Kevin Love Deserved To Miss All-Star Team

Despite sitting atop of the Eastern Conference, the Cleveland Cavaliers will just have one player participating in the All-Star Game and that is LeBron James. Did Kevin Love get snubbed from the team? No.

Last year, the Atlanta Hawks were sitting first in the Eastern Conference when All-Star weekend rolled around. The Hawks had clearly separated themselves from the rest of the conference, as the Cavs were still sorting out their issues at that stage and the rest of the conference didn’t pose much of a threat.

As a reward of their excellent ball-movement and unselfish style of basketball, Atlanta sent an unprecedented four players to the All-Star team- Paul Millsap, Al Horford, Jeff Teague and Kyle Korver.

So, let’s fast-forward a year. The Cavaliers are sitting first in the East and are hands-down the best team in the conference. Many pundits have already penciled in Cleveland into the NBA Finals. Despite the coaching controversy and locker-room issues that have leaked into the media, there is still no denying that the Cavs are the most talented team in the conference.

With all of that in mind, consider this. The Cavs have just one player representing them at the All-Star game this year and that is James. After Kyrie Irving got overtaken by a late push from Kyle Lowry in the voting process, many thought that it would be a formality that Love would be voted in as a reserve. After all, the Hawks had four All-Stars last season, so wouldn’t it make sense to have the second best player from the best team in the conference on the squad?

In theory yes, but the unfortunate reality for Love and the Cavs is that things aren’t that simple.

The NBA officially announced the Eastern Conference reserves on a special edition of TNT’s pre-game show before their annual Thursday Night double-header. The NBA’s official Twitter account also posted the news.

Love misses out, despite his head coach (and Eastern Conference All-Star coach) singing his praises after the Cavs most recent victory over the Phoenix Suns. “When Kyrie was out, Kevin did a great job, him and LeBron, of carrying this team,” Lue said, via Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. “There’s no way to me he shouldn’t be an All-Star this year.”

Back in October, James pronounced that he believed Love would get back to an All-Star level this season, via Chris Fedor of cleveland.com. “He’s going to have a hell of a season,” James said of Love following an early-season win against the Memphis Grizzlies. “He’s going to get back to that All-Star status.”

In spite of the campaigning from his teammates, Love really never stood a chance to make the team, when taking a look of the competition and his own numbers this season.

First off, for Love to make the team, it would have meant one of five players (the reserves are made up of three frontcourt players and two wild-cards) named a reserve was removed.

When taking a look at Love’s competition, there is really no way to make an argument for any of them to be removed. For comparisons sake, let’s take a look at Paul Millsap, Chris Bosh and Andre Drummond, as those were the three-frontcourt players selected. The NBA doesn’t specify who were the wild-card picks.

Millsap continues to be the NBA’s most underrated players, as he is the only player in the league putting up at least 18 points (18.3), eight rebounds (8.9), three assists (3.5), one steals (1.9) and one block (1.4). Millsap is the definition of a stat sheet stuffer, and while the other Hawks’ All-Stars from last season have regressed, Millsap has simply gotten better.

After returning from a life-threatening injury, Bosh has kept the Miami Heat afloat in the Eastern Conference. The now 11-time All Star is putting up 19.2 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game this season, while shooting 47.6% from the field and 37.2% from the three-point line. His numbers best those of Love and his value to the Heat is un-measureable.

The ninth overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, Drummond has simply been sensational this season, leading the league in rebounding (both defensive and offensive) and in double-doubles with 38. Drummond is averaging 17.3 points and 15.2 rebounds per game, making his All-Star status unquestionable.

So, where does Love fit into all this?

For starters, Love has been too inconsistent to be considered an All-Star this season. He is averaging 15.7 points and 10.8 rebounds per game, putting up shooting numbers of 41.8% from the field and 35.8% from the three-point line.

Those numbers are quite hard to believe when considering how much of a hot start Love got off to in November. In the seasons opening month, Love looked every bit like an All-Star, averaging 19.9 points and 11.8 rebounds per game, shooting an impressive 47.1% from the field and 41.2% from the three-point line.

After that hot start though, Love’s shooting has fallen off a cliff, as he has missed an array of wide-open jumpers and is also struggling shooting around the rim. In December, Love shot 37.3% from the field and an abysmal 27.1% from the three-point line, while putting up 12.7 points and 9.2 rebounds a night. January hasn’t been much better for the Cavs curly-haired forward, shooting 39.4% from the field and 34.8% from downtown, leading him to average 13.4 points and 10.9 rebounds per game.

This inconsistency from Love is one of the main factors he doesn’t deserve a spot on the team. The players selected to go to Toronto on February 14^th can be relied on to perform like an All-Star night in and night out. Unfortunately for Cleveland, Love hasn’t proven that trait yet.

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One night Love looks like an All-Star and the type of dominating forward he was back in his days with the Minnesota Timberwolves but the next night he will go back into his shell and almost be a liability on both ends. This has been especially true in big games, as Love has struggled mightily against the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs this season.

Now, the opinion that the Cavs deserve more than one All-Star because they do posses the conference’s best record does make sense but there is no rule that states the team which is first needs a certain numbers of players at the All-Star game.

Regardless of the Cavaliers position in the standings and the lobbying from James and Lue, there is no way that Love could have made a convincing case to be named an All-Star over the trio of Millsap, Bosh or Drummond.