Selecting an All-Star team is a fairly simple concept: Just pick the best players in each conference. But when you start debating star power versus actual ability, past output versus present production, and all those other factors that lead to voting bias -- not to mention position and conference quotas -- some rather puzzling choices crop up.
Consider: Jamaal Magloire and Mehmet Okur made NBA All-Star teams, but Ron Harper and Rod Strickland (kids, look 'em up) never did.
Also consider: If the Western Conference hadn't been struck with a rash of injuries, DeMarcus Cousins -- he of outstanding stats both traditional and advanced -- still would be awaiting his first trip to the midseason showcase.
The Sacramento Kings big man did get named as a replacement selection, as did sharpshooter Kyle Korver in the East, but there's still quite a strong list of players never to have been named an NBA All-Star.
(Note: This list contains only active players, but it is not a direct reflection of how good the players are now; it's a mix of players deserving in the past, deserving now and deserving soon. Again, this All-Star thing isn't as simple as it appears.)
Mike Conley, Memphis Grizzlies
Floated as another possible replacement for Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin or Anthony Davis, the 6-foot-1 point guard has been overshadowed -- literally, when he stands in the right spots -- by multi-time All-Star teammates Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph during the Grizz's rise to the top of the Western Conference. But his contribution is massive; despite a pretty poor start to his career, Conley is aiming for a second straight season of 20-plus PER, and a season ago he posted a Real Plus-Minus better than all point guards not named Chris Paul, Stephen Curry or Russell Westbrook.
Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs
Leonard is a very "new NBA"-type star. He'll probably never average anything close to MVP-winning numbers (he enters the break at a career-high pace of 15.4 points and 7.5 rebounds per game). But the versatile 23-year-old wing is considered as important to the Spurs' fortunes as Tim Duncan, and likely will find his way onto the All-Star team someday. He did win 2014 NBA Finals MVP, after all.
Serge Ibaka, Oklahoma City Thunder
When you play with uber-scorers Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, you probably aren't going to be posting many 20-point nights yourself. So the 6-10 Ibaka just plugs along, using his interior defensive ability and newfound 3-point prowess (nearly 39 percent on 3.6 attempts per game) to cruise to a top-30 RPM each of the past two seasons (higher this season than the injury-stricken Durant!).
DeAndre Jordan, Los Angeles Clippers
A distant third in the Lob City triumvirate -- his name isn't even on the TV show! -- the 6-11 center still shouldn't be ignored. His steadily improving PER is above 20 this season, while his defense has pushed his win shares number above Blake Griffin's. Another year like this and it could be a BGCP3DJASG.
Monta Ellis, Dallas Mavericks
Ellis long has been a polarizing player; how else does one average 20 points per game four times (and 19.4 for his career) and never make an All-Star team? But the "volume-shooting" 10th-year guard has rounded into quite the team player; once considered a ball dominator, Ellis has slotted in next to Dirk Nowitzki and helped the Mavs become a top-three offense each of the past two seasons.
Al Jefferson, Charlotte Hornets
Another polarizing player because of his perceived lack of defensive ability, Jefferson nevertheless has served as man in the middle for a pair of playoff teams -- the Charlotte Bobcats last season, the Utah Jazz two years before that -- while posting efficient offensive numbers (six full seasons of 20-plus PER) that also would make a traditionalist notice (three 20-and-10 seasons).
Goran Dragic, Phoenix Suns
What Dragic lacks in longtime production -- just one full season averaging more than 20 points per game and two averaging 30 minutes -- the Slovenian guard makes up for with one major case: the 2013-14 season, during which he averaged 20.4 points on 50.5 percent shooting, posted a 21.43 PER, was 15th in the league in win shares, and was named third-team All-NBA in leading Phoenix to 48 wins. In other words, he was considered one of the league's six best guards at the end of the season ... but not one of the West's six best at midseason.
