The starters for this year’s NBA All-Star Game were announced this week and, as always, people were quick to disagree with the players selected. Unique this year is the fact that fans don’t shoulder all of the blame. This year the fans accounted for just 50% of the vote, while the media accounted for 25% and players accounted for 25%.
There were plenty of hot takes about what should have happened, but none more memorable than Clippers head coach Doc Rivers‘ regarding the snub of Russell Westbrook. To ESPN’s Jeff Goodman, Rivers said: “Fake news. I am just shocked that fans don’t see the same things we see.”
Also among Westbrook supporters were Sam Amick of USA Today and Kevin Garnett.
“This might be the league’s all-time history snub right here,” Garnett said on his TV show Area 21. “Seriously. He has to be on the team, bruh.”
Another guard left out of the starting lineup was Kyle Lowry and Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today made a case for him over either Kyrie Irving or DeMar DeRozan.
Lang Whitaker of NBA.com discussed the official list of starters.
There are more general headlines from around the league:
- Count Ricky Davis and Al Harrington among the retired players expected to sign on with the BIG3, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical.
- With the trade deadline a month away, Keith Smith of RealGM explored the most tradeable contracts in the NBA. Draymond Green, for example, looks to be a bargain given the under-market deal he signed in 2015.
- A report at NBA.com implies that LeBron James could play for Team USA in the 2020 Olympics. The fact that Gregg Popovich will lead the program has had a significant impact. “It factors a lot,” James said. “I’ve said that before. He’s just a great mastermind of the game of basketball.”
Seriously. How is James Harden starting over Westbrook? It’s crazy. I like that they changed the voting process, but I don’t think fans, media, or the players should have a vote, and I’ve said that for a long time. I think coaches should vote for the starters, as well as the reserves as they already do, and they shouldn’t be able to vote for their own guy, which is how it is with the reserves. I think you get a better process that way
I’d also say I’d have Isaiah Thomas and Kyle Lowry over Kyrie and Derozan. Nothing against Kyrie, but he was injured for a bit, and kyle Lowry leads all guards in the east in real plus minus and true shooting. Surprised Canada didn’t get him in as they have the last 2 years, but guess that support went to Derozan
Harden should be starting with Westbrook. Curry has no business starting over Westbrook or Harden this year.
Facts
Austin why did you not mention Isaiah Thomas? He was arguably a bigger snub than Lowry. He currently ranks 2nd in the league in scoring and leads 4th quarter scoring