South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
All-Stars ’n’ gripes
Heat may not land representative on Eastern roster, but they probably don’t deserve to have one anyway
NEW YORK — The fans, players and media have spoken. For the most part, they got it right.
So as the second step of the All-Star process begins, we’ll step in just as coaches are doing over this next week to select the seven All-Star reserves in each conference.
The rules going forward are that at least two backcourt players and three frontcourt players must be added to the mix in each conference, with two additional selections allowed regardless of position, wild-card selections, if you will. Coaches vote for reserves only in their own conference, not allowed to vote for players from their team. Eastern Conference starters: Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard, Joel Embiid.
Analysis: Don’t see much room to argue, other than perhaps making a case for Ben Simmons or Bradley Beal over Walker. But not an overwhelming case. Eastern Conference reserves: This is where a peeve comes into play. Even though Victor Oladipo is out for the season because of his knee injury, that shouldn’t mean not getting All-Star acknowledgement.
So for the two mandatory East backcourt reserve spots, the choices here would be Beal and Oladipo.
For the three mandatory frontcourt spots, the choices would be Blake Griffin, Nikola Vucevic and Pascal Siakam.
As for the wild-card spots, Ben Simmons and D’Angelo Russell would round out the reserves.
Analysis: Because Oladipo won’t be able to participate, it’ll afford the opportunity to slide in Eric Bledsoe as an injury replacement.
The toughest omission then would be Kyle Lowry, but it is difficult justifying three All-Stars for the Raptors with just one from the Celtics and one from the Pacers — a player in Oladipo who won’t even be able to participate.
Other difficult omissions are Al Horford, Khris Middleton, Jimmy Butler and John Collins, as well as not having Dwyane Wade in the mix during his final season.
But it also is important to sometimes look beyond the obvious, recognize what Siakam has done amid the injury absences of Leonard and Lowry with the Raptors, as well as how Russell has helped elevate the Nets into a legitimate playoff-berth contender.
When it comes to those two, it will be interesting to see if Eastern Conference coaches value such efforts.
No matter the permutation, there does not appear to be much of a path for Wade other than Commissioner Adam Silver stepping in when it comes to injury replacements. Western Conference starters: James Harden, Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Paul George, Kevin Durant.
Analysis: What a time to be a frontcourt player in the Western Conference, when MVP candidates such as Anthony Davis and Nikolas Jokic can’t make the cut in the starting front court.
Western Conference reserves: As with Oladipo in the East, the hope here is that Western Conference coaches do the right thing and award a spot to Davis, even though he is sidelined with his finger injury.
For the mandatory two Western Conference backcourt spots, the selections here would be Damian Lillard and Russell Westbrook.
For the three mandatory frontcourt spots, the choices would be Davis, Jokic and Rudy Gobert. As for the wild-card spots in the West, the vote here would be for Jrue Holiday and Klay Thompson.
Analysis: Yes, Westbrook has struggled with his shot and his scoring, but he still is an undeniable triple-double force of nature. As for Lillard, it is almost unfair how his greatness continues to be overshadowed.
In the West frontcourt, Gobert’s defense, rebounding and screen setting has transcended mere points.
The toughest West omissions are Tobias Harris, LaMarcus Aldridge, Luka Doncic, De’Aaron Fox and DeMar DeRozan.
Final thought: If the game is going to be played with rosters drafted regardless of conference by the leading vote getters, then the next step should be eliminating conferences at any level of the voting. Put in the 24 best players and go from there, in an event that no longer has East and West delineations, anyway.