If there was ever a reason to do away with the rankings for All-NBA teams, it was the omission of the Philadelphia 76ers center from the First-Team All-NBA honors. More than half of NBA teams have moved past the idea of putting the runner-up to the Most Valuable Player on the Second Team. Every team has adopted positionless basketball. Why can't it be the league? The league has demoted the most dominant big man in the game to second-tier recognition by grasping onto outdated thinking. He took his 76ers to the fourth seed in the East and into the Eastern Conference Semifinals while saddled with some of the worst teammates in NBA history.
On shooting splits of 49/37/81, he averaged 30.6 PPG, 11.7RPG, 4 APG, 1 SPG, and 1.5 BPG. He scored 30.6 points per game. He was the first big man to lead the league in scoring since 2000. He was the first big man to average 30 points since 1982.
Those numbers led many to believe that he was robbed of this year's Most Valuable Player trophy, after he lost out to the Nuggets center. It's stupid to regulate Embiid to the second team based on his position. Whatever team Joki is on, he should be next to him. Considering that one of the players who did make the All-NBA First Team, Devin Booker, fooled everyone into thinking he was a superstar this year, he put up a K-mart Kobe Bryant impression in the second round against the Dallas Mavericks. He scored 11 points in Game 7. Booker was the first Suns player to be named to the NBA's First Team.
The other three First Teamers are Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Don and Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum. The All-NBA First Team was made up of players 27 years old or younger for the first time since the 1954-55 season, which shows how talented the league has become on the back of its youth.
Booker should have been bumped to the Third Team if voting was paused until after the playoffs. Voters can see how players perform in the playoffs if end-of-season awards are given out after the playoffs have ended. If this were the case, Booker would not be on All-NBA ballots because of his poor shooting and flop in Game 7. Chris Paul burned out a series earlier than he did last year, but he still averaged 13, 7, and 4 in the WCSF. Paul was named to the third team.
If voters don't consider the playoffs in their voting, then Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgous-Alexander or San Antonio's Dejounte Murray will win. The honor this season goes to AnthonyEdwards. The NBA had to fulfill a meaningless framework so big man KAT made third team. He snuck his way onto the Third Team, even though he wasn't an All-Star.
The NBA needs to catch up with how the game is being played. Since Don Nelson's days as the Warriors coach in the early 90s, positionless basketball has slowly taken over conventional thinking. More than half of NBA teams don't use a traditional center. The teams are playing out the string. The point of clinging onto archaic modes of recognition is to leave a candidate off the league's highest team honors. When it came to this year's award, it was already snubbed. The league decided to deny him another honor.
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