Dirk?
Apparently, the Western Conference coaches chose this year’s All-Star reserves based upon last year’s accomplishments.
The 14 All-Star reserves were announced tonight on TNT, and there were a couple of surprises.
None was bigger than the selection of Nowitzki, who is averaging the lowest numbers since his sophomore season. His points per game (17.6) are down 5.4 from last season, his field-goal percentage has dropped from.517 to .461, and whose 3-point percentage has nosedived from .393 to .211. He even acknowledged recently that he was not having an All-Star caliber season.
“That’s a joke,” Charles Barley said on TNT’s telecast before inacurately opining that the league’s general managers don’t know what they’re doing. Barkley was quickly corrected and was told the coaches, not the GMs, make the picks.
“Should not have made they All-Star team. Him and Steve Nash, pure and simple,” Barkley said later in the program.
Monta Ellis, sixth in the NBA in scoring at 22.6 points per game, and Paul Millsap, averaging 16.5 points and 9.7 rebounds for the Utah Jazz, also were noteworthy for their absences. Same for Rudy Gay of Memphis and Kyle Lowry of the Houston Rockets, whose 7.9 assists per game are the sixth-most in the league. All are having better seasons than Nowitzki.
And that is merely the West, where no-brainers LaMarcus Aldridge and Kevin Love are the backup power forwards, Marc Gasol is the backup center and Tony Parker, Russell Westbrook and Steve Nash are the guards.
The snub-meter in the East is even more off-the-charts.
Here’s a list of names: Anderson Varejao, Ray Allen, Brandon Jennings, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Garnett, Kyrie Irving, Josh Smith, Danny Granger.
None made the All-Star team.
Varejao is fourth in the league in rebounding, the energetic heart and soul of a Cleveland Cavaliers team that is in playoff contention less than a year after losing an NBA-record 26 consecutive games.
Allen is shooting .526 from 3-point range while taking almost 5 of them per game, putting him on pace to threaten the NBA record of .536 set by Kyle Korver when he was with Utah in 2009-10.
Allen’s teammate, two-time All-Star Rajon Rondo, didn’t make the cut either — perhaps a product of him sitting out one-third of the Celtics’ games. (Although Deng has missed seven for the Bulls).
“I would have liked to see my man Rondo in there. He’s the best point guard in the game,” Shaquille O’Neal said on TNT.
But Brandon Jennings is another matter, having carried the Milwaukee Bucks offensively while raising his scoring average from 16.2 to 18.9 while at the same time increasing his shooting percentage from .390 last season (and .371 in his rookie season) to .426.
“Just gonna work even harder now,” Jennings tweeted.
All those backcourt players lost out to Joe Johnson of the Hawks and Deron Williams of the Nets, who join Chris Bosh, Luol Deng, Roy Hibbert, Andre Iguodala and Paul Pierce as the East’s reserves.
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Forgot Ryan Anderson…. 16.5 and 7 on 43 percent shooting, 43 percent from 3, and a 23.03 PER……
Should’ve been:
Millsap over Dirk
Could make a case for:
Smith over Deng
Rondo over Deron
Allen over Johnson
Otherwise I don’t see how you can quibble with these selections.
This is the first year where I haven’t been pissed about anyone on the team. So that’s a start. Gone are the days of Tracy McGrady being voted in when he’s been hurt all season.
As a Bulls fan I’m happy for Deng, but he isn’t having a better season that half the guys Sheridan lists. Igoudala and Granger are kind of the glue to a balanced Philly and Indy attack. Jennings has been huge for the Bucks, who are currently a playoff team. Varejo and Kyrie have been great, but Cleveland only gets 1 guy. No thank you though on Garnett or Allen.
It would be nice to see some new blood. I don’t particularly think Pierce. Deron, or Joe Johnson should be in this game. Of the three Pierce probably is the most deserving. Deron is a great player, but doesn’t seem to effect winning as much as one would think- which may not be fair given he’s playing on a Dleague team. Of the Snubs Irving is having the most impact on his team.
I suppose Josh Smith is deserving, but he’s such a bone head I think the coaches have a hard time getting past that.
So your argument for Ray Allen is that he’s threatening to break a 2 year old shooting % record 24 games into the season? Would love, LOVE to hear why exactly Nash shouldn’t be playing. Because he’s leading the league in assists instead of being 6th like Lowry?
So you’re argument for Ray Allen is that he’s threatening to break a 2 year old shooting % record 24 games into the season? Would love, LOVE to hear why exactly Nash shouldn’t be playing. Because he’s leading the league in assists instead of being 6th like Lowry?
I agree with this except Dirk definitely shouldn’t have made it. Everybody else you can make a case for, so there’s no point arguing over semantics.
Good job coaches (and fans), this all star game has a lot of talent.
How many people do you want on the All-Star team? Nowitzki is really the only name you mention for not deserving. Who else is undeserving that made it?????