Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
All-NBA vote snub is team’s first since ’08
MIAMI — In assessing the state of his roster at season’s end, Miami Heat President Pat Riley said, “I’m going to tell you one thing about our team that we do have a problem with — we have a logjam. We have too many good-to-great players. We have too many.”
Or, as Thursday’s media vote for the All-NBA teams countered, perhaps not nearly as many as the franchise perceives.
The fact that the Heat remain without an All-NBA selection since LeBron James’ departure in 2014 hardly was a surprising result of the latest such polling. But of the 33 players who received at least one vote, none was from the Heat, with the 100-member panel who each selected 15 players for the three total teams.
It is the first time that the Heat did not get a single AllNBA vote since 2008, when the team careened to a 15-67 finish.
Heat center Hassan Whiteside last season finished with 16 points in the weighted voting, 22nd among the players receiving votes, ahead of such talents as Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson and Damian Lillard.
As it is, the only player on the current roster who has been an All-NBA selection remains point guard Goran Dragic, who was named to the third team in 2014 while a member of the Phoenix Suns, in the season before he was dealt to the Heat.
Otherwise, the last AllNBA member of the Heat was James, in 2014, when he was named to the first team just weeks before he returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers in free agency.
Named first-team AllNBA Thursday, in the balloting that concluded before the start of the playoffs, were: the Cleveland Cavaliers’ James, Houston Rockets guard James Harden, New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis, the Portland Trail Blazers’ Lillard and Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant.
Named second-team AllNBA Thursday were: Milwaukee Bucks guard Giannis Antetokounmpo, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid, San Antonio Spurs forward LaMarcus Aldridge and Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan.
Named third-team AllNBA Thursday were: Warriors guard Stephen Curry, Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo, Minnesota Timberwolves center KarlAnthony Towns, Timberwolves forward Jimmy Butler and Thunder forward Paul George.
While Whiteside was bypassed, several centers received votes beyond those who made one of the AllNBA teams, including Rudy Gobert, Nikola Jokic, Andre Drummond, Clint Capela, Steven Adams, DeMarcus Cousins and Dwight Howard.
Thursday’s announcement concluded the release of the league’s annual award teams, with Heat center Bam Adebayo one vote shy of making All-Rookie second team on Tuesday and Heat forward Josh Richardson finishing among others who received votes for the two All-Defensive teams named Wednesday.
The winners of the league’s individual award will be named June 25, with no members of the Heat among those finalists.