If Jayson Tatum Gets Snubbed Of An All Star Spot, The Celtics Only Have Themselves To Blame
Now that we know the All Star starters for each conference, we can shift our focus to the real thing that matters. The reserves. I don't know how coaches are going to narrow things down, especially in the Eastern Conference. There are going to be more than a handful of players who get snubbed and a bunch of fanbases who as a result will be mad online. It happens every year, but this year is going to be unlike anything we've seen in recent seasons. We're starting to see various people give out their reserve lists, and I've seen more than a few that look like this
I bring this up because we should probably talk about the Jays. Nobody gets mad online quite like Celts fans (or maybe it's just me, i dunno), but I think it's a good idea that we all mentally prepare for what might end up with one of these two not getting a nod. Let's be honest, it won't be Jaylen. He's basically a lock. From a production standpoint, they both are certainly having All Star caliber seasons, and I have to evidence to back it up.
Out of the entire league, here are the list of players who have put up at least what the Jays are doing this season
Find me someone on that list who won't get an All Star spot (I think LaVine gets in). Even with Tatum missing time to Covid, his 23 games played is more than Kyrie and Durant, while being tied with Kawhi. So it's not really a games played issue. Any person who is being objective can see the production of both Jays is All Star worthy.
But the fact is, the Celtics have underachieved to start the year. You really only see teams get multiple All Stars if they don't suck ass. The Celts have mostly sucked ass, even if that's not entirely the fault of the Jays. This is where the unknown lives. If coaches might look at the Celts pretty pathetic 14-14 record and use that against having both, shouldn't they also consider Tatum's covid absence? Do they lose to the Knicks if Tatum plays? Chances are they probably at least split with PHI given both those games were relatively close and he missed both. I'm just saying it's not as black and white as
"their record stinks, they can't get two"
At the same time, if you're the top team in the conference I don't see how that team can only have 1 All Star. Whether you think that should be Simmons or Tobias Harris, that's for you to debate. I'm just going with the line of thinking that those teams usually get rewarded with two. It'll be an interesting case to see how consistent the coaching voting is. For example, at last year's All Star break (Feb 13th), we saw the 5 seeded Sixers land two All Stars. Granted they weren't .500, but this is a weird shortened season. The Miami Heat, a 4 seed at the time, also got the nod with two reserves.
The thing is, now with way more worthy candidates, I'm not sure this is some sort of lock. There is just a 2.5 game difference from the 3 seed to the 8 seed in the East right now. Everyone is lumped together for the most part when you talk about finding spots for these reserves.
That's why as Celts fans, we can think it's bullshit if both Jays don't make it, but honestly, it would be mostly due to their own doing. Stop being so bad against shitty teams and show an ounce of consistency and this probably isn't even a potential issue. They have like 7 losses by 6 points or less because they were unable to close out games that both Jays played in. Cut that in half and we aren't even having this conversation.
Who knows, maybe this is all for nothing and the coaches will recognize both for the pretty fucking awesome individual seasons they are having. But in a year where there are 100000% going to be worthy candidates who get snubbed, the Celts have played their way into that group. Maybe if Tatum gets snubbed it fuels him for the second half or something. I dunno. I'm just trying to bring awareness to something that is going to trigger a lot of us (myself included), and hope everyone realizes any potential snub is a result of their own inconsistent shitty play in the first half.
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Just do yourself a favor and brace yourself to be safe. Don't get mad that Tatum might get snubbed, be mad that they've been inconsistent as hell up until this point. That's the real issue in my opinion.