With a historic number of elite point guards and small forwards, who will make the All-NBA teams, and who will get snubbed?
Unlike the NBA All-Star game, All-NBA Team rules stipulate that a center – someone who has played more games at that position than at any other position – be selected to each team. The other designated slots are for two forwards and two guards.
Last year, DeMarcus Cousins was the only player named to an All-NBA team whose team didn’t reach the playoffs. In 2015, he and Russell Westbrook were the only two players with this asterisk.
In 2014, it was Kevin Love and Goran Dragic. In 2012 and 2013, no All-NBA players missed the playoffs.
If history has taught us anything, it’s that winning matters more than individual success in selecting All-NBA Teams relative to All Stars.
With that in mind, here is my humble prediction of All-NBA team selections for 2017 and 10 notable “snubs”:
All-NBA First Team | All-NBA Second Team | All-NBA Third Team |
| G: Russell Westbrook | G: Isaiah Thomas | G: Steph Curry |
| G: James Harden | G: John Wall | G: DeMar DeRozan (14-7 with four 40 point games without Lowry after All-Star Break) |
| F: LeBron James | F: Draymond Green (worst offensive numbers on this list, but likely DPOY, for good reason) | F: Anthony Davis (only started 29 games at Center, he will be considered as a Forward. Will miss playoffs) |
| F: Kawhi Leonard | F: Giannis Antetokounmpo | F: Jimmy Butler |
| C: Rudy Gobert | C: Marc Gasol | C: |
***I found it ridiculous that so many players and media members thought Embiid deserved All-Star consideration. The All-Star Game views centers and forwards as front court players, and he is definitely not one of the best front court players in the game. Every forward on this list and the snubbed list below is significantly better than the third year rookie.
However, centers are a dying breed in the NBA, and most good NBA centers have fundamental flaws – DeAndre Jordan’s free throws, Marc Gasol and Al Horford’s rebounding, Andre Drummond’s everything except rebounding.
So I really wanted to put Embiid on here, but a minimum game rule will likely keep Kevin Durant, Chris Paul or Kyle Lowry off a few key All-NBA ballots, so including Embiid would be just wrong, even though he might already be the third best center in the NBA.
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Kristaps Porzingis and Anthony Davis need to spend more time at the five and drag their sorry teams to the playoffs for the center position to no longer be the laughing stock of All-NBA teams.
All-NBA Snubs by Position
Snubbed Guards: Chris Paul, Kyrie Irving, Kyle Lowry, and Damian Lillard….we are truly witnessing the golden age of point guards.
Snubbed Forwards: Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant (both missed at least 20 games, where as everyone listed above played over 70 games), Paul George, and Gordon Hayward. Picking that final forward spot was a season-long endeavor for me, because Jimmy Butler, Paul George and Gordon Hayward are such similar players.
All scored between 21.9 and 24 points per game, with good playmaking and defensive skills. In a vacuum, Paul George is probably the best of the three, and has proven it in the playoffs far more than Butler or Hayward. But his team under-achieved.
Hayward’s team achieved just fine, but in late game situations he appeared too willing to let other, lesser players take big shots. He also failed to use his athleticism in transition for breakaways points, a category where the Jazz finished second-to-last in the league.
Jimmy Butler’s team was doomed from the start by poor roster construction and inconsistency, but he still submitted a slightly better offensive and defensive season than either Hayward or George. He will be selected to an All-NBA Team as much out of admiration as out of pity.
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“Snubbed” Centers: Al Horford and DeAndre Jordan. Jordan has made the All-NBA Team the last two seasons, but Towns’ numbers since the All-Star Break are just bananas. He also thoroughly outplayed Horford and Jordan individually to the tune of 22 points and 16 rebounds per game in two contests against the Celtics, and 30 points (on 65.1 percent shooting) and 12 rebounds per game in three meetings with the Clippers.