The ‘Rich list’ Edition 4, also known as “Russ plus four’ features OKC Thunder Russell Westbrook and the top performances of January 16th, to 22nd, 2017.
So, before I get into this week’s edition of the Rich List, I wanted to spend a minute on the All-Star Starter snubs. I’m putting all bias aside, and my writing about the OKC Thunder all year has absolutely nothing to do with any of this. This is coming strictly as a passionate fan of the NBA my entire life.
Russell Westbrook is not starting in the All-Star Game for the Western Conference.
The leading scorer in the NBA is not a starter. The guy who is averaging a triple-double for the season; something that hasn’t been done in over fifty years since Oscar Robertson, is not starting in the All-Star Game. The guy who has 21 triple-doubles in 44 games (as of the time I’m writing this, I’m sure it’s gone up by the time this gets posted,) is not an All-Star starter.
Meanwhile, the ten players who are starting have combined for 19 triple-doubles, and if you remove Harden’s 12, the other 9 players have 7. I understand that triple-doubles aren’t the be-all end-all when it comes to debating the merits of choosing who should start in the world’s most glorious exhibition, but come on! The worst part about it, unfortunately, is it’s our fault. The fans are the reason that this happened.
Must Read: Is Westbrook All-Star snub worst in history?
Whoa, Whoa, whoa! Keep reading before you go to the comment section and flame me. As you may or may not be aware, the NBA changed how the starters would be determined this year. Instead of it being 100% up to the fans as it was in previous years, this year the fan vote counted for fifty percent. The other fifty percent was split evenly between the players and media members.