The Timberwolves have two All-Stars for the first time in 14 years, and not surprisingly, the NBA media and blogging community didn’t disagree with both Karl-Anthony Towns and Jimmy Butler making the game.
It feels as thought the All-Star rosters have been talked about for well over a month now, but don’t worry — the game isn’t until Feb. 16, so we have plenty more time to debate the snubs and the shouldn’t-have-gotten-ins.
And while there is certainly some angst over the likes of Oklahoma City’s Paul George and the Clippers’ Lou Williams not making the team, there aren’t all that many true ‘snubs’ this year.
If you go on ahead and take a spin around Twitter, you’ll absolutely see some folks pining for Williams over Jimmy Butler — preposterous, of course, but also the only place you’ll see this opinion actually surfacing. Refreshingly, the national media and the NBA blogging community at large seems to have embraced both Butler and, perhaps more surprisingly, Karl-Anthony Towns as legitimate All-Stars.
Of course, playing for the No. 3-seeded squad in the rough-and-tumble Western Conference helps a ton, and that has surely assuaged some of potential frustration of fans who simply wouldn’t believe that the NBA (or, more accurately, the coaches, who voted for the All-Star reserves) “got it right” when it comes to the All-Star teams.
Indeed, ESPN’s Zach Lowe, in his column released earlier on Tuesday, had both Butler and Towns on his roster, even stating that Butler should have been named a starter. He had this to say about Jimmy Buckets:
"Butler has been a two-way monster. If we’re bringing Curry off the bench, he deserves to start over Westbrook. The MVP’s advantage in counting stats doesn’t outweigh Butler’s edge in shooting efficiency and defense."
Lowe also notes KAT as his “last lock” on his roster, meaning that he was 100 percent certain that Towns should/would be named to the squad. Lowe says, in part:
"Towns became my last lock after deciding on Dec. 1 that he wanted to try on defense again. Trying: What a concept! Towns has been among the league’s very best players ever since."
Elsewhere at ESPN, Kevin Pelton released his teams. Once again, both Butler and KAT made the roster.
The Ringer didn’t officially release team predictions or preferences, but Jonathan Tjarks seemingly thought there could be a debate between Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Towns, which is a mild surprise.
Last week, Lowe joined his old boss Bill Simmons on the Bill Simmons Podcast at The Ringer, and both of them had Butler on their teams, with Lowe declaring Butler as a starter as he did in this week’s column. Lowe also had Towns as a “half-lock” moving towards a lock, which he committed to in said column.
But Simmons allowed one game of poor defense and body language from Towns at Staples Center against the Clippers (in a win) from earlier this season sway him to leave KAT off of his Western Conference roster, despite the pleas of Lowe.
At any rate, the vast majority of the NBA media and blogosphere concur with the selections of Towns and Butler to the All-Star Game.
Next: Timberwolves All-Star Selections: Twitter reacts
And now, for the next step: Chris Paul and LeBron James will draft the rosters on Thursday and the teams will be revealed in the evening on TNT.