Gordon Hayward, Utah Jazz
Long handcuffed by a less-than-stellar situation in Salt Lake City, the 24-year-old wing received a max contract this offseason and seems to be well on his way to justifying it. He's posting a career-best PER of 20.54, and growing into one of the best small forwards in the league (his WAR is third among all players at his position this season).
Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors
Ahead of Hayward in WAR among listed small forwards? LeBron James ... and Green. But don't just limit the latter to the 3. The former Michigan State Spartan has defied his draft position (35th overall in 2012) and basketball positions (he can guard multiple ones) to become one of the league's best defenders, a player nearly as important to the high-flying Warriors as All-Star teammates Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
Ty Lawson, Denver Nuggets
This sub-6-footer might not be a star, but he can't be overlooked as a reliably efficient point guard with sneaky passing prowess (10.1 assists per game this season, the tiniest of fractions behind league leader John Wall). If he could get better teammates around him -- like he had in the 57-win campaign of 2012-13 -- Lawson could make a Conley-like leap into real All-Star contention.
Andre Drummond, Detroit Pistons
Drummond is a confounding character -- probably because the third-year center still is just 21. Stuck in a bizarre situation in Detroit -- four coaches in three years, two frontcourt partners (Greg Monroe and, previously, Josh Smith) that never seem(ed) to mesh -- Drummond still has managed to put up some monster numbers (around 13 rebounds per game each of the past two seasons, a PER of more than 20 each season since entering the league). However, his RPM the past two years has been unimpressive. If that latter number turns, Drummond will be off this list very shortly.
Nene, Washington Wizards
The mononymous big man has battled injury throughout his career. But when healthy, the Brazilian has been a strong interior presence on both sides of the ball despite never putting up gaudy "box score" numbers. Just take his run from 2008-2011 alongside Carmelo Anthony on the consistently good Denver Nuggets -- he finished 10th in the league in win shares in 2009-10; Anthony has never finished in the top 10 in his career.
Richard Jefferson, Dallas Mavericks
Jefferson's arrival as a rookie in New Jersey, alongside Jason Kidd, coincided with the Nets' back-to-back trips to the NBA Finals (2002 and 2003), but Jefferson wasn't a bystander. By his second season the versatile 6-foot-7 wing already was a top-20 player in win shares; he finished top-12 in the NBA twice in that category, and was on track for an All-Star selection in 2004-05 (22.2 points, 7.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists) -- before a wrist injury ended his season in early January.
Tayshaun Prince, Boston Celtics
Prince's prime is long gone, but the lanky wing is still around -- and remains the lone member of the Detroit Pistons' fearsome mid-2000s starting five never to make an All-Star team (Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace all did). Admittedly, he wasn't as good as his running mates, but his mix of perimeter defense and glue-guy offense, plus an iron-man streak of 496 games, made him an integral part of Detroit's best post-Bad Boys era.
Josh Smith, Houston Rockets
The butt of many jokes these days, it's easy to forget how good Smith was at times for the Atlanta Hawks, especially from 2009 to 2012. Before he was known for indiscriminately chucking long 2s, Smith was one of the league's best defenders (he led the league in defensive win shares in 2011-12), a key cog in their 53-win team in 2009-10 and an oft-cited All-Star snub.
Honorable mention
Bradley Beal, Washington Wizards; Eric Bledsoe, Phoenix Suns; Andrew Bogut, Golden State Warriors; Jamal Crawford, Los Angeles Clippers; Boris Diaw, San Antonio Spurs; Kenneth Faried, Denver Nuggets; Derrick Favors, Utah Jazz; Rudy Gay, Sacramento Kings; Taj Gibson, Chicago Bulls; Marcin Gortat, Washington Wizards; Brandon Jennings, Detroit Pistons; Brandon Knight, Milwaukee Bucks; Kevin Martin, Minnesota Timberwolves; Andre Miller, Washington Wizards; Greg Monroe, Detroit Pistons; Markieff Morris, Phoenix Suns; Lance Stephenson, Charlotte Hornets; Jason Terry, Houston Rockets; Nikola Vucevic, Orlando Magic.
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