"Kevin Love, Timberwolves: Virtually every list I've seen has placed Love on the All-Star team, which may lead people to think he's a shoo-in. Actually, I'm dubious. For starters, there's the long-held bias against players from teams with losing records that I mentioned above.
But in Love's case, a larger bias is at work. Since I presume most of you don't regularly talk with scouts and assistant coaches, I can't emphasize this enough: It is shocking how dismissive virtually every old-school basketball type is of Love. Most personnel types grudgingly admit he's a spectacular rebounder before adding that he's unathletic, struggles on defense and basically doesn't fit their prototype of what a star big man ought to be.
Even his own coach was indifferent toward him for 10 games until the first 30-30 game in a quarter-century clued him in to the fact that Love might be pretty good. Since these are the people doing the voting, and since Love already faces an uphill battle thanks to his non-reclining middle seat aboard Kahn Air, I'm not sure if he's getting in.
I should point out that there is some validity to the scout-speak -- Love is a subpar defender and he can't consistently get his own shot. Nonetheless, it would be unprecedented to leave out a player with such spectacular individual accomplishments. Love has a whopping two-board lead on the field in the chase for the rebound title; additionally, he's shooting 44.5 percent on 3s, and scores at a phenomenal rate (23.5 points per 40 minutes) for a guy who never has plays called for him. The T-wolves may stink, but it's tough to pin that on him. In fact, I'd argue it hurts him -- by my calculations, Sota's soft defense costs Love nearly half a defensive rebound per game."
