Apparently being on pace to be the first NBA player since Moses Malone to average 20 points and 15 rebounds per game isn't good enough to get you on an NBA All-Star team.
SB Nation has gotten a hold of the list of reserves for the 2011 NBA All-Star game, and the name of Kevin Love of the Minnesota Timberwolves is nowhere to be found on it. We have exclusive video of Love's reaction when the announcement was made.
The starters for the All-Star game were named a few days ago. The Western Conference starters are Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets, Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets, Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets. Yao will miss the game after having season-ending surgery, so there is a spot open on the Western Conference team, but the fact that Kevin Love would have to wait that long to be named an All-Star is nothing short of ludicrous.
The four reserve forwards that were named to the team are Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers, Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs, Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks, and Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers. Here's how those players stack up against Kevin Love.
Love - 21.4 points/game, 15.5 rebounds/game
Duncan - 13.6 ppg, 9.4 rpg
Gasol - 18.4 ppg, 10.6 rpg
Griffin - 23 ppg, 12.7 rpg
Nowitzki - 23.2 ppg, 6.9 rpg
Tim Duncan is on the All-Star team right now because a) his team has the best record in the NBA, and b) the name on the back of the jersey says "Duncan," and some of the league's coaches apparently haven't been told that it isn't 2002 any more. The last time I checked, being an All-Star is an individual honor, not a team honor, and there isn't a single one of the four players that was named to the team ahead of Kevin Love today that's playing better than he is right now.
Let me repeat what I said to kick off this piece. . .Moses Malone averaged 24.5 points/game and 15.3 rebounds a game for the Philadelphia 76ers during the 1982-83 season. Not one single NBA player has averaged 20 and 15 since then, and because he plays for the team with the second-worst record in the NBA, Kevin Love isn't an All-Star despite averaging those numbers. But yeah, let's make sure that Tim freaking Duncan gets his annual All-Star appearance, whether he deserves it or not.
There's no excuse for this. Kevin Love got jobbed. Kevin Love got hosed. Kevin Love got screwed. There's a small chance that he could still make the team. . .and if it weren't for an injury to Yao Ming, he would have no chance to make the team. This snub is nothing short of completely, totally, and absolutely ridiculous. The NBA and the coaches in the Western Conference that voted on these reserves should be ashamed of themselves.