Green cries foul after Thompson omission
Three Warriors make all-NBA teams: ‘How could Klay be left out?’
OAKLAND — Each season, only 15 players make up the exclusive All-NBA teams. This year, as announced on Thursday morning, the Warriors filled three of those slots — one-fifth of all that’s available.
But three wasn’t enough. They wanted four.
Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant made secondteam and Draymond Green made third-team, but Klay Thompson (while receiving votes) was left off.
“What’d we win, 67 or something like that?” Green asked. “And we handed teams 3 or 4 (should-be wins). You’re talking about a possible 70-win season. I think Klay is one of our top three guys. And to not be on an All-NBA team, I think that’s pretty crazy.”
But to put someone else on, you’ve got to take someone off, which is where it gets tricky.
Only two guards spots are available on each team. James Harden and Russell Westbrook were the firm choices as the first-team guards, Curry and Isaiah Thomas were the secondteam choices. John Wall and DeMar DeRozan, the thirdteam guards, took the final two spots ahead of Thompson.
“There plenty of guys on there, scorers averaging 20 points and don’t have nearly as many wins as we have,” Green said. “So how could (Klay) be left out? I don’t really understand it. But I guess they gotta find some way to punish us.”
Thompson averaged 22.3 points, hit 268 threes (the second most in the league behind Curry) and played sturdy perimeter defense nightly for the league’s second best defensive team, efficiency wise. He has a case, but is it really stronger than Wall’s or DeRozan’s?
Wall was the do-everything point guard for a Wizards team that exceeded expectations to win 49 games. He averaged 23.1 points and 10.7 assists. DeRozan shared the star load a bit more than Wall, but his offensive output (27.3 points per game) was vital to a 51-win Raptors team.
Maybe you could make an argument for Thompson over DeRozan. But Chris Paul, who received more votes than Thompson, and Kyrie Irving, who received the same amount of votes as Thompson, could also build cases that they were snubbed.
“So many great players, so many players had great seasons,” Durant said. “It’s kind of hard to put guys on the first, second, third team because so many guys played well this year.”
This was the seventh time in Durant’s career he’s been named to an All-NBA team, but this one (like his last) is attached to a bit of disappointment. Durant was named an All-NBA firstteam forward five straight seasons from 2010 through 2014.
But after injuries kept him off every list in 2015, Durant has returned and been relegated to a second-team forward spot the past two years because Kawhi Leonard has leapt above him both times, joining LeBron James.
“Obviously I think I’m a first-team player,” Durant said. “But it is what it is.”
This is Curry’s fourth straight year making an All-NBA team. Four seasons back, he debuted on the second-team. But the past two seasons, while destroying the league on his way to two MVPs, Curry was a consensus first-team guard. But this season, because of the historical statistical years from Harden and Westbrook, Curry fell back to the second-team.
“I don’t even know what the criteria is, but they got it right,” Durant said. “You got a player averaging a triple-double, it’s hard to keep him off.”
For Green, this is his second time as an All-NBA pick in five seasons. Of the 15 players who made it, only Green, Isaiah Thomas and DeAndre Jordan (third-team center) were not picked in the first round.
“It’s something that you grow up as a kid always dreaming and hoping that that could happen,” Green said. “It’s definitely special.”
But it wasn’t complete. The Warriors wanted all four of their All-Stars on the All-NBA team.
“Shoutout Klay and his season,” Curry said. “He definitely deserved to be on one of those teams. I know it’s obviously a tough vote every year to figure out who goes where, but that’s the guy that had an amazing season. He was very consistent all year long. So definitely deserved to be in that spot.”