Lee doesn't make All-Star

Source: David Lee's NBA All-Star bid falls short as Knicks star fails to earn reserve spot

BY Frank Isola
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Originally Published:Thursday, January 28th 2010, 11:48 AM
Updated: Thursday, January 28th 2010, 2:43 PM


David Lee's best season apparently will not lead to an All-Star berth.

According to a source, Lee will not be one of the seven reserves named to the Eastern Conference All-Star Team. The official announcement of the All-Star reserves from both conferences will be broadcast live on TNT Thursday night.

Lee made a strong case for himself this season by significantly improving his offensive game. But the East coaches who vote for the seven players may have ultimately deemed that the Knicks 18-26 record doesn't merit an All-Star berth.

Of course, one way of looking at is the Knicks would have just 11 wins if Lee weren't their starting center.

There is always a possibility that an injury to one of the 12 players on the team could give Lee another chance. Kevin Garnett was voted as a starter by the fans and he has only recently returned from a knee injury. Allen Iverson, who was also voted in by the fans, has been banged up this year.

Another possibility is Cleveland guard Mo Williams, who is out at least four weeks with a separated shoulder. If the coaches voted Williams on to the team he will not be able to play and thus NBA Commissioner David Stern will pick a replacement.

Assuming the coaches didn't vote for Williams, I'm guessing that the seven reserves for the East are as follow: Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo (Celtics), Joe Johnson and Al Horford (Hawks), Chris Bosh (Raptors), Gerald Wallace (Bobcats) and Derrick Rose (Bulls).

The Knicks haven't had an All-Star since 2001 when Latrell Sprewell anad Allan Houston were selected to the team.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...0-01-28_lee_not_selected_all_star_knicks.html

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Oh well.....

Thanks AI!

I hope this lights a season long fire under Lee and averages 30 and 15 for rest of year.

I wanted him to make it because he's my favorite Knicks player, but I can't say I'm surprised.

Hahn compared his numbers, and the Knicks record, from the '07 season and if Curry didn't make it then because we were 18-26 then Lee should not this year.

This might be helpful when it's time to re-sign, too, because, hey, maybe that All-Star appearance would have commanded some more millions.

This may have saved the Knicks 6 million per year if we intended on resigning Lee. I wish he would have made it to rep for the Knicks but it could help us retain him for the long haul. An all-star David Lee probably demands close to a max deal.

I'm not really a lee fan, but i can't help but feel slighted as a knick fan.......

This sucks. Lee deserves a spot. But honestly I think you guys are right. If he did make All-Star, we would have to pay a lot more to retain Lee. But it would have been nice to have a Knick in the All-Star game after a long time.

Bull shhhhhhh!

I hate every piece Isola writes and I don't put a lot of mind to his articles but there are couple of reports on internet that states the same thing. Anyway is nothing official till 7pm when TNT will announce the reserves.

''TNT will have the exclusive announcement of the 2010 NBA All-Star reserves on Thursday, Jan. 28 during a special one hour edition of NBA Tip-Off presented by AutoTrader.com beginning at 7 p.m. (ET) with Ernie Johnson (host), Charles Barkley (analyst), Kenny Smith (analyst) and Chris Webber (analyst). TNT's exclusive coverage of the 2010 All-Star Game from Dallas, TX will air on Sun., February 14 at 8:30 p.m. (ET).''
http://www.nba.com/2010/allstar/2010/01/26/allstar.reserves.pr/index.html

Anyway I think he deserve it (although it might be a good thing if he don't make it for this summer resigning purposes) more than Horford.<!-- START 'inlineAds : allstar.generic' FILE: /.element/ssi/story/1.0/allstar/2010/.branding/allstar.generic/inlineAds.html -->

Do all-star games even matter anymore? I don't think I've watched one since the 90's.I never understood the hype surrounding such an event.It's nothing but a game of fancy dribbling, alley oop passes, and a group of stat padding athletes running up and down the court looking to not play defense and throw up bad shots.It's worse than watching somebody play a game of NBA jam.

