Portland Trail Blazers: Does Damian Lillard Deserve To Be An All-Star?

It seems like it is somewhat of an annual tradition to leave Damian Lillard off of the initial All-Star team. However, does Dame deserve to participate in Toronto this year?

The All-Star reserves were announced Thursday, and much like last year, Portland Trail Blazers star point guard Damian Lillard was inauspiciously left off of the list of seven chosen to come off the pine in the world’s most extravagant pickup game.

The selected cluster of players favored ahead of Lillard includes Klay Thompson, Chris Paul, DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, Draymond Green, James Harden, and Dame’s former teammate in Portland, LaMarcus Aldridge. They will join starters Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Kobe Bryant, Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant in Toronto, barring injury.

Last season, Lillard was also left off of the initial list of seven reserves, but ultimately made the big game as an All-Star replacement for the injured Blake Griffin. And he wasn’t shy in letting his feelings be known for the perceived disrespect thrown at his way.

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However, this season, aside from AD, the cast of Western Conference All-Stars have, for the most part, been unmarred by the dark side of the basketball gods, as we have — for once in what seems like forever — enjoyed a relatively healthy season.

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Which begs the question, does Dame deserve to be an All-Star?  Was he really snubbed yet again?

By resume alone, Lillard has a significant gripe.

In fact, there have been 35 times in NBA history where a player has averaged more than 24 points, four rebounds, and seven assists a game and only Lillard, among those three-handfuls of seasons, is on pace to miss the All-Star Game.

But what about his efficiency, you may be asking; it must have surely taken a precipitous dip with LMA gone. Well, his TS% (true shooting percentage) is currently 54.9 percent, which is a mere 0.1 percent lower than Derrick Rose in his MVP year of 2011, and less than 1 percentage point lower than Chris Paul and Anthony Davis this season.

So, if his counting stats and efficiency numbers both match the anticipated output of an All-Star, the Trail Blazers must really stink this year, right?

Well, they are below .500, but as of Jan. 29, Portland currently occupies eighth place in the Western Conference playoff race. And when you look at their roster, which boasts a starting frontcourt of Al-Farouq Aminu, Noah Vonleh and Mason Plumlee, their depleted mismatch of players would suggest the Blazers are stealth-tanking in their inaugural season of the post-Aldridge era.

The only knock on Lillard is that he has missed seven games this year, but when you take into account his unadulterated anecdotal stats and the surprising, overachieving play of the Blazers, it is really hard pressed to find a justifiable reason — other than, we need Kobe at the All-Star Game this year — to leave Dame off.

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The right thing to do would have been to name Mr. Bryant as a special All-Star participant — the 13th man of sorts — and, in an effort to preserve the celebrated status of being an All-Star, give Lillard his deserving spot.

Taking a macro look at things, however, the repeated snubs Damian Lillard has endured is just an implicit sign of just how deep and talent-rich the league is at the moment. So while Blazers fans are ready to engage in a full-out protest, what we should be doing is sitting back and enjoying this new golden era of NBA basketball.