Why Damian Lillard's All-Star Snub Should Have the NBA on Notice
After twice being denied an NBA All-Star roster spot, Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard has a right to be upset.
Unfortunately for the rest of the league, he's exercising that right.
Lillard wasn't one of the 24 players named to the 2014-15 All-Star teams, nor was he the player chosen by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to replace the injured Kobe Bryant. That honor went to DeMarcus Cousins, a deserving candidate in his own right, but another sign of disrespect in Lillard's mind.
He hit Instagram to share his thoughts on the snub:
The prolific point guard also held no punches while telling reporters what his exclusion meant, per Joe Freeman of The Oregonian:
"I'm definitely going to take it personal. I said I'd be pissed off about it. And I am. I just felt disrespected. Because I play the game the right way, I play unselfishly, I play for my team to win games and I produce at a high level.
I think what I bring to the game as a person, my makeup mentally, how I am toward my teammates, how I am toward the media, how I am toward fans; I think what an All-Star represents in this league, and what you would want people to look at as an All-Star, I think I make up all those things.
"
And why wouldn't he? Regardless of the credentials used to select those teams, the 24-year-old seemed to check off every applicable box.
If star power alone is needed, he has more than plenty to spare.
Last season, he became the first player in league history to participate in five different events at All-Star Weekend. He bookended his busy trip by notching 13 points, five rebounds and five assists during the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge and then pouring in nine points in less than nine minutes during the main event.
He landed a colossal endorsement deal with Adidas last April and even scored his twin brother Darius (wink) a spot on State Farm's "National Bureau of Assists" team.
These choices are made for more than name recognition, of course, but try finding the area where Lillard is lacking.
It certainly isn't his individual resume. He's averaging 21.6 points, 6.3 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.4 steals this season, all of which are improvements over the numbers he posted during last year's All-Star campaign.
Shifting the focus to advanced analytics only strengthens his case. Entering play Saturday, he had made serious strides in player efficiency rating (21.4, up from 18.6) and in defensive rating (103, down from 110) from where he stood last season.
He came into Saturday with 8.17 wins above replacement, per ESPN.com. That number trailed only MVP front-runners Stephen Curry (9.96) and James Harden (9.80).
It's hard to say that team success played a big factor in the decision when the 10th-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder had both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook make the cut. It's harder still to think that category weakened Lillard's case, with his Blazers holding a 32-16 record and sitting fourth in the Western Conference standings.
And Lillard's fingerprints are all over the team's performance.
Offensively, he's a steady hand at the point, a scoring threat from anywhere and a cold-blooded executioner in crunch time. But rather than solely rely on his gifts at that end of the floor, he has elevated his play on the opposite side, as The Oregonian's Jason Quick observed:
"What did he do in the offseason? He vowed to improve his defense, and this season, he has become markedly improved on the defensive end.
At the core, that is a selfless act, one that benefits the team more than it benefits Lillard. Better understanding how to slip over a screen and knowing how to fight through it doesn't show up on the stat sheet, but it helps a team win.
"
Those are the reasons Lillard can't understand his omission. And he's not the only one confused by the snub.
"I have a serious problem with Damian Lillard not making this team," 11-time NBA All-Star and current TNT analyst Charles Barkley said, per NBA.com's Sekou Smith.
"Lillard has been one of the 10 best players in the NBA this season," ESPN Insider Kevin Pelton wrote. "Even with the glut of Western Conference guards, it's remarkable that he wasn't named to the roster."
It would be one thing if Lillard was fuming over a spot he didn't deserve. But the numbers say he should be there, and so does everyone else who has chimed in on the subject.
"I think it’s obvious by public opinion, media opinion that everybody was surprised that he didn’t make the All-Star team," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said, per Comcast SportsNet's Jabari Young.
Barring another injury creating a roster spot, nothing will change what has happened. As Detroit Pistons guard Brandon Jennings wrote on Twitter, the only thing left for Lillard to do is prove—or keep proving, rather—his critics wrong:
"Dame just gotta let his game do the talking now. Don't need to say nothing else
— BRANDON JENNINGS (@BrandonJennings) January 30, 2015"
Frankly, it's an act that Lillard has almost perfected at this point.
The Oakland native was lightly recruited out of high school, earning a 2-star rating (out of five) from Rivals.com. He wound up at Weber State, averaging 19.9 points as a sophomore and 24.5 points as a redshirt junior. He was twice selected as the Big Sky Conference MVP and was named an All-American during his junior and final collegiate campaign.
Despite all of the accolades, he still had his critics.
"[He's] not a true point guard," NBADraft.net's Tyler Ingle wrote in 2012. "... [He] hasn't faced very strong competition."
In other words, Lillard had done a lot of things but perhaps not enough.
After being the sixth overall pick in 2012, he erupted for 19.0 points and 6.5 assists during his NBA debut campaign. At year's end, he was unanimously chosen as the Rookie of the Year. While accepting the award, he reflected on his journey and made sure to acknowledge his detractors:
"I had decided I was going to enter the draft, and then the critics came. Everybody was saying, 'Oh, he went to Weber State. He's only 6'2". He's not really that athletic. He didn't play against competition. He's 22 years old.' Anything they could think of to put an end to me, that's what they were saying. That wasn't nothing new to me. I had been up against my whole life, so I came out and proved it up.
"
Last season, he improved his scoring and efficiency. More importantly, he played a pivotal role in Portland's 21-win improvement over the prior year.
The coaches rewarded that effort with an All-Star spot, but over the offseason he was overlooked again. He was one of the final four players cut from Team USA's FIBA World Cup roster, a decision he added to his mental database of doubters.
"More wood on the fire," he told Freeman. "Not my first time being put off and probably not the last."
Call it an unfortunate premonition, or perhaps just the wisdom that comes from going through life experiences. Either way, it's proof his most recent snub will add to the cinder block permanently perched on his shoulder.
"He's always been one of those kids that, the minute you tell him he can't do something, he's gonna go do it," Lillard's college coach Randy Rahe told Randy Hollis of Deseret News. "He's played with a chip on his shoulder ever since high school."
Think about what that fuel has meant to Lillard's motor already. Now, realize the NBA flooded it with gasoline by not naming him an All-Star reserve and then struck a match by neglecting to tab him as Kobe's replacement.
Someone needs to sound the alarm. A storm is brewing in the Pacific Northwest.
It's a matter of when—not if—Lillard's explosion is coming. Consider this the NBA's first and only warning.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com.
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