Like many people I consider All-Star selections kind of silly, as every year a few players are snubbed, and rather undeserving players are chosen in their place. That said, looking at All-Star selections from a historical distance is actually quite enlightening, and can teach us a good deal. My recent draft review illustrated this. The 2013 All-Star selections brought a few things to mind in this regard:
- There were seven first-time selections: Tyson Chandler, Paul George, James Harden, Jrue Holiday, Kyrie Irving, Brook Lopez, and Joakim Noah.
- Holiday was the only first-time selection not to be picked in the top 10 of his draft; he was picked 17th in the 2009 Draft.
- George and Irving became the first players from their draft classes to be selected for the game (2010 and 2011, respectively.)
- Noah was the ninth selection in the draft; Lopez and George were the tenth selections in their drafts. That now makes 12 different All-Stars selected 9th or 10th in the draft since 1997. In that same span, not one single player picked 11th through 15th has been selected to the All-Star game. If that doesn't tell you the importance of having a top ten pick, I don't know what will.
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