Will Kevin Love receive a deserved All-Star selection?

By Judd Spicer Thu., Feb. 3 2011 at 6:00 AM

Image via Wiki

Love is well-worthy of being the Wolves' first All-Star since '07.

The announcement coming Thursday night will either have a scent of Brut, or smell just plain brutal for Wolves forward Kevin Love. The NBA All-Star reserves will be revealed on TNT this evening (6 p.m. Central); the starters, as voted in by fans, were named last week. The game will be played on Sunday, February 20.

In recent days, the Timberwolves released the brilliant "NUMB#ERS" campaign, a faux fragrance advertisement aimed at making a final push for Love's deserved All-Star bid. If you've yet to watch the vid, read on. We've embedded the clip. This is a must see.

The Wolves were reported to have sent "NUMB#RS" to the 14 Western Conference head coaches outside of this tundra; opposing conference coaches vote in the All-Star reserves. Coaches cast seven votes, including two for guards, two for forwards, one at center, and two players regardless of position. Head coaches cannot vote for their own players. For the Western team, injured Houston Rockets center Yao Ming was voted in by his ubiquitous outpouring of overseas support; Ming's replacement will be named by NBA Commissioner David Stern. It wouldn't be surprising if Stern named L.A. Lakers power forward Pau Gasol to appear in Ming's stead.

Love--the league leader in both rebounding (15.5 per) and double-doubles (43) while shooting 44 percent from 3--is part of a six-man race among conference forwards vying for three reserve spots. With Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant and Denver's Carmelo Anthony voted to start by the fans, three of these six men should be named: Love, LaMarcus Aldridge of Portland, Tim Duncan of San Antonio, rookie Blake Griffin of the L.A. Clippers, Dirk Nowitzki of Dallas, and Zach Randolph of Memphis.

There's little doubt that the Wolves' poor 11-37 record will stunt Love's support base. Even though Love recorded the league's first 30/30 game since Moses Malone accomplished the feat in the 1982-83 season, and is pacing to become the first player to average at least 20 points and 15 rebounds since Malone did so in that same season, players on losing teams have a shaky track record of being of All-Star selection.

A recent study by Spain's Jose Manuel Garcia, who runs the website NBA All-Star, revealed that, from 1985-2010, just 17 percent of All-Star reserves hail from losing teams. In addition, Garcia notes that the most "losing" player to ever be selected was former Cleveland Cavalier Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who was chosen despite playing for a club with a lowly 9-38 record (.191 win clip).

Tags:

2011, All-Star Game, Blake Griffin, Dirk Nowitzki, Judd Spicer, Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge, Los Angeles, Minnesota Timberwolves, NBA, NUMB#RS, reserves, Tim Duncan, Zach Randolph

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wolvesfaninSF

nobody on the wolves deserves to be an all-star. let's get real. this team is redefining bad. the tony campbell-lead wolves would beat these guys.

Judd

Real polarity in the opinions since last night's announcement, with folks either crying "screwed" for a guy that's working to become the first 20/15 player in nearly 30 years or feeling the slight is apt due to the Wolves woeful record. Per your side, it is indeed worthy of note that the Wolves didn't have their first All-Star selections (K.G. and Googs in '97) until their first winning season, which would lead to their first playoff appearance.

king james

only because no one else on this bunch can even be whispered in any sentence contaning the phrase all star game. Think back to ron coomer, because the hapless twins of that year was entitled to representation.....so despite more talent, he only goes is the wolves need to be represented

Malone

Well, from reading about last night's game, it sounds like Love got extremely outplayed by Zach Randolph - which is not a good thing considering Randolph is one of the playas vying for that spot and on a team that is young, hard-working and 2 games over .500...

duke

personally i like the baseball system where at least on player is picked from each team. love deserves to be picked, even with the poor record of wins. he has made me a believer, and i was a mayo fan.

Judd

Doesn't 15 players on each bench sound a little much? That's really the only thing I enjoy about this particualr All-Star contest -- how elite it is.

myles

With virtually few (or almost none) bright spots in the T-Wolves future, clearly Love is at the top of the list. If there is any hope for improving, he is the go-to guy they will have to build around. He, and his role, reminds me a bit of Kevin Garnett when he first arrived.

Helpme

Love does not deserve to be in the asg. If he was on any other team, he would not have such numbers, and certainly not as much playing time. Of course he scores a lot of points now, no one else on the twolves can. Plus, dude is just a huge baby.

Judd

I'll try to help you: playing on a better team, no, Love wouldn't have the same numbers scoring-wise, although I think the boards marks would be similar (if not better) if he were asked to wholly specify that role. But nobody else on the Wolves can score? What of Beasley's 20.3 per? That charts 20th in the league. And if Love is indeed a "huge baby" then his mere 2 Technical Fouls on the season would seem to refute that claim -- especially with the NBA's more stringent officiating rules.