Josh Smith should have been an All-Star. He has stepped up his play with Al Horford out and is giving the Hawks 15.9 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.1 blocks per game, and the Hawks are your four seed in the East at 18-10. Hard to look the other way.
But the reserve All-Star forwards in the East are Chris Bosh, Luol Deng, Andre Iguodala and Paul Pierce.
Smith is staying home and he’s not happy about it. This sums up his feelings, via the twitter of Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal Constitution (via Eye on Basketball).Or there is this from his story in the paper.
“You’ve got to factor in there is a lot of politics involved in the All-Star selection,” Smith said Friday.…
“I can’t really point a finger and blame anybody because, at the end of the day, when you leave it up to certain people that still have ties to their agents, [and] players in this game today probably [are] just putting in a bid over the phone, or however they do it,” he said. “You have to factor that in.”
I could make a case for why Smith should be in over Deng or Pierce, but the fact is those are not bad selections. I would have gone with Smith over Deng, but this isn’t a terrible decision. Just too many good players and not enough spots. It’s not all politics.
