NBA All-Star Rosters 2015: Twitter Reacts to Reserves for East vs. West
On Thursday night, the reserves for the 2015 NBA All-Star Game were announced on TNT's Inside the NBA.
NBA on TNT revealed the 14 who will fill out the benches:
The Eastern Conference-leading Atlanta Hawks wound up getting three All-Star reserves: Paul Millsap, Jeff Teague and Al Horford. According to ESPN Stats & Info, the Hawks went 35 years without sending in three All-Stars:
The notable exception is Kyle Korver, whom Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times and Basketball Insiders feels might be the only snub in the East:
The Boston Globe's Gary Washburn questioned whether Korver will ever be as deserving of an All-Star place:
Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski added that Korver might not be completely out of it, depending on Dwyane Wade's health:
Quite a bit of discussion hinged on Kevin Durant's All-Star candidacy. Although he remains one of the best players in the league, he's appeared in fewer than half of the Oklahoma City Thunder's games this year. Would Durant in effect be punished for his injury problems?
In the end, the 2013-14 Most Valuable Player made the West reserves and will be joined by his Thunder teammate Russell Westbrook.
TNT's Charles Barkley was one of the more vocal critics behind the decision to include Durant, via Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman:
The Associated Press' Brian Mahoney also wondered whether Durant had built a stronger case than a few of the biggest stars excluded from the All-Star Game:
One of the bigger snubs on the West team is Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins. Although the Kings have fallen well out of the playoff hunt and Cousins missed games earlier in the season, many felt that his 23.8 points and 12.3 rebounds a game would be enough to get him there.
Instead, Cousins was on the outside looking in.
Sports Illustrated's Chris Ballard feels that the 24-year-old's All-Star campaign was indirectly harmed when the Kings fired Mike Malone and hired Tyrone Corbin:
Sam Amick of USA Today also wondered if LaMarcus Aldridge, who postponed thumb surgery in order to keep playing, might have also unintentionally derailed Cousins' All-Star bid:
ESPN.com's Marc Stein explained another factor that could've been in play:
Damian Lillard was another notable snub. The Portland Trail Blazers point guard is having a career season, while the Blazers are currently the third seed in the Western Conference. NBA.com's John Schuhmann added that Lillard has nearly played as many minutes as Durant and Westbrook combined:
Lillard and Cousins still have an opportunity to make the All-Star team. NBA commissioner Adam Silver will select a replacement for the injured Kobe Bryant.
ESPN.com's Kevin Pelton believes that Lillard should get the call ahead of Cousins or anybody else:
There's little doubt that plenty of NBA fans will endlessly debate the merits of Cousins and Lillard and whether they deserved to get in ahead of either player.
At the very least, the players heading to New York City for the All-Star Game should put on a great show.
