The Minnesota Timberwolves are pegged as a team that could surprise this season, and that's mostly due to the play of Kevin Love, who was recently added to the preliminary roster for Team USA for the 2012 Olympics. His level of play has been outstanding this season. However, that's not looking like it will translate to a trip to the 2012 NBA All-Star Game, unfortunately. The first ballot returns came in, and Love only received 143,814 votes, which is fifth place for forwards in the western conference. That's tenth overall when considering both conferences.
↵Still, it's not exactly a "snub" given the level of play from the guys above him, like Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, Blake Griffin and Pau Gasol in the Western Conference. You could still argue that Love has been better than two or three of the four there, either way. Ricky Rubio received 133,520 votes for the Timberwolves and is third in the western conference in voting for guards. There's a full list of the first-returned ballots here.
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