The other day, another offense by Charles Barkley directed at Steph Curry and the warriors.
Moments after Curry was nominated for his seventh NBA All-Star game on Thursday, Barkley defended the two guards who should have been selected as Western Conference holders at the expense of the Warriors star and Dallas Mavericks phenomenon, Luka Doncic.
“There is no right or wrong answer, but I thought [Damian] Lillard and Donovan Mitchell, for me, (should have been All-Star starters), “said Barkley on TNT’s pre-match program before the Toronto Raptors faced the Milwaukee Bucks.” When you have the best basketball record, it says a lot. They have these stupid arguments about who gets MVP every year. The MVP was never for the best player. It always depended on who was the best player on the best team. Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal should have won three or four, but the other players played better that season.
“Donovan Mitchell should be rewarded, in my opinion. Without disrespect to anyone. But this kid has been the best player on the NBA’s best team and it’s a shame that he’s not starting.”
There is no way to disagree with Barkley about the fact that Lillard and Mitchell are having incredible seasons and their respective teams, Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz, are playing better than Warriors and Mavericks at the moment. Utah has the best overall record (24-5) in the NBA as of Thursday. Portland has won six consecutive games and is fourth in the West, with an 18-10 record.
The Warriors (16-13) are three games over 0.500 for the first time this season, and the Mavericks underperformed, to the sound of a 13-15 record, good for 10th place in the West.
But the All-Star Game is not a reward for the team’s success. It’s about who the fans want to see and the players who are having the best stats for the seasons.
So Curry is one of the most popular NBA players at the moment and his numbers are better than those of Lillard, Mitchell and Doncic. In fact, there are few players, if any, showing better numbers than Curry this year.
Comparing Curry, Doncic, Lillard and Mitchell this season, the two-time NBA MVP is leading the four players in percentage of shots, percentage of 3 points, percentage of effective shots, percentage of free throws, steals per game and points per game .
Among the four players, Curry is behind Doncic in rebounds per game and is third behind Doncic and Lillard in assists per game.
Statistically speaking, Curry is having the best season of the four Western Conference guards. He averages 30.0 points at 49.2 percent field shooting and 42.5 percent 3-point shooting.
However, more than statistics, the biggest determinant to starting the All-Star Game is the fan vote (50 percent of the formula), and Curry defeated all the other Western guards, ending with 5,481,033 votes. Doncic finished in a distant second place with 3,335,042 votes.
Curry also finished first in the vote between players and members of the media, each component accounting for 25% of the final results.
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So while Barkley may want to reward Lillard and Mitchell for the team’s success, fans, players and the media disagree with him.
Curry was legitimately chosen as the holder of the All-Star Game for the seventh time in his career.
Sorry, Chuck, but you’re on the wrong side of that argument again.
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