By Jeremy Walsh
Sometimes it”s better to take a few days to reflect on bad news before developing your final opinion. But in the week since the announcement of the NBA All-Star reserves, my thoughts really haven”t changed: Monta Ellis got robbed.
If you follow the NBA at all, you would know that Ellis is the most explosive scorer in the Western Conference; it”s startling that the coaches of teams he plays against chose to ignore that.
He has the numbers: sixth in the NBA in scoring, third in steals and first in minutes-played. He has the best assist-per-game ratio among shooting guards in the league and is one of three non-point guards to be in the top 25 in assists per game.
He shoots the 3-pointer with impressive consistency and is one of the most consistent late-game scorers in the NBA.
Unfortunately, the Western Conference is stacked, especially when it comes to high-quality guards. The two starting guards (Hornets PG Chris Paul and Lakers SG Kobe Bryant) are clearly top-tier, but the three reserve guards are at or below Ellis”s skill-level.
Spurs SG Manu Ginobili deserved his selection because he”s the best player on the best team. The two backup PGs, however, are impressive players with similar skill sets and even more similar numbers this season.
Jazz PG Deron Williams is having a typically remarkable year but missed several games because of injury. Ellis, who has equally as impressive all-around numbers, hasn”t missed a game – in fact, he”s had more on-court time than any other player.
Thunder PG Russell Westbrook is quietly establishing himself as an elite player, but his numbers closely mirror Williams”s. Why have the same player take up two bench spots?
Fans want to see exciting, explosive players, and Ellis fits that description better than those two players.
So why did they get voted and Ellis snubbed? Because the Thunder and Jazz are successful teams with winning records, and in the NBA, a player”s quality is usually measured by that of his team.
Now the Warriors are improving (in fact, Dorell Wright has picked up his game to the point that he”s a viable candidate for Most Improved Player of the Year) and the eighth playoff spot is still in view, but the team has a weak bench, gets no center scoring and has earned few flashy wins. All of the negative aspects cost Ellis a deserved spot.
The sadder thing is that Warriors players are becoming irrelevant nationally.
Though there is the occasional All-Star Weekend standout performance (Jason Richardson in the dunk contest, Stephen Curry in the 3-point contest and several appearances in the Rookie Challenge), Warriors players are seldom in a conversation among the NBA”s elite.
Look at it this way: the Warriors have now hosted more All-Star games (one) than they”ve had All-Star players (zero) in the past 12 seasons.
Ellis will make an All-Star game at some point in his career, but the question is becoming whether it will be in a Warriors uniform.
Let”s all hope that it does because the team needs to finally change the answer to this question: who was the Warriors” last All-Star? (Latrell Sprewell).
Jeremy Walsh is a staff reporter for Lake County Publishing. He can be reached at 263-5636 ext. 37 or jwalsh@record-bee.com.
