This week, the All-Star starters were announced for the NBA’s illustrious game being held on March 7th, and, for the first time in three years, no Boston Celtics were named to the lineup.
While it’s not too shocking to see, as the team is struggling mightily through the first 28 games of the season, going 14-14 and having lost eight of their last 12 outings, with the way both of their top players in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have produced, there’s an argument to be had that at least one of them deserved a starting nod.
Viewed by some as the best wing duo in the entire league, the young studs are averaging a combined 51.7 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 8.3 assists per game on upwards of 45 percent shooting from the floor and 39 percent shooting from deep.
After having career years in 2019-20, the “Jays” find themselves having even better follow-up campaigns and, in turn, look to make the 2021 All-Star game — for Tatum, this would be his second appearance; for Brown, it would be his first.
While it’s almost a given that they’ll be added into the exhibition as reserves, according to Bleacher Report Dan Favale, Jaylen Brown was snubbed in the voting process that decided the game’s starters.
Boston Celtics stud Jaylen Brown viewed as an All-Star starter snub
Citing his per-game stats, availability, and impact on the Boston Celtics this season, Favale believes the fifth-year wing is even more deserving of a starting nod than his former teammate, Kyrie Irving:
"His career year is punctuated equally by his production—25.9 points, 3.6 assists, 54.8 percent shooting inside the arc, 40.9 percent clip from long distance—and functional expansion.Almost half of Brown’s made shots are going unassisted, by far a career high. And he’s knocking down nearly 51 percent of his pull-up jumpers inside the arc.More impressive than anything, though, Brown has established himself as a viable secondary playmaker. The Boston Celtics have slightly elevated his pick-and-roll initiation, and his decision-making when attacking defenses in the half court has hit another gear. His assist rate on drives has gone from 6.4 last season to 11.3.Whatever ground Brown gives up on offense to primary facilitators, he offsets with his defensive responsibilities. He is going to assume the tougher covers more often than Jayson Tatum, who does a lot of his damage off the ball."
Again, while we at the Houdini believe the 24-year-old Brown will ultimately be making his first All-Star game this season, Favale believes it should have been as a starter, not as a reserve.
Bias aside, we absolutely agree with his argument as to why.