There were selections, and then there were snubs.
Coaches around the league made their decisions on who is worthy of being an All-Star reserve this season, and as it occurs every season, players worthy of an All-Star berth were left off the roster.
The verdict on Stephen Curry from the Western Conference and Brook Lopez from the Eastern Conference – by far – were the biggest surprises, given the overall impact and success each player has brought for their respective teams.
Every season, there are a handful of players scratching their heads, wondering how the whole process works. It is widely believed that coaches reward the players that are on winning teams. Yet, Kyrie Irving and Jrue Holiday made the squad from the East – despite playing for terrible teams – over the likes of Josh Smith and Joe Johnson, who are critical pieces to playoff-bound teams. LaMarcus Aldridge and James Harden – both on mediocre teams – also made the squad. The reasons for why a coach decides on certain players appears to vary greatly, given the results.
Here’s a thought: why doesn’t the NBA simply expand the roster size from 12 to 15? The collective bargaining agreement changed the NBA roster size to 13, and the official number of players allowed on an NBA roster is 15, so why is the number of All-Star players still stuck on 12? The most probable reason could be that not everyone suiting up may get a chance to play, but for many players, it’s more about the actual recognition of becoming an All-Star than whether they get to show off some of their skills in a mostly meaningless contest. Every season, players and coaches around the league are unhappy over who is left off the roster. An increase in All-Star roster size would certainly remedy this issue. Mostly.
In any case, NBA players around the league reacted – some much more strongly than others – when the reserves were announced. See Joakim Noah thank the world for his first selection, Mark Jackson’s rant about the Curry snub and much more below:
An alternative to the 15 man roster, is to have the Commissioner choose 1 or 2 players in each conference, himself, days before the All Star Game. The Commissioner normally decides anyway, when there are injuries.
By choosing shortly before the ASG he can best pick the most snubbed and deserving players who had been left off.
Quotes of the night: Billy King on Lopez (and Joe Johnson) not being selected:
@bkdefend:
“I’m speechless”
Avery Johnson Jr., who has a right to be very upset with the Nets on the firing of his father:
Avery Johnson Jr. @itsaveryjohnson
I agree with what Charles Barkley said. But Brook Lopez is An all-star. That’s it
And BTW, contrary to what Charles Barkley said, Deron Williams had nothing to do with Avery being fired, other than playing poorly in the month of December. He never even spoke with the Front Office and didn’t want Avery to be fired. He likes Avery.
By far the biggest Snub was Brook Lopez. At least the Warriors had 1 All Star selection in David Lee. Nets had the best record 0.614 not to have an All Star. Brook had never been named to AS game and the coaches are supposed to favor new talent rather than go with old names like Chris Bosh.
Josh Smith didn’t deserve to make AS game over his terrible team play, especially in recent days.
Brook Lopez was the most consistent and most important player for the Nets and most don’t know it, but he only played 30 mpg to accumulate his fantastic (per 36 numbers).
Charles Barkley was 100% correct that the reason for the Nets snubs (Lopez and Joe Johnson-had 3 game winners), was because the coaches wanted to punish the Nets for firing Avery Johnson.
Soon Lopez will be traded for Dwight Howard, in a straight deal, via Kevin Love. Does Minny think Brook is an All Star – You Bet they do.
Lopez is the BEST Center in the NBA right now, with Howard “dogging it”, trying to get out of LA in the worst way.