BOSTON – Now that the NBA all-star roster is complete with the game’s reserves being announced Thursday, as usual there were players who came away snubbed.
There are a number of players who had strong numbers for the first half of the season, but here are the five biggest all-star snubs as well as what ultimately kept them off the roster.
5. Dirk Nowitzki, F, Dallas
Nowitzki has been instrumental to the Dallas Mavericks being one of the league’s biggest overachievers this season. While his scoring is down, his impact is still great. Still, the Western Conference is extremely deep in the frontcourt and while Nowitzki is still one of the best bigs in the NBA, he did not put together an all-star worthy body of work this season.
4. DeAndre Jordan, C, Los Angeles Clippers
Jordan has been among the game’s better centers most of this season in terms of impacting the game. But the NBA has gone the way of stretch bigs with few spots for true low-post centers. That and Jordan’s horrible free throw shooting made keeping him out of the all-star game an easy call to make.
3. Al Horford, F/C, Atlanta Hawks
He was an all-star last season in part because the parts that made the Hawks a great team, deserved to be rewarded. But this season, Horford has been solid but far from spectacular. That along with the Hawks not being nearly as dominant as they were last season, are among the reasons Horford is not an all-star this season.
2. Pau Gasol, F/C, Chicago Bulls
The 35-year-old big man is averaging a double-double of 16.6 points and 10.9 rebounds this season. I thought he should have been an all-star selection ahead of Chris Bosh who leads the Heat in scoring, but Miami has lost seven of its last 10 games.
1. Damian Lillard, G, Portland Trail Blazers
He was considered an all-star snub a year ago before being added as an all-star replacement. And this season, Lillard has been even better. Even though he has been instrumental in Portland being in the chase for the eighth and final playoff spot, it’s hard to imagine any one player chosen to be an all-star this year being left off and replaced by Lillard. All-star game or not, that shouldn’t diminish from what has been a strong first half of the season for Lillard.