Earlier this week, Boston Celtics’ coach Doc Rivers adamantly proclaimed that Anderson Varejao is an All-Star. After two phenomenal games against Boston, Varejao got a ton of run in the local and national press. But what about the Cavaliers’ Rookie of the Year candidate, Kyrie Irving? The point guard has been praised in the press and across the interweb for the incredible production he’s had in just the first half of his first NBA season. Could he potentially make the All-Star game as a rookie though?
With the 2012 All-Star starters announced on Thursday as winners of the fan popularity contest, the instant debate for who should fill out the rosters as reserves was sparked. Comically, Shaquille O’Neal listed on TNT‘s ‘Inside the NBA’ that he had his former Cavalier teammate Mo Williams as a reserve on the West squad. As for the East, Yahoo! writer Eric Freeman argued for the inclusion of Cavs’ rookie Irving:
PG Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers: New players are exciting, whether for one team or the league as a whole, and it’s in the NBA’s best interest to promote those guys whenever possible. Irving deserves to get in on the merits, too, with 18.1 ppg and 4.9 apg in only 28.8 minutes as the Cavs battle for a playoff spot. He’s only going to get better and play more, and the league should take advantage of his budding stardom as soon as possible. Hype only seems stupid when a player’s success peters out — Irving’s not going to get to that point for some time.
Now, Freeman is using his own metric in an already nebulous selection process that doesn’t really have one. He has named his reserves based on who would provide the most entertaining and exciting forty-eight minutes of exhibition basketball. In addition to Irving, he selects Deron Williams and Jrue Holiday as reserve East point guards.
Irving has had an incredible year, and as Freeman notes, he’s putting up impressive numbers in limited playing time, at least compared to other All-Star candidates. He’s the only player among the top 35 scorers in the league who’s averaging less than 30 minutes a game, and yet there he is nipping at the heels of Danny Granger and Rudy Gay.
It’s relatively rare to have a rookie named to the All-Star game. Blake Griffin was added to the West team last year, and was the first rookie in the game since Yao Ming in 2003. Ming, of course, won the all-important fan vote, so Griffin was technically the first rookie named on “merit” since Tim Duncan in 1998.
In the modern NBA, it’s extremely difficult to find a spot for those rookies, with only six total rookie All-Stars over the past two decades – Griffin, Ming, Duncan, Grant Hill, Shaquille O’Neal, and Dikembe Mutombo. As you can see, it’s especially rare for a guard to crack the team. Adding Irving would be quite an honor, and at this point, unexpected.
And that brings us back to Andy V. I would expect many Cavaliers’ fans would want to see Varejao rewarded for all the hard work and success he’s had in a Cleveland uniform over the past seven years. Although nothing is a given, there are hopefully plenty of All-Star games in Kyrie’s future. If given a choice, Andy should be the guy. But of course beggars can’t be choosers when it comes to the NBA’s popularity contest, so either would do just fine.
