Nikola Vucevic On His Way To Another Snub

It looks like Nikola Vucevic of the Orlando Magic will once again miss out on making the NBA All-Star team.

Although the NBA All-Star Game is still more than a month away, already the first batch of votes on who should make each team has been revealed. One glance at the Eastern Conference players in line to make the squad is as understandable as it is frustrating. This is because once again, Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic has been snubbed by the voters.

Now, the entire process of how the All-Star teams are made up is a bit of a joke anyway. Some would argue that’s looking at the selection process too seriously for what is a glorified pickup game, and that is true.

So while I can understand that Kobe Bryant was the leading vote-getter early on, this is a game that revolves around stars after all, Vucevic failing to crack nine thousand votes is annoying.

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Again, this is a weekend of basketball festivities that highlights the best players in the world. Vucevic does not have the big name many other players do, but he is fast becoming one of the best in the league at his position. Funnily enough, he’s not having quite as good a season as he did last year, and that is because he now has more help on this young Magic team to win games.

So while the personal numbers have dipped (19.3 points per game last season down to 17.3 this year along with 10.9 rebounds down to 8.7) Vucevic is still the most consistent player on this team. I understood why nobody glanced at Vooch last year, he was putting up big numbers on a lottery-bound team that the casual fan did not know or care about.

What also didn’t help his case was the changing of the makeup of All-Stars teams a couple of years back to get rid of conventional centers. Now each team is made up of two backcourt and three frontcourt players. The changing of the rules not only the chances of Vucevic and several other centers ever making an All-Star team, as they now have both forward spots to contend with.

Is sticking Jimmy Butler and Vucevic in the same category fair? No, and for that reason I wasn’t overly optimistic about him making an All-Star team this season. But I did think he’d get enough votes to make it onto the first-round returns, especially when you consider he’s the best player on a playoff team (the Magic are currently 18-13).

Furthermore, the team as a whole is fun to watch on any given night, and Vucevic is a large contributor to this.

His pick-and-roll abilities are constantly improving, and when he has the ball in hand he’s among the better big man passers in the entire league. Although terrific around the basket offensively he’s also expanding his game so that he’s able to knock down jumpers further away from the basket as well.

So to recap, we’ve got an improved Vucevic on both ends of the court (defensive plus/minus of 1.6, career high) who although isn’t putting up numbers quite like last season, is a part of one of the most exciting young teams in the league that is currently occupying a playoff spot.

I still would have been cool with him not making the team, however, if I hadn’t seen some of the other players who made that first returns list.

Kristaps Porzingis? I’m cool with that, I mean he plays for a big-market team in the New York Knicks and has garnered considerable buzz for his play so far in his rookie year. Is he better than Vucevic right now?

He’s definitely not as consistent, but again he’s had enough big nights and media attention to deserve the votes he’s gotten (Vucevic is fresh off a 28-point, eight-rebound, seven-assist performance in a rout of the New Orleans Pelicans Monday night, in case you missed that).

Where I begin to get annoyed though, is when I look further down the list. Joakim Noah? On one hand I get it, he’s still a big name in this league, even if he’s a shadow of the player he once was. Best case scenario he’s the third-best player on his own team, is not even a starter (started one out of a possible 25 games so far this season) and isn’t exactly a highlight reel type of guy either.

While Vucevic also is not the flashy type (neither is DeMarre Carroll, a first time All-Star last season who is in line to make the team a second time this year) he is the best/most consistent player on his own team. The offense flows through him regularly, and both teams boast similar records (the Chicago Bulls are currently 17-12, one place above the Magic).

Noah is averaging 4.5 points and 8.8 rebounds (that’s a hugely impressive number) per game for good measure, hardly groundbreaking.

But the straw that broke the camel’s back here was seeing Marcin Gortat make that list. Now, Gortat is a traditional center in the same way Vucevic is, so why has he made it in? He’s a known player because he plays for the Washington Wizards and averaged 12.4 points and 8.8 rebounds in the playoffs last season. Vucevic on the other hand has never been to the playoffs.

But if he does get to the postseason this year it will be largely because of him. Gortat is vital for the Wizards, but that is John Wall‘s team. To his credit though, he was just named Eastern Conference Player of the Week, the Wizards going 3-0 during that spell and Gortat averaging 21.3 points and 11.7 rebounds. He had two double-double games during that period.

A great little run there, yet the Wizards are not in the playoff picture and are having a bad season (14-15) by their standards. In fact, the Wizards are currently outside the playoff picture, like the Magic were for years, and Vucevic never got a look in then, despite posting big numbers. Vucevic also has more double-doubles this year (13) than Gortat (12).

He’s scoring more points (Gortat is averaging 13.8 a game) and his Player Efficiency Rating is a tremendous 23.1 (league average 15, and that number puts him 15th in the league) compared to Gortat’s still-healthy 17.4. So why then did Gortat get nearly 10 thousand votes? The answer lies in the considerable power the casual fan has.

Nikola Vucevic deserves a spot on that team over Marcin Gortat any day. Neither player is likely to make the actual team though, because star power rules in the NBA and although both are great centers who are vital to their respective teams, they just don’t carry the weight others players in this league do.

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Which is a shame, because Vucevic absolutely deserves to make that team, he’s got the numbers and now the winning record to back it up.