Roundtable: talking Brooklyn Nets & All-Star Snubs

After finding out that no Brooklyn Nets players made the All-Star team, we at The Brooklyn Game had to talk about it.

Mark Ginocchio: Right call. Joe has hit some very big shots for this team this season, but his first month or so was very inconsistent as there was clearly an adjustment period. His overall FG% is down from past seasons and I really don’t find myself too broken up about it.

Andrew Gnerre: Right call. If Joe Johnson’s an All-Star, then we’re going to need a bigger All-Star game, because we’ll have to let so many people in. Joe, I’ll use this space to let you know that we all really appreciate your 17.4 points per game and your ability to hit open shots and take smaller guards to task on the low block. But an All-Star you are not. But you’re still great! Get some rest that weekend!

Devin Kharpertian: Right call, but still kind of interesting. The East’s shooting guards are weak by design, but the coaches didn’t even vote one traditional shooting guard in. I wouldn’t make a case for Johnson over any of the actual choices (except perhaps Luol Deng, and that’s borderline), but I would make a case should the East coaches have voted any SG in, it should’ve been Johnson.

Mark: Snub. This stings, for many reasons. Emotionally speaking, Lopez feels like the only true “Net” on this roster. The only other holdout from 09-10 is Hump and given all Brook has been through, to see him put together the first half he’s produced is remarkable. I understand stats like PER seem too complex and they don’t tell the whole story, especially with defense, but the guy is having an all-around great season and in terms of reserves, deserves to be there over Bosh, and to a lesser degree Chandler and Noah. On a truly selfish note, all we hear about is how the ASG is a laughable no-defense exhibition, and yet the coach’s decide to go with two guys in Chandler and Noah who are defense-first guys whose offensive game primarily consists of at the rim/garbage buckets while Lopez, who can create his own shot better than any of these guys sits at home.

Andrew: I’ll go the other way from everyone else: This was the right call. Did anyone really want to see lumbering, deliberate Brook clog up the all-star game like Jamal Magloire back in 2004. Sure, Magloire went off for 19 and 8 in 21 minutes that year, and Brook is like three times the player Magloire ever was so could probably do even more damage in a game where defense never shows up, but that’s booooring. Also, it’ll be fun to see an extra-motivated Brook make a sincere run at the All-NBA team in the season’s second half. (But I mean really, of course Brook Lopez should be an All-Star this season.)

Mark: I would have been shocked in D-Will made the team, especially after his terrible first 6 weeks of the season, the fact that he’s been tied to Avery’s ouster, and the fact that Holiday and Irving are truly better PG’s than Williams this season. It’s encouraging that he’s been playing better, but even D-Will will tell you he’s not an All-Star. Who am I to argue with the guy?

Andrew: Alright, I see two angles from which you could say that Deron got snubbed. One: He really was responsible for Avery’s firing, meaning he is the reason for P.J. taking over and for the ensuing 12-2 run that’s landed the Nets at third place in the East. Two: There’s a rule in the new collective bargaining agreement that says that if Deron Williams gets picked as an all-star reserve, but the starting center on his team is by some measures the best center in the league, the spot actually transfers to said center. If the coaches were voting based on this rule and this rule actually exists, then yeah, Deron got snubbed. Otherwise, this was the right call.

Devin: Right call. It’s weird that we’re now in a universe where Jrue Holiday and Deron Williams can be in the same conference and only Holiday deservedly makes the All-Star team, but here we are. The only mark you can really give in Williams’ favor is that he’s shooting a little better these days and doesn’t turn the ball over as much, but high turnover numbers for younger PG’s are a surprisingly good indicator of a player’s future, and even with them Holiday’s having a better season.