All Star Reserves, Celtics There? (Pierce, KG, Rondo, and Ray all make it!)

[soap07]

Yeah, how can Love not make it?

Hopefully Duncan will start at center, and Love will be named a replacement.

I think Love was borderline. He's a rebounding beast but the rest of his game is lacking.

What part of his game was lacking? He's sixth in the entire NBA in PER. He's not only a rebounding beast - he's one of the best three-point shooters in the game, and that's while grabbing over 20 percent of available rebounders. That is simply incredible. He's also shooting 47% from the field. We can cherry pick something to criticize from every player using these standards.

[soap07]

Yeah, how can Love not make it?

Hopefully Duncan will start at center, and Love will be named a replacement.

I think Love was borderline. He's a rebounding beast but the rest of his game is lacking.

21.4 points per game.  That's 16th in the NBA, which isn't too shabby.  Among those players, he's tied for 7th in FG%, and his eFG% puts him even higher.

His scoring is greatly enhanced by being on a terrible team without a number one offensive option, they also play at the fastest pace in the nba.

Then you get onto his defense, which is horrific. He's a good player but I think he's borderline.

I think "horrific" is extreme to downplay the rest of his game. His opponents' average PER is about 14, about the league average. He is an average man-to-man defender on a bad defensive team. To nitpick that in comparison to the rest of what is a historical season strikes me as odd.

[guava_wrench]

I lot of chicago fans are complaining about the selections saying that Deng or Boozer should have made it over Allen or Joe Johnson.

Seriously Deng?

Yeah I've heard that too...ridiculous. Look at the stats:

Deng: 17.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 2.5 apg, .45 FG%, .73 FT%, .35 3pt% in 39 mpg

Allen: 17.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3 apg, .50 FG%, .85 FT%, .45 3pt% in 35 mpg

All Deng has over Allen is rebounds and a very slight edge in scoring. Other than that Ray dominates Deng in every statistical category.

No defensive stats?

[Celtics18]

I lot of chicago fans are complaining about the selections saying that Deng or Boozer should have made it over Allen or Joe Johnson.

Seriously Deng?

I was actually surprised that Deng never even got a mention from the national media.  That guy is having a very solid year for the second best team in the East.  His numbers are good and he's a very good defender.

I certainly wouldn't have picked him over Ray, but Johnson, yeah, I think I would have.

[Jon]

Though I still don't care much about the game itself, I'm happy for the Big Four.  It adds to their legacy despite the fact that all four are sacrificing their own statistics for the benefit of the team.  

We really need to pause to think about how lucky we are.  Sure, we got screwed with injuries the past two years, but we're privileged enough to see a team that plays just like that: truly no one cares about stats.  I'm not sure I've seen like this ever in basketball, the only exception possibly being the Russell-led Celtics (though Tommy was nicknamed Tommy-Gun for a reason...).  

It's great to see them all get the recognition they deserve despite not putting up gaudy scoring numbers.  

[soap07]

One more thing with Love - also top 10 in the NBA in Win Shares/48.

Can anyone make a serious argument that Tim Duncan deserved an All Star spot over Love?

Another one is Zach Randolph. Lost in all the Love love, Randolph is having another dominant year and is on a winning team. He's every bit the rebounder that Love is.

It really shows the talent disparity between the East and West.

[Fafnir]

Yeah, how can Love not make it?

Hopefully Duncan will start at center, and Love will be named a replacement.

I think Love was borderline. He's a rebounding beast but the rest of his game is lacking.

What part of his game was lacking? He's sixth in the entire NBA in PER. He's not only a rebounding beast - he's one of the best three-point shooters in the game, and that's while grabbing over 20 percent of available rebounders. That is simply incredible. He's also shooting 47% from the field. We can cherry pick something to criticize from every player using these standards.

Defense is half the game, that's hugely lacking in his game.

His offensive numbers are also inflated because of his increased touches on a bad team that plays at a fast pace.

[Edgar]

I am not going to say I told you so.

[Fafnir]

Yeah, how can Love not make it?

Hopefully Duncan will start at center, and Love will be named a replacement.

I think Love was borderline. He's a rebounding beast but the rest of his game is lacking.

21.4 points per game.  That's 16th in the NBA, which isn't too shabby.  Among those players, he's tied for 7th in FG%, and his eFG% puts him even higher.

His scoring is greatly enhanced by being on a terrible team without a number one offensive option, they also play at the fastest pace in the nba.

Then you get onto his defense, which is horrific. He's a good player but I think he's borderline.

