david lee all star 2014 (Photo: LetsGoWarriors.com Instagram account)
NBA All-Star voting for the starters ends today, Monday, January 20th. Currently Stephen Curry looks like a safe bet to be selected to his first All-Star Game. Will the Golden State Warriors get a second all-star in David Lee?
The all-star team typically selects seven frontcourt players (three starters voted by the fans, four reserves selected by coaches). At this point, Lee ranks 12th among frontcourt players in voting.
Kevin Durant is the runaway leader in votes taking one spot. Dwight Howard and Blake Griffin have the other two spots with a comfortable lead over 4th place Kevin Love. Assuming Howard, Griffin and Durant are going as the starters, let’s examine the candidates for the 4 reserve spots:
Superficially, Lee doesn’t look like a lock. He’s averaging the fewest points and second-fewest rebounds of the top six candidates for the final four spots.
Delving deeper into advanced stats, the case for Lee looks stronger. Lee’s scoring efficiency (true shooting percentage) actually ranks 3rd of all eligible candidates and substantially larger than DeMarcus Cousins and LaMarcus Aldridge.
In a league where the average true shoot percentage hovers around .530, Lee’s .579 on nearly 20 points per game is very efficient and often leads to winning basketball.
Lee is also a member of the best five-man unit in the NBA in “plus-minus”. He is that unit’s second leading scorer. Both of these reflect with his win share being 2nd best among the six compared front court players.
Showing Lee’s impact, since the Warriors began their ten-game winning streak, and eleven out of their last thirteen, Lee’s averaging 22.3 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists with a field goal percentage of 58.9 and a true shooting percentage of .627.
During this period, Lee’s play earned him a Western Conference Player Of The Week award.
Curry, recognized how well Lee has been playing in his pitch for Lee to be an all-star.
“He has showed how important he is to our success as a team and why he’s been there twice,” Curry told reporters after practice last week, “I don’t think it was fair to kind of take him out of that conversation so early in the season without letting things settle in.”
The coaches tend to reward winning and Lee’s improved play over the last month has been a key catalyst for the Warriors, near the top of the Pacific Division and safely in playoff range. The same cannot be said for other candidates with superior volume numbers.
Of the six listed candidates, Lee’s Warriors only have a worse record than Aldridge’s Portland Trailblazers.
All six listed candidates are deserving of an all-star berth. As long as Lee holds up his stellar play over the last month and the Warriors continue to win and move up the standings, he gives himself a strong case to make his 3rd all-star game.
[NOTE: Poor Man’s Commish contributed to this report.]Follow @samesfandiari
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