Damian Lillard’s All-Star Blues

I was about 650 words in on a column last week about how I was worried Damian Lillard might not make the All-Star team. My reasons were the same as all the media and fans are saying right now after Lillard was snubbed: He was never going to make it over Chris Paul or Russell Westbrook and the West is so piled with star power that I think the coaches called in the astronomers to help them choose. However, I started reading all the best analysts’ picks and all of them included Lillard. SBnation, Zach Lowe, Marc Stein, CBS News, and others all thought Lillard was a lock and I started to feel embarrassed for picking against my own favorite player. However, even with injured “All-Star” Kobe Bryant forcing Commissioner Adam Silver to choose a replacement, Lillard looks like he might be spending his All-Star break in Portland.

First, let’s talk about the snub. Lillard was passed over in favor of Klay Thompson. A lot of fans are blaming Tim Duncan and Kevin Durant for taking Lillard’s spot even though they were selected as frontcourt players and were not competing with Lillard. There is some truth in their irritation of Durant’s selection. Rip City, Charles Barkley, and most fans who can name more than seven players think that Durant shouldn’t be on the team because he’s played in less than half the games. I agree too and would add that Durant is playing on a team that has less wins than the Milwaukee Bucks (although I shouldn’t make fun of the Bucks after they embarrassed the Blazers on Saturday). Two All-Stars on a team that wouldn’t make the playoffs if it started this week? That doesn’t sound right. Yet, it doesn’t matter because Lillard needed to beat out one of the four elected backcourt players to make the game (for the reserves, the coaches select two backcourt players, three front court players, and two wild card players).

Like I said before, Lillard was never going to beat out Chris Paul or Russell Westbrook (and especially James Harden). Paul is still a top five player in the league and the Clippers have stealthily made their way back to third place in the west. Westbrook is the most dynamic player in the league (except maybe an engaged LeBron) and passes the eye test and the stats test (averaging 25 points, 7.5 assists, 6 rebounds per game with the fourth highest PER of players who have played half their games). Before New Year’s, I would have laughed if you said Klay Thompson was more deserving than Lillard but Golden State has been the best team in the NBA so far and Thompson did this last week. All these guys deserve it more than Lillard. Even a homer like me has to admit this. (For the record, I still think that Durant should not have made it and if Kobe replacement DeMarcus Cousins was already in the game than Adam Silver would most likely add Lillard to replace Kobe instead of Cousins).

I was curious to see what Damian Lillard would do if he was snubbed (a la the Gilbert Arenas Revenge Tour). Lillard said he felt disrespected and vowed to “be so good they can’t ignore you.” However, his weekend play was shockingly bad. He was forced into six turnovers against the Hawks and shot just 12-of-49 against the Hawks and Bucks (for those with math phobia, that’s less than 25%). Not exactly the way you want your “almost All-Star” point guard to respond to his snub.

Even more than his numbers, the Blazers look out of sync. Part of the problem is the injuries (I think every starter is experiencing some sort of hand injury) but I think the Blazers are forgetting the unselfish play that made them successful early in the season. Remember watching when the Blazers would look like the Spurs with their crisp and unselfish passes? Remember when they scored 130 in Denver? Or when you didn’t groan whenever any bench player not named Steve Blake or Chris Kaman was subbed in? This starts with Lillard. If he isn’t shooting well, he needs to take a deep breath, keep the ball moving, and use his offensive system. A good player can have a slump and his team might struggle for a bit. A great player will have a slump and figure out how to make his team win in other ways. Damian Lillard is a great player and an All-Star to me (as if that matters). He just needs to remember that the Blazers are dazzling at times because he leads the team, not just because he is on it.