I think "horrific" is extreme to downplay the rest of his game. His opponents' average PER is about 14, about the league average. He is an average man-to-man defender on a bad defensive team. To nitpick that in comparison to the rest of what is a historical season strikes me as odd.

Opposing PER is a terrible measure of defense. His adjusted +/- isn't great and his overall defense both in help and man to man his terrible. By opposing PER Love is a better defender than Garnett. 

He'd be okay if he was next to KG, but he's stuck with Darko and Anthony Tolliver.

[celticmaestro]

Yeah, how can Love not make it?

Hopefully Duncan will start at center, and Love will be named a replacement.

I agree with the big man, Kevin Love has to be an All-Star.

[soap07]

Yeah, how can Love not make it?

Hopefully Duncan will start at center, and Love will be named a replacement.

I think Love was borderline. He's a rebounding beast but the rest of his game is lacking.

21.4 points per game.  That's 16th in the NBA, which isn't too shabby.  Among those players, he's tied for 7th in FG%, and his eFG% puts him even higher.

His scoring is greatly enhanced by being on a terrible team without a number one offensive option, they also play at the fastest pace in the nba.

Then you get onto his defense, which is horrific. He's a good player but I think he's borderline.

I think "horrific" is extreme to downplay the rest of his game. His opponents' average PER is about 14, about the league average. He is an average man-to-man defender on a bad defensive team. To nitpick that in comparison to the rest of what is a historical season strikes me as odd.

Opposing PER is a terrible measure of defense. His adjusted +/- isn't great and his overall defense both in help and man to man his terrible. By opposing PER Love is a better defender than Garnett. 

He'd be okay if he was next to KG, but he's stuck with Darko and Anthony Tolliver.

Come on, really? Adj. +/- is awful - Keeyon Dooling and Earl Watson are in the top 10 in adjusted +/-. It is especially noisy over a half season of stats. Other sabremetrics  (PER/Win Shares) have Love near the top of the whole league, not just his conference.

[ejk3489]

I lot of chicago fans are complaining about the selections saying that Deng or Boozer should have made it over Allen or Joe Johnson.

Seriously Deng?

Yeah I've heard that too...ridiculous. Look at the stats:

Deng: 17.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 2.5 apg, .45 FG%, .73 FT%, .35 3pt% in 39 mpg

Allen: 17.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3 apg, .50 FG%, .85 FT%, .45 3pt% in 35 mpg

All Deng has over Allen is rebounds and a very slight edge in scoring. Other than that Ray dominates Deng in every statistical category.

No defensive stats?

Honestly, I'm not very good at analyzing defensive stats. If anyone can jump in they are more than welcome too.

Or if anyone can recommend a defensive statistcal website, that would be great.

[LilRip]

unfortunately, i don't think there's a real reliable stat to measure defense.

anyway, i hope Dwight plays with the Celtics big 4 and wonders what it's like to play with those guys on a nightly basis. Add to that, i hope the Heat embarrass the Magic in the playoffs. Hopefully that would entice him to sign with the C's 2 years down the line. lol

[Fafnir]

Yeah, how can Love not make it?

Hopefully Duncan will start at center, and Love will be named a replacement.

I think Love was borderline. He's a rebounding beast but the rest of his game is lacking.

21.4 points per game.  That's 16th in the NBA, which isn't too shabby.  Among those players, he's tied for 7th in FG%, and his eFG% puts him even higher.

His scoring is greatly enhanced by being on a terrible team without a number one offensive option, they also play at the fastest pace in the nba.

Then you get onto his defense, which is horrific. He's a good player but I think he's borderline.

I think "horrific" is extreme to downplay the rest of his game. His opponents' average PER is about 14, about the league average. He is an average man-to-man defender on a bad defensive team. To nitpick that in comparison to the rest of what is a historical season strikes me as odd.

Opposing PER is a terrible measure of defense. His adjusted +/- isn't great and his overall defense both in help and man to man his terrible. By opposing PER Love is a better defender than Garnett.  

He'd be okay if he was next to KG, but he's stuck with Darko and Anthony Tolliver.

Come on, really? Adj. +/- is awful - Keeyon Dooling and Earl Watson are in the top 10 in adjusted +/-. It is especially noisy over a half season of stats. Other sabremetrics  (PER/Win Shares) have Love near the top of the whole league, not just his conference.

You don't use a half season for adjusted +/-, you used years. His adjusted +/- has been bad for longer than just this year.

He also grades out poorly in dmult and other measures. He's a bad defender, that holds him back.

You know what else, he put up very similar numbers last year, he just didn't get as many minutes and hit fewer threes.