Who Should Have Started Over Carmelo Anthony In The All-Star Game?
By William Lee
Carmelo Anthony has officially been announced to play in his eighth NBA All-Star Game. Anthony made the starting lineup, receiving the most third votes for an Eastern Conference frontcourt player with 647,005 votes. LeBron James was the second overall leading vote getter with 1,470,483 votes, being dethroned as the most popular player in the NBA by Stephen Curry, leading the way with 1,513,324 votes. Anthony trailed Pau Gasol, who received the second most votes for an Eastern Conference frontcourt player with 974,177 votes. Anthony beat out Marcin Gortat by 77,000 votes for the starting honors.
In the midst of New York’s worst season in Franchise history, the question has to be asked, should Carmelo Anthony have received the honors of starting in the All-Star Game? With fans voting for the starters in the All-Star Games, it makes it more of a popularity contest than a merit for winning. The-All Star game should be a celebration of the best winning players, especially since the number of All-Star selections help make cases for players making the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Winning and excelling in excellence is not the Eastern Conference strong suit. The Eastern Conference is so horrible, there are only six teams over .500. To take it further there are only four teams over .600, so there are only four teams that are above mediocrity… Those four teams are the Atlanta Hawks (35-8), Washington Wizards (29-14), Toronto Raptors (27-15), and Chicago Bulls (28-16). Let’s examine if any frontcourt players from these four teams deserve to start over Carmelo Anthony.
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There is a case to be made that Atlanta should have four All Stars, with three of them being frontcourt players. Atlanta stands firmly on top of the Eastern Conference in first place with a winning percentage of .814. In a Conference full of losing, Atlanta should be rewarded, with as much as they have been winning. There is not much room for argument against Al Harford and Paul Millsap. Harford is averaging 15.1 points and 6.6 rebounds on 54% shooting. Millsap is just as impressive averaging 16.8 points and 7.9 rebounds. But you mention Kyle Korver and you might not get the same reaction, especially from casual fans. Averaging 13.1 points and 4.2 rebounds it is easy to dismiss Korver as an All-Star candidate, but what is eye popping and spectacular is that he makes 3.1 three-pointers per game on 53.5% shooting! Players wish they can shoot that kind percentage from the field in general, let alone from beyond the arc! Zach Lowe of Grantland puts it best in a fantastic well written featured article titled Kyle Korver: An Offense Unto Himself (READ THIS). The title said it all, Korver is the engine that drives the Hawk’s top seven ranked offense at 103.2 points per game.
Gortat lost out to Anthony in the popularity contest for the starting position in the All-Star game, although it is tough to make an argument for Gortat because Washington is led by their dynamic backcourt duo in John Wall and Bradley Beal. The fans recognized this, rewarding Wall as the leading vote getter for the Eastern Conference guard position with 886,368 votes, earning Wall the honors to be a starter. Also 13 players in the NBA averages a double-double, and Gortat is not one of them, currently only averaging 12.3 points and 8.2 rebounds for the season.
The same argument can be made against Jonas Valanciunas of the Toronto Raptors, whom also does not average a double-double, but more importantly is also led by his backcourt as well. In a surprising turn of events Kyle Lowry overtook Dwyane Wade for the second starting position for Eastern Conference guards with 805,290 votes. This was well deserved with Lowry leading the Raptors to the top of the Atlantic Division.
With all that said Jimmy Butler may have the strongest case to be made that Anthony stole his starting spot in the All-Star game. Butler is the most consistent player that the Chicago Bulls can count on this season. Butler helped right the ship when Derrick Rose had to be eased back from his torn meniscus, and then eased back again when there was a scare early in the season. Rose missed a quarter of the season so far. Joakim Noah also missed a quarter of the season, currently sidelined with an ankle injury.
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Despite Chicago missing the 2011 NBA Most Valuable Player in Rose, and 2014 NBA Defensive Player of the Year in Noah, the Bulls are able to maintain a .628 winning percentage, standing on top of the Central Division. This is largely due to the improvement of Butler, whom was overlooked in last year’s Most Improved Player Award. Nevertheless Butler has improved every season, scoring only 2.6 points in his rookie year, his output increased by 230%, scoring 8.6 points in his sophomore year. Then in his third season, Butler earned Tom Thibodeau’s trust, seeing his minutes increased from 26 to 38.7 per game. With the increased opportunity, Butler increased his scoring to 13.1 points per game, but his field goal suffered drastically, dropping to 39.7% shooting, as he had to carry the team offensively with the absence of Rose.
What is most impressive is that Butler this season has made the quantum leap from a good player to a great player. Butler is averaging 20.6 points, 6 rebounds, 3.3 assist and 1.8 steals per game. The 2013-2014 season could have been a blessing in disguise for Butler, who was thrusted into the primary scoring option role, and forced to improve his playmaking abilities. Now with the addition of Pau Gasol and the return of Rose, Butler can settle into his more natural role but reap all the benefits of the experience being a number one option in an offense. It certainly looks like he has with his field goal percentage jumping to 46.2% this season. Butler is even in the conversation on NBA.com’s article KIA Race to the MVP Ladder this season, how can a potential MVP candidate be denied to start the All-Star game?