This whole concept that a player earns his respect by making the all-star team shouldn't even be taken literally.When you have many young inner city kids voting for Allen Iverson because he sells jerseys and was the coolest player in the NBA for a long time you know that these games are just really popularity contests.

And you know that there is something wrong when the NBA is the only sports league that selects players as reserved all-stars based on the regular season records of the teams that they play for.I never knew that being an all-star meant playing for a winning team until recently.If that were always the case then the entire '72 Lakers and '96 Bulls teams should of been selected as all-stars.This shows you how biased David Stern and the NBA have become over the years.They reward winning teams for the high revenue and television ratings that they provide for Mr.Stern's NBA.

The Knicks haven't had a player make an all-star team since Houston and Sprewell made it 9 years ago, big deal.I am worried about more important things such as the Knicks chances of making the playoffs this year and playing an important role in the 2010 free agent sweepstakes.All-star games are really something that Junior High school kids should be looking forward to right now.

It is all a popularity contest... How the hell is Iverson starting?? smhh The All-Star Game is a joke now.... David Lee's numbers are All Star material but yet not even a reserve spot.. c'mon...

Do all-star games even matter anymore? I don't think I've watched one since the 90's.I never understood the hype surrounding such an event.It's nothing but a game of fancy dribbling, alley oop passes, and a group of stat padding athletes running up and down the court looking to not play defense and throw up bad shots.It's worse than watching somebody play a game of NBA jam.

This whole concept that a player earns his respect by making the all-star team shouldn't even be taken literally.When you have many young inner city kids voting for Allen Iverson because he sells jerseys and was the coolest player in the NBA for a long time you know that these games are just really popularity contests.

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It's not the game itself...its the honor of being recognized and respected for your game, it's the exclusivity of the club and it's a chance to showcase yourslef on a national level.

As to it being a popularity contest...that's only the starters and for the most part the fans get it it right.

And you know that there is something wrong when the NBA is the only sports league that selects players as reserved all-stars based on the regular season records of the teams that they play for.I never knew that being an all-star meant playing for a winning team until recently.If that were always the case then the entire '72 Lakers and '96 Bulls teams should of been selected as all-stars.This shows you how biased David Stern and the NBA have become over the years.They reward winning teams for the high revenue and television ratings that they provide for Mr.Stern's NBA.

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I agree with the premise that for the most part players should be selected from winning teams. It's easy to pad individual stats while being on a losing team. The few dozen or so players that have elite numbers and play for a dominant team should definitely get preference over someone with similar stats on a losing team.

That said there are unique cases and I think Lee is one of them. He has made a gaint skill leap over last year after being a double double machine and getting snubbed then. The Knicks as a result are playing their best ball in years and have the potential to make the playoffs. Lee works hard every night and is playing out of position. He should be an allstar!

TR1LL10N said:

. An all-star David Lee probably demands close to a max deal.

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as we saw last summer... he can 'demand' whatever... the reality is he is no way near a max-deal player...

TR1LL10N said:

It's not the game itself...its the honor of being recognized and respected for your game, it's the exclusivity of the club and it's a chance to showcase yourslef on a national level.

As to it being a popularity contest...that's only the starters and for the most part the fans get it it right.




I agree with the premise that for the most part players should be selected from winning teams. It's easy to pad individual stats while being on a losing team. The few dozen or so players that have elite numbers and play for a dominant team should definitely get preference over someone with similar stats on a losing team.

That said there are unique cases and I think Lee is one of them. He has made a gaint skill leap over last year after being a double double machine and getting snubbed then. The Knicks as a result are playing their best ball in years and have the potential to make the playoffs. Lee works hard every night and is playing out of position. He should be an allstar!

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If the majority of these players, who are being selected as all-stars, play for elite teams couldn't they showcase themselves on a national level in the playoffs? Wouldn't it be harder for an all-star like Zach Randolph to showcase himself while sharing the floor with Kobe Bryant,Lebron James and Dwayne Wade? I agree that making the all-star team increases the eminence of a player but I believe that a player has a better chance of flourishing and making a name for himself in the playoffs than he would in an all-star game.

