“His combination of rebounding and outside shooting is possibly the best the game has ever seen.” – ESPN’s David Thorpe
To back that claim up lets look– once again– at Kevin Love’s outstanding numbers.
21.4 points per game, 15.5 rebounds per game, and shooting .439 from the three-point line this season through the Timberwolves first 48 games this season.
Unfortunately those numbers weren’t enough for the NBA coaches to select Love to the 2011 NBA All-Star game.
Snub would be an understatement. Travesty would be a more accurate synonym of Love not being selected.
The effort on the part of the Timberwolves advertisement and marketing departments cannot be blamed for Love’s absence from the reserves for the Western Conference.
Last week the Timberwolves organization created the website 612allstar.com (612 is the area code in Minneapolis). They featured a cologne called “Numb#rs” with the phrase, “A fragrance by Kevin Love: He Has the Numbers.”
They sent the cologne to all 30 NBA coaches. Unfortunately their advertising campaign wasn’t enough.
It wasn’t the numbers that held Love back.
Currently Love is third amongst Western Conference power forwards in scoring, first in rebounding, second in three-point percentage, second in free-throw percentage, and 12th in field-goal percentage.
Love’s 43 double-doubles leads the NBA (Blake Griffin is second with 40). He has on three separate occasions posted a 30-20, every other player in the league has done that a combined ZERO times.
Love has recorded seven 20-20 games this season.
Lets not forgot about Love’s phenomenal November 12th performance against the Knicks in which he notched the NBA’s first 30-30 game since 1982.
Wednesday night Love continued his double-double streak, the streak that is now at 34 straight games.
John Hollinger’s prestigious Player Efficiency Rating (PER) ranks Love sixth… in the NBA! The five in front of him: LeBron James, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard, and Kobe Bryant.
Let me translate that. Kevin Love is rated as the sixth most efficient player the NBA.
Yet he was still denied an appearance in the All-Star game? Travesty.
San Antonio’s Tim Duncan (13.6 points and 9.4 rebounds) and Manu Ginobili (18.8 points per game and 4.8 assists per game) were selected to the game over Love. But San Antonio leads the NBA with a 40-8 record.
Love still has an outside chance at making the All-Star game. The fans voted Yao Ming on as the starting center for the Western Conference, but due to injury he will be unable to perform.
NBA Commissioner David Stern selects players to fill in for those who are unable to play due to injury. While Love’s numbers more than speak for his case to be selected, the early indications are that Phoenix’s Steve Nash will be Stern’s choice.
Because that is exactly what the Western Conference team needs, a fourth point guard.
The obvious force working against Love was the Timberwolves struggles this season. Currently the Wolves sit with an 11-37 record. They are last in the Western Conference standings, and only the woeful Cavaliers have a worse record in the NBA (8-41, losers of 22 straight).
The fragrance wasn’t false advertising; Love definitely had the numbers to be selected to represent the Western Conference.
But as 1500ESPN Twin Cities’ Dana Wessel put it, “But in the end, it appeared the only number that mattered was 11, as in the number of wins the Wolves have cobbled together through their frustrating season.”
And in the game of basketball wins has always been, and will always be, the most important number.
-Brett Cloutier
Brett is co-host of The Backdoor Cut, a Minneapolis based sports talk show, and Minnesota Timberwolves beat writer for The Sports Bank.
You can follow Brett on Twitter @brettcloutier