5 Snubs Who Should Challenge Kevin Durant 1-on-1 for 2015 All-Star Spot
Kevin Durant has a proposition for any Western Conference All-Star snubs who think they deserve the spot he got, despite missing half the season due to injury.
Come and get it.
According to Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman, Durant said:
"I don’t want anything to ever be given to me because a lot of guys deserve it in this league. But the coaches have to prepare for me a different way I guess when I’m in the lineup. So I guess that respect got me in the game. But every year someone is going to get snubbed, every year someone is going to make it that you think shouldn’t make it. But that’s part of the game.
Whoever want my spot can play me one-on-one for it.
"
If this basketball thing doesn't work out, Durant has a future in customer service. Or maybe as a high-end corporate fixer.
He's not a "problems" guy, and he doesn't want to hear your gripes. He's all about solutions.
Unfortunately, nobody's going to take KD up on his offer—not for lack of interest, mind you, but because the league won't allow All-Star berths to turn into some kind of lawless round-robin tournament. Too bad, really.
I mean, I'd watch. Wouldn't you?
If we suspend disbelief for a moment and consider what Durant's tongue-in-cheek proposal might actually look like, it's clear the reigning MVP would be the heavy favorite in any hypothetical one-on-one matchup.
From a list of snubs—who we'll define as Western Conference players with the numbers or reputation (that's how KD got in this year, after all) to warrant All-Star consideration—here are the top five potential challengers in a one-on-one matchup with Durant.
We'll call it the "Winner Take All-Star Spectacular."
Honorable Mention: DeAndre Jordan, C, Los Angeles Clippers
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2014-15 Stats: 10.3 points, 13.5 rebounds, 2.4 blocks, 73.1 FG%
DeAndre Jordan is a physical marvel who could, if he had the tools, take KD down low and punish him. He is also, of course, having a very good season—good enough to have a decent gripe about being left off the All-Star team.
Unfortunately, DJ has no offensive game outside of catching and dunking lobs, unless you count catching and dunking offensive rebounds—his other primary means of scoring—an offensive game.
However you slice it, Jordan only catches and dunks, which is very effective in actual contests with other actual players around him to do the throwing (or shooting), but it probably won't help him much when he's out there by himself.
A couple of additional quick nods to players who were on the fringes of All-Star talk but are simply too small to match up with Durant individually: Monta Ellis and Mike Conley.
Sorry, fellas. You're great, but you're just not big enough to handle a 6'10" scoring machine in Durant.
Damian Lillard, PG, Portland Trail Blazers
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2014-15 Stats: 21.6 points, 6.3 assists, 4.6 rebounds, 1.5 steals, 129 3PM
UPDATE: Feb. 8, at 5:06 p.m. ET
According to B/R's Howard Beck, Lillard will be named to the West roster as an injury replacement for Blake Griffin.
---End of update---
You'd think the same size discrepancy that made Ellis and Conley fall short of this list would also apply to Damian Lillard.
The difference with the Portland Trail Blazers point guard, who at 6'3" gives up about seven inches to Durant, is that he's got the biggest gripe of any snubbed player in the West. In theory, he'll be more motivated than anyone.
Lillard has been a monster in the clutch while leading the Blazers to the top of the Northwest Division. He's finishing better at the rim and has improved his defense. Everything about his season has been worthy of a spot on the All-Star team.
Lillard posted a video on his Facebook page vowing to use the snub as fuel, and he got vehement support from the likes of Charles Barkley on TNT's Inside the NBA.
"I have a serious problem with him not making this team," Barkley said. "That's really not fair, man…And I love Kevin Durant, but he hasn't played enough games."
Lillard can score from anywhere and routinely fires away from three or four feet beyond the arc, which might give him a chance against KD. Defense is going to be nearly impossible, as Durant's release will simply be too high for Lillard to bother.
But it'd be hard to find a guy with a bigger bone to pick than Lillard. Hell hath no fury like a deserving All-Star scorned.
