Individual player awards have always been an exciting period of an NBA season, a ratification of the superstardom for the best players, a nice look back for the devoted fans, and a reality check for the media people. All-NBA teams tops the list of my favorite awards. With 15 spots available, it’s much like the All-Star selection, but mostly without the popularity votes. It’s achievable to get in, but very hard. And it always leaves out a couple of more or less worthy players. Let’s take a closer look on who got in and who got snubbed this year.
First-team All-NBA
G Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder
G James Harden, Houston Rockets
F Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs
F LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
C Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans
James has been a resident in the top 5 for over a decade and hasn’t slowed down a bit this season. With Westbrook and Harden dominating the ball and the media attention, James’ phenomenal season may have fallen out of the focus, but his place was never in doubt. The rest of the unit is made up by 3 MVP finalists, as Leonard’s steady rise continued and the two aforementioned players racked up some incredible numbers.
Westbrook became only the second player to average a triple-double over the course of the entire season, and Harden became the first player to score 2,000 points and assist for another 2,000 in a single season. The last spot would ideally be given to a member of a top team in the NBA for the third consecutive season, except it is positionally-bound to a sole position the Golden State Warriors don’t have a good player at.
With the league moving into a direction where it will be more and more difficult to make a difference between the centers and the power-forwards, this spot is going to be debated more and more. You can even make a strong case about Davis playing the forward position as much a Draymond Green and certainly less center than the great Tim Duncan who insisted that he’s a power forward his entire career.
Either way, it’s a shame that the Warriors weren’t featured in All-NBA First-team simply because they have too many good players to have one stand out. This also shows that the media voters got caught in the trap they placed on their own. In search of the bombastic numbers, defense and winning are too often overlooked.
I know that Westbrook’s and Harden’s seasons can be looked with a pink light, but it’s the ball domination and pace that were rewarded here, not the quality of play. Westbrook was the leading scorer, true, but he took 1,941 shots this season. Next up, Andrew Wiggins, attempted 1,570.
Harden largely benefited from a similar full control in D’Antoni’s long-range, helter-skelter system. He led the league with 464 turnovers and 881 free throw attempts. Next up, Westbrook, with 438 TOs and 840 foul shots.
No other player in the league came close to these numbers – John Wall had over 100 fewer turnovers on the third place of the first list, while Jimmy Butler attempted nearly 170 freebies less than Westbrook as a third-most frequent charity stripe shooters. The volume, not the production.
So, getting snubbed from the top All-NBA unit, the Warriors players got two spots in the next one.
Second-team All-NBA
G Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
G Isaiah Thomas, Boston Celtics
F Kevin Durant, Golden State Warriors
F Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
C Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz
Besides two former MVPs turned teammates in Curry and Durant, who would be more likely picked for their franchise in any redraft by the likes of those who have voted other players into the First-team, the second All-NBA unit features two European young stars in Antetokounmpo and Gobert, and another point guard, Thomas.
Gobert could have made the First-team as he is a true center and his impact on the Jazz success can’t be measured just by statistics, no matter how advanced those are. Antetokounmpo has had a very good season, but I’m a bit surprised to see him this high. The voters probably made a cardinal sin and voted him on his potential, as he still has space to grow.
I feel that Thomas got the nod over Wall simply on the final team standings. He’s another of the new bread of the ball dominating point guards and while he deserved some honors, he’s also overachieved with this selection.
Wall headlines the next unit, though, and another three teams are represented.
Third-team All-NBA
G John Wall, Washington Wizards
G DeMar DeRozan, Toronto Raptors
F Jimmy Butler, Chicago Bulls
F Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors
C DeAndre Jordan, Los Angeles Clippers
With the inclusion of Green, the Warriors have three players featured, while no other team has more than one. Eastern conference got much love with Wall, DeRozan and Butler making the Third-team outside trio. Wall is a no brainer, DeRozan another product of volume scoring being rated too high, while Butler had up and down season and could have easily missed the cut.
Green is a great player of much value to the Warriors that is probably among top 5 defenders in the league, but has struggled with his shooting this season, justifying his placement only in the third unit. However, he might have fared higher if the NBA would allow a more liberal approach to the center position, or, allowed a selection of another worthy forward by replacing Clippers’ Jordan, who really shouldn’t be here.
Jordan had some good center numbers, placing 7th at blocks per game, 3rd at rebounding and second in shooting percentage. He also plays solid D, but not isn’t too impactful on the game and his team really struggled sans either Griffin or Paul. Other players had much better and more complete seasons, even at his position.
That brings us to the snub section.
Outside looking in
Point Guards: Kyle Lowry, Damian Lillard, Mike Conley
Five point-guards were selected in the six guard spots, so I’m not missing more of them. Lowry, Lillard and Conley are the best of the rest, but it’s hard to argue that either had a good enough of a season to displace any of the men that saw their names on the sheet. Chris Paul surely has the talent to get in and he has played well enough to be considered, but he missed a quarter of a season with an injury.
Shooting Guards: –
There are a couple of emerging future stars in the position, like Wiggins, Booker and McCollum, but none of them is yet on the same level as the selected players.
Small Forwards: Paul George, Gordon Hayward
Both George and Hayward would have became eligible for a supermax contract extension should they made the cut, but as much as the rule has been designed for franchises protection over stars leaving, I don’t think Indiana and Utah are overly disappointed.
George possibly deserved a spot in the Third All-NBA team after carrying underwhelming Pacers team on his back, and Hayward is a complete player who contributed to Jazz excellent season through all the injury woes. There are very good players no doubt, but aren’t the type of talent teams should break the bank for. They didn’t lose the bonus money, they are close, but not good enough to get it.
Power Forwards and Centers: Karl-Anthony Towns, Nikola Jokic, Al Horford
KAT simply had to be on one of the top three teams and surely missed the votes due to his team missing the playoffs. No lottery team had been featured in All-NBA teams this year, so it hurt Towns and possibly Jokic, who played magnificent basketball in 2017. Horford’s contribution to the Celtics rise to the top spot in the East has been largely overlooked, as Thomas draws media attention, but he’s as worthy of a candidate as any.
There are more awards to come and it’s going to be a strong contest for the DPOY and the MVP, so stay tuned to see if there’ll be any surprises. Still, All-NBA teams selections target wider number of players and allow the punters to understand on which players provide the biggest difference on the market, either by mostly public attention or by working hard under the radar for their teams and punters’ bets.
So if a player doesn’t get mentioned in the top 15 or top 25 players, he’s unlikely a superstar at the moment. He’s either not yet there, past his prime or will never reach the labels the media or the fantasy leagues are going to put on him. Get the edge over the public wherever you can, your wallet will thank you.
