Our favorite time of the year has arrived: ALL-STAR VOTING.
Since Doc Rivers‘ arrival last summer, All-Star voting has become some sort of a spectacle for the Clippers. Last season, Rivers mentioned DeAndre Jordan multiple times as a should-be candidate for the All-Star team, even lobbying for the center in late December to other Western Conference head coaches.
“I got a great response,” Rivers said, “but that’s why you go under a curtain and you vote for real because [they say], ‘Yeah, I’m going to vote for him’ and then they [pull] that other lever.”
The idea of DeAndre Jordan being an All-Star is … an interesting one. This isn’t to discredit Jordan’s improvements from his final season under former Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro to now, but the coddling must stop: Jordan isn’t an All-Star, an ideology that applied last year and this current one.
It’s almost a given Jordan won’t be named as an All-Star starter: he lacks the nation-wide appeal to garner the amount of votes needed. And as a reserve, even if Jordan was worthy of a selection (and I personally don’t believe he is), there’s just no room for him on the team.
Including the starters, the 2014 Western Conference All-Star team consisted of six bigs: Dirk Nowitzki (DAL), Blake Griffin (LAC), LaMarcus Aldridge (POR), Kevin Love (CLE), Dwight Howard (HOU), and Anthony Davis (NOP). Kevin Love is now a Cleveland Cavaliers and will likely appear as an All-Star in the East. Because of injury, Dwight Howard may be excluded from the group. That leaves three candidates: Nowitzki, Griffin, and Aldridge.
Unless something crazy happens, Jordan’s teammate in Blake Griffin will return to the All-Star game. The same applies to Anthony Davis who has arguably been the best player in the league through 1/4 of the season. LaMarcus Aldridge also looks to be in the position to return, as well as Marc Gasol who’s been the force behind the 17-4 Memphis Grizzlies. That’s four of the six spots filled.
Another name who’ll draw attention from head coaches is Kings center DeMarcus Cousins — if his pre-injury play returns post-injury, he’ll easily have a claim for a spot. That’s five out of six spots available, and six of six if you believe Howard can also return from injury in All-Star form.
If he’s feeling it, Tim Duncan could (and should be) worthy of a spot, the same going for Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki. If Jordan is seen as All-Star worthy because of his ability to carry a team defensively , then superior defenders in Robin Lopez (POR), Andrew Bogut (GSW), and Serge Ibaka (OKC) are worthy of a spot.
That’s 11 players who deserve an All-Star spot over Jordan if you’ve lost count.
In the Eastern Conference, maybe there’s a case to be made for DAJ, but in the West, there’s far too much depth in the front court for Jordan to sniff a spot on the All-Star team barring injury to a platoon of people.
There’s a fine line between praising Jordan for his growths and overhyping that exact growth, placing him in a category with players who’s talent (and production) level he’s yet to reach. That’s what Doc Rivers does in an over-barring manner that could possibly cost the team flexibility for the immediate future this summer when Jordan’s contract is up and he’s looking to fetch a max deal.
But let’s be realistic.
Maybe next year.