Zach Randolph, PF, Memphis Grizzlies
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2014-15 Stats: 16.9 points, 12.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 50% FG
A key part of a Memphis Grizzlies team drawing closer and closer to the top spot in the West and a double-double machine, Zach Randolph is having an All-Star season. Just as importantly, a few qualities make him an intriguing one-on-one matchup for Durant.
- It is impossible to intimidate Z-Bo, so KD's scoring prowess and MVP pedigree won't strike any fear into Randolph's heart.
- Randolph is left-handed, and everyone knows lefties are crafty and not to be trusted—especially in one-on-one contests.
- When Z-Bo drives his burly right shoulder into the sturdiest behemoths in the NBA, they fly backward.
- Durant is not a sturdy behemoth.
Realistically, Randolph can't stay with KD on the perimeter. Nobody with legitimate frontcourt size can.
But it'd be fun to watch Durant try to prevent Randolph from working his way down to point-blank range at will.
Dirk Nowitzki, PF, Dallas Mavericks
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2014-15 Stats: 18.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 37 3FG%
There are no immovable objects here; just a pair of irresistible offensive forces.
In terms of aesthetics, no duel on this list can compete with the flamingo-legged, turnaround-riddled, fadeaway fest we'd get from Dirk Nowitzki and Durant. It'd be a piece of high-release modern art, a symphony of footwork and, hopefully, a competitive game.
Nowitzki's lack of lateral mobility will be a major hindrance when he has to defend the younger, quicker, more dynamic Durant. But even KD's considerable length won't be a match for the Diggler's deadly array of awkward-by-design jumpers.
Dirk is on the very short list of the NBA's all-time greatest scorers (ranked seventh, if you're curious), and he's piled up nearly 28,000 points despite lacking league-average athleticism for his entire career. With touch, size and guile, the only surefire Hall of Famer on this list will give Durant a run.
Not a run, actually. More of a measured jog, which is just how Nowitzki, 36, prefers it.
Draymond Green, SF, Golden State Warriors
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2014-15 Stats: 11.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.6 steals, 1.4 blocks
Including Draymond Green here means approaching the term "All-Star snub" with an open mind.
Green's not a big scorer, and he doesn't generate the kinds of conventional numbers or eye-popping highlights typically associated with an All-Star. He is, however, perhaps the best defensive player in the league and one of the most maniacally ferocious competitors walking the Earth.
According to Basketball-Reference.com, nobody in the NBA has more defensive win shares than Green. And you can't tune in to any Golden State Warriors game for more than a few minutes without seeing him do something spectacular on the defensive end—whether it's denying power forwards at the rim or forcing point guards into turnovers on the perimeter.
Best of all, Green loves going at it with the league's top talents. He barks at LeBron James, irritates Blake Griffin and never lets James Harden get away with even the smallest of slights. The bigger the star, the more Green wants to take his lunch money.
Scoring is going to be an issue for Green, as he's more of a passer than a shooter, and he relies on being a game-planning afterthought (thanks to Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson) to get his looks on offense.
Who knows, though? If Green can ugly things up, get physical and tap into his unparalleled desire to embarrass the game's best, anything could happen.
Kawhi Leonard, SF, San Antonio Spurs
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2014-15 Stats: 15.9 points, 7.7 rebounds. 2.5 assists, 2.1 steals, 0.7 blocks
When All-Star reserves were announced Jan. 29, Durant had played 21 of a possible 46 games for his team. Kawhi Leonard had played 29.
That's enough to warrant All-Star consideration. And if we're considering past achievements in the analysis (as voters clearly did for Durant), Leonard's 2014 NBA Finals MVP trophy should be enough to make him worthy of the All-Star discussion.
Leonard is long, has bear claws for hands, is exceptionally intelligent and is seemingly immune to pressure or ego. It's hard to find a player better equipped—physically and psychologically—for a battle with Durant.
We can probably also assume Leonard will use his notorious silence as a weapon. One-on-one games are typically rife with trash talk, and Leonard never says a word. Even for a player as seasoned as KD, that would be off-putting.
*Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com unless otherwise indicated and current through games played Feb. 7.
