OKC Thunder: The Rich List, Volume Five
By Rich Condon
OKC Thunder: The Rich List (aka Russ Plus Four) highlights the best of the NBA for the week of January 23-January 29.
Other than OKC Thunder guard Russell Westbrook’s omission the starting All-Stars were predictable. In fact, I was pretty surprised with how okay I was with the overall reserve selections as well. Here’s a really quick Rich List of players I thought could’ve been voted in and reasons as to why I’m okay with them being left off:
Related: Westbrook All-Star Weekend destined to rub salt in open wound
Chris Paul: CP3 has been his usual charming self this year, and at the beginning of the season the Clippers were the toast of the town. Unfortunately, CP3 got hurt, and he wouldn’t be playing anyway. Still, a token nod to how well he had been performing before getting injured was justified.
Rudy Gobert: The French Rejection is enjoying one of my favorite low-key breakout seasons in recent memory. He’s a defensive force putting up eye-popping defensive numbers. At the same time, he’s averaging career bests on the offensive side of the ball for the finally scary Utah Jazz. Still, although he deserved to make the game, there’s a deceptively large pool of All-Star forwards out West, all of whom had at the very least a slightly stronger case than the Stifle Tower.
Mike Conley: It makes me sad Mike Conley has never made an All-Star game. In almost any other era he’d have made several by now. Unfortunately for him, fortunately for us: we’re in the midst of the Golden Era of Point Guards and he’s playing in the wrong conference. Still, Conley is enjoying a career year, and if not for missing 12 games with a gruesome back injury, I feel like Conley would’ve ended up sneaking onto the Western Conference bench this year.
Joel Embiid: When I wrote my first Rich List five weeks ago, I wrote that Embiid had the numbers but hadn’t played enough to make the Game. I still believe that. However, what a ride it’s been since then. ‘The Process’ launched one of the all-time great campaigns to get himself voted into the game, and man, did he come close.
Embiid’s per-36 numbers are staggering (especially if you consider the fact that he’s a rookie). Despite being a cornerstone for the surprisingly feisty 76er’s, Embiid has averaged around 25 minutes a night, and has only played in 31 of 49 games thus far. Still, the Process is a special player and, if he stays healthy, he’ll be headlining a lot of these games as early as next year.
Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum: Both Portland guards are having spectacular offensive seasons. Both Portland guards are having equally horrendous defensive seasons. The Blazers have quickly regressed to where we thought they’d be last year after losing 4 out of 5 starters in the offseason. In addition to a severe regression, both have taken votes away from each other; and the Western Conference is stacked with superstar caliber guards.
Bradley Beal: This is a surprising one. The Wizards are scorching right now (more on that later), and if this streak had started sooner in the season, Bradley Beal would be on most people’s radar. The often-injured sharpshooter has stayed healthy almost all year, and has played a vital role for the Wizards night after night.
On to the fifth edition of the Rich List, aka Russ Plus Four, and we’ll start with the man himself…