Add to this more unusual and unpredictable NBA season another bizarre wrinkle: an NBA All-Star game, a game that players themselves don’t like to play, which also seems particularly difficult to properly assess in some important cases when we choose those who will to Atlanta.
For members of the media who were offered the All-Star Game starter vote – including me – 10 names just weren’t enough to feel like all worthy players were on their ballot. The process seemed like a preview of the NBA Awards vote at the end of the season, when the painful process of properly separating the All-NBA First Team game stars for the second and third – plus MVP, DPOY, ROY and other awards – – it often seems like a dead end situation.
This time, my All-Star Game ballot, which allowed two defensive players and three attack players per conference, looked like this:
Eastern Conference: Bradley Beal, Trae Young, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid.
Western Conference: Steph Curry, Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Nikola Jokic, Kawhi Leonard.
This makes my ballot exactly the same as the actual NBA holders, minus one player and one tiebreaker: I had Young over Kyrie Irving and I had Doncic in front of Damian Lillard, the two tied in the media / three-tier player / vote of fans. Lillard, who did better in the media and in voting for the players, lost on the tie because Doncic secured more votes from fans.
I get attracted to those who thought Lillard deserved the initial nod about Doncic. And again, leaving some of those players off those lists seems wrong. There are too many deserving stars in the NBA today to fit a rating system from 1 to 10.
And yes, Lillard’s team in Portland continues to shine largely because of their individual stardom, and Doncic’s Mavs were unsuccessful. But this is not an MVP award, and the distinction is important. It’s about individual stardom – singular excellence – and for me, Luka has barely put herself ahead of Dame.
Lillard’s 29.8 / 4.4 / 7.7 is predictably a great season. But Doncic, despite his team’s difficulties, presented a LeBron 29.1 / 8.6 / 9.4 this season. And just watching him play – the visual test of greatness, even when compared to incredible players like Damian Lillard – makes it clear to me that no All-Star game is complete without Doncic in the front and center.
Then there is the selection of Kyrie Irving. For me, it’s that simple: I think Trae Young is a better player than Kyrie Irving. If you can be partial to a particular star, the opposite can also be true. I think Irving distracts a teammate as much as it is dangerous, both exaggeration and heroic.
Yes, he is extremely talented. Yes, he is incredible. Yes, he is an All-Star. But many players too, including Young.
There is also this uncomfortable warning to vote, which you cannot and should not apply when voting for MVP, but which plays a role in an All-Star game: Some hybrid of star power and friendliness – with pieces of what you want a star to be played in good measure. A celebration of the game (ASG) is slightly different from a cold assessment of a player’s individual greatness (MVP, All-NBA teams). And here, Kyrie falls short.
He has been less than a reliable teammate. Sure, he can call on members of the NBA media as much as he wants, but in a closed case, I’m not sure if it does him any favors when some of those members can vote for the All-Star Game. Did I leave you out of my vote because of that comment? No. Did that comment remind me of your role as a teammate and the lackluster way he used his power as a star? That he forced his departure from a champion Cleveland team, was less than a great leader in Boston and continued that way early in Brooklyn? Yes, and it gave me a break.
Furthermore, it is the All-Star game, not the “Some-Times-A-Star-When-I-Me-Like-Playing” game.
And while Irving’s 27.7 / 4.7 / 5.6 and 42.7% 3-point shootings and 52.9% field shots represent another great season, I think Young was the best player. It’s not just your 26.5 / 3.8 / 9.3, it’s the fact that your effort to try to pull the Hawks into the playoffs or your play-in series doesn’t come with the help of Kevin Durant and James Harden.
Speaking of which, I had Harden at the top of my list of Eastern Conference guards. He would have gotten the nod before Irving had there been more space. Zach LaVine also got a good look.
The others have no brains. LeBron, Embiid and Jokic have real cases of MVP so far this season. Beal and Steph are playing brilliant basketball. Giannis and Kawhi forces of nature for their respective teams.
All of this leaves us, the players’ understandable frustration with the game itself, with exactly what the All-Star Game is about: a focus of vision – contempt and all – in the hoops, the association and a harvest of players worthy of celebration and debate.