I don't know if it's easier for a player, that has a lot of talent, to pad his stats on a losing team than it would be for him to do the same on a winning team.A talented player on a losing team might be able to stand out more than he would on a winning team but it would be because he is surrounded by a cast of menial players.That player's name consistently appears on the league leader's stat sheet while the names of his fellow teammates don't.I don't believe that if a player is talented he would be less likely to put up all-star numbers on a winning team than he would on a losing one.There are players like Ron Artest whose numbers have declined after switching to a better team but that's because he doesn't have to be the number one scoring option on his team.

The problem I have with this all-star voting system is that it doesn't give many good players a fair opportunity of having a respectable resume.Let's say a player plays his entire career surrounded by bad players on losing teams and he scores 25 thousand points and has 25 thousand rebounds but never gets voted to be on an all-star team.Wouldn't people look at him as a player who overachieved throughout his career? Or look at him as a player who couldn't be on the same level as the players who made all-star teams while he was playing? For the same reason why it's wrong when people underestimate players such as Patrick Ewing and Karl Malone, for not winning championships throughout their careers, I think it's wrong for a player who has good numbers to be overlooked just because he plays for a bad team.

TR1LL10N said:

This may have saved the Knicks 6 million per year if we intended on resigning Lee. I wish he would have made it to rep for the Knicks but it could help us retain him for the long haul. An all-star David Lee probably demands close to a max deal.

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At first I was extremely pissed (almost even more pissed than I was after seeing that atrocious inbounds play). But then I realized the same logic you did. Do I feel slighted as a Knicks fan? Absolutely. But Lee not making the All-Star team might be the difference in us signing him to a 5year-50mil rather than a 5 year-75 mil, or something of that nature.

It doesn't matter anyway. He's gone next year unless we don't sign a max star. Even if he asks for $10 mil, we can't resign him. There isn't enough cap space.

The only way we can afford to resign Lee is if we don't sign a max free agent (highly likely, as I don't see why any player would sign to this roster) or if we trade Jeffries, who by the way has a hyper-extended knee so that is now more unlikely.

And I'm not so sure Lee would resign to the Knicks if we didn't get a max free agent. I could see him going to OKC.

LJ4ptplay said:

It doesn't matter anyway. He's gone next year unless we don't sign a max star. Even if he asks for $10 mil, we can't resign him. There isn't enough cap space.

The only way we can afford to resign Lee is if we don't sign a max free agent (highly likely, as I don't see why any player would sign to this roster) or if we trade Jeffries, who by the way has a hyper-extended knee so that is now more unlikely.

And I'm not so sure Lee would resign to the Knicks if we didn't get a max free agent. I could see him going to OKC.

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I think we will trade Jefferies and free up enough space for Lee. A couple of more losses and the playoffs will seem unrealistic.Once that happens trade rumors should start to fly. I think JJ will be easy to dump...to the point I think we could get some value back in addition to cap space.

If he was an all star I think he would have asked for more money come the off season

ZBO gets in and Lee doesn't? That's a hoop crime.

jpz17 said:

If he was an all star I think he would have asked for more money come the off season

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Really? Hmm good call captain obvious.

LJ4ptplay said:

It doesn't matter anyway. He's gone next year unless we don't sign a max star. Even if he asks for $10 mil, we can't resign him. There isn't enough cap space.

The only way we can afford to resign Lee is if we don't sign a max free agent (highly likely, as I don't see why any player would sign to this roster) or if we trade Jeffries, who by the way has a hyper-extended knee so that is now more unlikely.

And I'm not so sure Lee would resign to the Knicks if we didn't get a max free agent. I could see him going to OKC.

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Lol Lee and Durant would be pretty cool, but Lee+ Bron Bron would be nastyyyy. Lee is Varejoa 3.0 lol.