David Lee Left off All Star Roster – Snubbed? I’m Not Sure.

David Lee was NOT among the seven reserves named to the Eastern Conference All Star team Thursday night. Lee’s omission means the Knicks will be without an all-star representative for the 8th straight year. Yikes!

Here are the East reserves:
Devin Harris – NJ
Paul Pierce – BOS
Chris Bosh – TOR
Joe Johnson – ATL
Danny Granger – IND
Rashard Lewis – ORL
Jameer Nelson – ORL

So was Lee snubbed? To be honest, I really don’t know. There are several arguments FOR and AGAINST Lee’s making the team. After breaking them down, I’m still not sure. Let’s take a look.

PLAYING FOR A SUB-.500 TEAM
I feel that unless a player was truly exceptional, playing for a team below .500 should count against you making the All Star team. The players who fit that bill were Harris and Granger. Granger I can live with. He’s an elite scorer coming into his own this year. Harris has been great, too, but in my opinion a level below Granger’s “elite-ness.” I think he benefited from a weak PG pool. As far as D-Lee is concerned, when considering the sub-.500 criteria, he doesn’t make the cut.

LEADING THE LEAGUE IN A STATISTICAL CATEGORY
Lee’s points and rebounding numbers are good but not great, 15.7/11.6. However, when you put them together, you’ll find that Lee is tied for the NBA lead in double-doubles. Now THAT’S an impressive stat! It shows that Lee performs at a consistently high level night in and night out as well as anyone in the league. As far as this criteria for all-star selection is concerned, you could argue Lee should have been picked.

LACK OF A SECOND CENTER IN THE EASTERN CONFERENCE
After Orlando’s Dwight Howard, there are few centers in the East worthy of an all-star selection. Under normal circumstances, Lee wouldn’t be considered a center. But on the Knicks’ size-starved team, Lee is considered the team’s pre-eminent big man. The actual Eastern Conference reserve selection at center was Toronto’s Chris Bosh. Bosh is a power forward. Andrea Bargnani is the Raptors’ everyday center. If true position were taken into account, Lee would be the East’s logical #2 choice at center and Bosh would have to make the team competing against his fellow forwards.

PEDIGREE
I’ll argue this point but to a much lesser extent. Is it possible that Lee wasn’t selected because this is the first year he’s really excelled in the NBA? Is it possible that in the voters’ eyes Lee doesn’t have the name recognition of a Bosh or Rashard Lewis? If that’s the case, then consider this year’s vote as Lee paying his dues. If it comes to be that he performs this well against next season and is a borderline pick again, perhaps then he’ll get over the hump.

Ok, so after all that, was David Lee snubbed? Like I said earlier, I’m still not sure. I can go either way on this. As a Knick fan I was disappointed Lee didn’t make it, but I’m sure he’ll have a few more cracks at it in the seasons to come.

Besides, if you’re looking at this from a team-building perspective, Lee not being chosen represents one fewer bargaining chip he could hold over the Knicks’ heads in contract negotiations. This way he’ll be ours forever!!

So what do you think? Was D-Lee snubbed? Help me out here.

Matt Estreich for The Huddle