#allnbateam

The All-NBA first, second, and third teams were all named recently. The selections went as follows:

1st Team Kevin Durant LeBron James Joakim Noah Chris Paul James Harden 2nd Team Stephen Curry Blake Griffin Kevin Love Dwight Howard Tony Parker 3rd Team Al Jefferson Paul George LaMarcus Aldridge Goran Dragic Damian Lillard 

This is a list of very good players but there are certainly some egregious omissions. It is difficult to say that an individual doesn’t deserve to make the list because you never want to take away from a player’s accomplishments, especially when they’ve made great strides in a specific season. That hesitant feeling somewhat goes away when you start to ask yourself, what exactly is the criteria for making the teams. Whether it is based on statistics, impact on the game, team success, or an amalgam of the three is incredibly unclear. There are holes in the logic no matter how you view it and the inclusion of certain players on list embodies that fact. One can only deduce that it is perception that becomes the deciding factor.

Kevin Love is without a doubt one of the best players in the NBA and deserves to be on the list. In fact, he made the second team in 2012 as well and only missed it in 2013 because he was injured virtually the entire year, only playing 18 games. The word superstar is thrown around all the time without hesitation when discussion Kevin Love but there is one big problem in our celebration of this player. He hasn’t made the NBA playoffs a single year he’s been in the league. Carmelo Anthony was one of the biggest snubs this year and reasoning for that is certainly because his team had a losing record and they missed the playoffs. This is the first time Carmelo’s team missed the playoffs in his entire 11 year career. He had a phenomenal year none the less, and even put up historic numbers with his 62 point game against the Charlotte Bobcats this season. He finished second in the league in scoring and had career highs in blocks, rebounds, and 3 point percentage. Despite his great career, his superstardom is always in question. When analysts discuss his stardom they always call him “a great offensive player”, instead of simply “a great player”. The reasoning for this is far from legit. His defense has always been looked at as a weakness in his game and it is a negative stigma that has stuck with him in more recent times even though he is no longer a poor defender. Virtually every defensive stat shows that he is a much improved defender and his team is better defensively when he is on the floor. At the very least, he is an average defender now, and it is no longer a deficiency in his game. But perception is greater than reality and because of this, Kevin Love, Al Jefferson, Paul George, are all named on the team ahead of Carmelo Anthony.

With the example of Carmelo Anthony alone, we eliminate the idea that statistics, impacts on the game, team success are the reasons players makes the team. Maybe he’s an aberration though. Maybe this is just one little hole in the picking process. That would be the case if it wasn’t for a player named Russell Westbrook. Russell’s team made it deeper into the playoffs than any other guard on the list other than Tony Parker, who is now in the finals. Something that should be noted is that Russell went through Chris Paul and the Los Angeles Clippers to get to the Western Conference Finals. So that completely eliminates the category of team success. Russell Westbrook’s 21.78 ppg, 5.72 rebs, 6.93 asts, 1.91 stls, and 24.12 PER completely eclipse the numbers of every other guard on the All-NBA teams. Only Chris Paul has higher assist, steals, and player efficiency rating. So that eliminates the criteria of statistics. Lastly, Westbrook is considered the most athletic point guard in the NBA. He is the heart of the Oklahoma City Thunder and he seemed to be the most important player on the Thunder on numerous occasions. There were many games that he had a bigger impact on the game and seemed to be even more important to the team than current league MVP, Kevin Durant. That eliminates the game impact criteria. There is absolutely no reason that Russell Westbrook was left off of the All-NBA teams. It’s ridiculous, to say the least. But Russell is looked at as an out of control player and a volatile player at times and like Carmelo Anthony, the negative stigma seems to hold people back from recognizing their transcendent talent. It is unjust to see them not get the recognition they deserve.

The only thing left is to once again look at the perception aspect of the decision making process. Goran Dragic was this year’s Most Improved Player. He led a Phoenix Suns team to an unexpected 48-34 record, just missing the playoffs. He had a great year and his stock is rising. Damian Lillard was the rookie of the year last year and his team missed the playoffs. This year he was an All Star and his team upset the Houston Rockets to advance to the next round. Again, he had a very good year and has a rising stock. Perception of these players and a few others, like the overrated Paul George (a whole other story), is greatly inflated and thus skewed in an unreasonable direction. In actuality, this list of All-NBA team worthy players is far from accurate if it is supposed to be a representation of the absolute best players in the league.