The 2017 NBA All-Star reserves were announced on Thursday night, and as always, there were deserving players left out of the equation.
Singling out slights is tricky business, because it’s easy to say so-and-so earned the nod; it’s another thing to pick out who said player should have been selected over. But Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz stands out as an obvious snub–particularly when DeAndre Jordan was named to the Western Conference All-Star docket.
It’s not like Jordan isn’t an All-Star, per se. It’s just that Rudy Gobert is better. DeMarcus Cousins and Nikola Jokic are the only big men who have added more points to their team’s cause, both on offense and defense, than Gobert has to Utah’s campaign, according to NBA Math.
Naturally, the Stifle Tower didn’t take too kindly to his absence from the All-Star festivities, per ESPN.com’s Tim MacMahon:
Rudy Gobert is fired up about not getting an All-Star bid: "They're gonna see. They're gonna see."
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) January 27, 2017
Experience tracks among head coaches when selecting All-Star reserves. And where Gobert is playing through his fourth season, Jordan is in his ninth, and he’s routinely been recognized among the league’s most notable snubs these last few years.
So, in this sense, the Jordan selection makes sense. And it’s not like the All-Star tilt is an affair of consequence. Still, so long as All-Star selections are used to buttress legacies, Hall of Fame cases and trigger contract incentives, the process should be taken seriously.
When put that way, it’s clear Gobert should be headed to New Orleans instead of Jordan.
