South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
All-Star voting process does not make very much sense
The Heat’s Jimmy Butler (left) and Bam Adebayo might as well start packing for Chicago and the NBA All-Star Game.
MIAMI — You start here: Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo are going to the All-Star Game, so there is no need, or perhaps even reason, for Miami Heat outrage.
What wasn’t accomplished through the combined voting of fans, players and media for starters will be rectified when coaches submit their ballots for the seven reserves in each conference.
So exhale because you can’t make any logical argument that there are seven remaining Eastern Conference players, beyond the five named starters, who are more deserving.
But that doesn’t mean there has been much in the way of logic to this point.
Foremost, why delineate players between backcourt and frontcourt when the NBA has become so position-less.
If the opposition’s best wing is a shooting guard, for example, then Butler defends the opposition’s guard. If the opposition’s best wing is a small forward, then Butler defends the opposition’s forward.
But there he was, limited to frontcourt votes by the NBA during the balloting for starters, when a far clearer path to a starting role would have been at guard, with all due respect to Kemba Walker and Trae Young — an easier combination to crack than East frontcourt selections Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel
Embiid and Pascal Siakam.
And even then, keep in mind that the first 10 players to be drafted for the All-Star teams by Antetokounmpo and LeBron James will be the starters — without positional delineation.
In other words, as starters themselves, it is possible for Antetokounmpo or James to field a first five of nothing but frontcourt players.
“I just think it’s ridiculous that we’re still in these antiquated positions,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “So who’s to say what position Jimmy is? Does it matter if I put him [at] No. 2 on my card?
“In many ways, he’s our point guard. So should he be in the All-Star Game as a point guard? These are such antiquated labels. I feel like we’ve moved on from that years ago, when we started talking about [being] position-less.
“But either way, regardless of how you want to label it or discuss it, Jimmy Butler should be a starter at this All-Star Game. It’s a joke that he’s not. Hopefully this will change things in the future.”
Beyond that, because the draft of all 24 selections — including the 14 reserves selected by coaches — will be made without conference delineation, why vote for All-Stars by conference in the first place? If this is about honoring the best of the best, why not the 10 best, regardless of conference, voted in as starters, with the 24 best, overall, chosen as All-Stars?
As far as what’s next, coaches in each conference must submit ballots for seven reserves in their conference, with at least two additional backcourt players, three additional frontcourt players (again, as defined by the NBA) and two additional wild cards at any position. They’re not allowed to select players from their own teams.
Those results will be revealed Thursday.
Going with that framework, the view from here of what should follow:
Eastern Conference starters: Antetokounmpo, Embiid, Siakam, Walker, Young.
Eastern Conference reserves: Butler and Adebayo should have little to sweat here. Each is the type of two-way player that coaches insist they covet.
Of Adebayo, Spoelstra said, “He better be in by the coaches’ vote with the year that he’s having. That’s an All-Star year, by any measure.”
So that’s two of the seven remaining spots filled with frontcourt players.
The next three seemingly stand as similar locks, Ben Simmons as the constant with the 76ers, Domantas Sabonis as the fulcrum to the Pacers’ unexpected success and Khris Middleton as the next-best player on a dominant Bucks team that merits at least two All-Stars.
So that’s one backcourt (Simmons) and two frontcourt (Sabonis, Middleton), meaning the frontcourt requirement is fulfilled and at least one more guard must be added.
So fill out the roster with the Raptors’ Kyle Lowry in the backcourt and the Celtics’ Jaylen Brown as a wild card, given the slightest of edges over teammate Jayson Tatum.
That leaves apologies to Tatum, Bradley Beal, Malcolm Brogdon, Derrick Rose, Eric Bledsoe, Andre Drummond and Zach LaVine.
Western Conference starters: James, Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard, Luka Doncic, James Harden.
Western Conference reserves: A far more difficult deliberation than the East, with choices arguably missing out in the West who could make it in the East. (Again, why conference delineations?)
So for the three required frontcourt spots: the Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic, the Jazz’s Rudy Gobert and the Pelicans’ Brandon Ingram.
For the two required addition backcourt spots: the Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard and Suns’ Devin Booker.
As for the two wild cards, based on their teams’ place in the playoff race, Thunder guard Chris Paul and Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell.
That leaves as outsiders Karl-Anthony Towns, Russell Westbrook, Paul George, DeMar DeRozan and Ja Morant.
In the lane
THE HONORARY: Adam Silver made a smart move last year with the addition of the Heat’s Dwyane Wade and the Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki as commissioner’s All-Star choices, beyond the 24 selections, based on their enduring contributions to the game. While Wade had announced his retirement plans by then, Nowitzki had offered no formal word. Their participation produced a special All-Star moment. Such a move seems similarly logical this year with the Hawks’ Vince Carter, with this, at 42, likely the final such opportunity. The question then would be whether to add one such commissioner’s choice to each roster, thereby requiring another such selection. And that would be tough. Carter entered the season with 21 years of experience. Next was Pau Gasol, who since has retired, and Tyson Chandler, both with 18 years of tenure entering the season. But it should come down to more than evening the rosters — it should come down to an evening to pay tribute to Carter in Chicago. (The Heat’s Udonis Haslem is the second-oldest player in the NBA behind Carter, but it has to be about more than age.)
PLACE TO BE: South Florida for years has stood as the NBA gathering place for offseason scrimmages, be it in the Miami Pro League or games at the University of Miami and other area gyms. Now, it appears to be an in-season destination as well. This past week, while in town with the Washington Wizards, sidelined guard John Wall found a game on the court at the JW Marriott Marquis, jumping in with former Heat players Amar’e Stoudemire and Michael Beasley, according to the Washington Post. Wall is not expected to return this season as he recovers from an Achilles tear. Stoudemire recently signed to return to play in Israel, this time with famed Maccabi Tel Aviv. Stoudemire, 37, started this season in China with the Fujian Sturgeons.
UNCOMFORTABLE REUNION: If Karl-Anthony Towns is selected for the All-Star Game, and if he were to wind up on the same team as Jimmy Butler, it could make for an awkward reunion between the former Minnesota Timberwolves teammates. In discussing his team’s struggles, Towns, if not by name, seemingly injected Butler into the equation in an interview with Minneapolis’ Star-Tribune. “Whatever we have to deal with in-house, we’ll deal with in-house. But this ain’t the circus, like it used to be,” he said, with Butler having very publicly taken issue with dysfunction with the Timberwolves at the start of 2018-19 before his trade to the Philadelphia 76ers. “This is something that’s going to be done as a family. If we have a problem or anything, we’ll deal with it internally. We won’t have any external forces here adding anything.”
OVER THERE: With all eyes on Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and his potential 2021 free agency leaving the Heat as a possible landing spot, former Boston Celtics forward and current analyst Brian Scalabrine recently offered a rebuke to that take. “I don’t think Giannis is going to leave Milwaukee, but if Giannis did leave Milwaukee I would 100 percent go to Dallas over going to Miami, even though they have Pat Riley and are playing well in the Eastern Conference,” he told KRLD radio in Dallas. “Playing in Dallas with Luka [Doncic], if you’re him and you have Giannis, KP [Kristaps Porzingis], and Luka, you’re not talking about maybe winning a championship, you’re talking about winning not one, not two, not three, not four … and that kind of stuff.”
Number
Margin the Heat are outscoring the opposition in overtime periods this season, including 16-11 in Tuesday’s win over the Wizards that lifted them to 8-0 in overtime this season.
Guard Vince Carter, at 42, deserves one more shot at playing in the All-Star Game.