NBA All-Star Game 2015 Starters: Twitter Reacts to East and West Players
The starters for the 2015 NBA All-Star Game were announced on Thursday night, the results of which provided very few surprises.
NBA on TNT revealed the 10 players voted into the All-Star Game:
Stephen Curry was the leading vote-getter, which came as a bit of a shock. Most expected LeBron James to top the ballot. You can see the full results below:
Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group got some of Curry's thoughts about leading the All-Star ballot:
Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders felt that this represented a major career achievement for the Golden State Warriors point guard:
Pro Basketball Talk's Kurt Helin also felt that Curry was more than deserving of the honor:
The most questionable pick by the fans was Kobe Bryant. Almost everybody expected the Los Angeles Lakers star to be there, but it's more a reputation pick than performance-based. Bryant is averaging 22.3 points on 37.3-percent shooting, and the Lakers are one of the worst teams in the Western Conference.
NBA insider David Aldridge countered that the All-Star is mostly about the fans anyway, so in effect, the large majority getting exactly what they want:
The 36-year-old will be heading to his 17th career All-Star Game, which is the second-most appearances all time, per ESPN Stats & Info:
However, the team announced on Thursday that Bryant tore his rotator cuff. Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times wonders if that injury will end up keeping Bryant out of the All-Star Game:
All in all, the fans did a very good job of giving the game's best stars their just rewards. NBA.com's John Schuhmann felt that Bryant was the only black mark:
Bryant's inclusion came at the expense of James Harden, who would almost assuredly be Bryant's injury replacement if he can't in fact play in the game. Everything will likely work out in the end.
Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald thinks Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, whom the NBA announced will coach the West, might have a hard time overlooking Klay Thompson in place of Harden, though:
Another of the more contentious All-Star races was between Dwyane Wade and Kyle Lowry for the second guard spot in the Eastern Conference. Lowry wound up winning, and he has Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to thank for getting a big push at the beginning of the month, per Josh Lewenberg of TSN:
Kennedy also noted that Justin Bieber put out the call to his millions of Twitter followers as well:
That’s not to say that Lowry isn’t in on merit. CBSSports.com’s Matt Moore argued that the Toronto Raptors point guard built a stronger All-Star resume than Wade:
"Wade did miss time and the Raptors would be nowhere without Lowry. It’s deserved.
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) January 23, 2015"
Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun observed how Lowry's All-Star fortunes have changed quite a bit in the space of a year:
In the grand scheme of things, arguing over All-Star starters is a relatively fruitless affair.
Hardly anybody remembers how many All-Star starts has on his resume; it's never a Hall of Fame qualifier. In addition, those who may have been snubbed by the fans will almost certainly be named as a reserve.
