under second-year coach Mike Budenholzer and picked only three: Al Horford, Paul Millsap and Jeff Teague. In our view, Kyle Korver also merited a berth, probably over Miami’s perennial All-Star, Dwyane Wade. Wade won’t be able to play for the East due to a hamstring injury that will keep him sidelined for most of February. It was a mistake to reward the Heat, 20-25 overall and 8-14 at home, with two spots, with Chris Bosh joining Wade. But you can see the coaches’ thinking: Wade and Bosh are marquee players, having teamed with LeBron James to make up the Big Three the last four seasons. So Wade made his 11th straight All-Star Game and Bosh is going for the 10th straight season.
The last team to have four stars picked by the coaches was Boston in 2011, when Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo made the East’s team. Of course, the Celtics were coming off their second finals appearance in three seasons and their Big Three was responsible for winning the 2008 title. In the case of Garnett, Pierce and Allen, those were all household names. Unfortunately for the Hawks, their quartet is made up of lesser lights and the coaches simply didn’t do them justice.
That’s something for the Hawks to remember and use for motivation when they resume play and meet up with those coaches after All-Star weekend. Maybe then the coaches will see the error of their ways.
Longtime New York columnist Mitch Lawrence continues to write about pro basketball, as he’s done for the last 22 years. His columns for NBCNewYork.com on the Knicks, Brooklyn Nets and the NBA, along with other major sports, will appear twice weekly. Follow him on Twitter @Mitch _ Lawrence
