Is Brook Lopez an All-Star Snub?

When asked about being left off the Eastern Conference All-Star roster, Brook Lopez said, "I was hopeful, but it's the way it went. I don't really know exactly who made it, but I know the situation well enough."

That's how it's been with the Nets this season, sort of a ‘hope for the best, but expect the worst' attitude. Many predicted that Lopez would be an All-Star this season, but he didn't even finish in the top 15 for frontcourt votes.

Like usual, he finished behind a handful number of guys with much weaker stats this season, even a few of the forward/centers that made the team over him.

The list (Italics made it):

Not making a case against Andre Drummond, whose had a monster season (17 points and 15 rebounds), but there's a case to be made with Chris Bosh, whose averaged 19.2 points and 7.6 rebounds a game and Paul Millsap, whose averaged 18.0 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. Lopez has averaged 20 points and 8.5 rebounds in 48 games thus far.

That's not to say that Bosh and Millsap aren't deserving of the honor, but picking Lopez definitely wasn't far fetched. For him to not finish in the top-15 for frontcourt voting is absurd.

But as we know, there are several different factors in choosing All-Stars. Most are obvious. The position shift hurt all centers around the league that might've found a spot a few years ago, but its players on winning teams who received the majority of votes over guys like Lopez on poor teams.

"He's a highly skilled center, he can score in a variety of ways and he should've been worthy of some votes, but ultimately I think because our record was so poor it might've cost him a chance to play in the All-Star Game,'' interim coach Tony Brown said.

Ain't that the truth. Out of the 12 players on the Eastern Conference All-Star roster, 11 of them are on playoff teams. The other one is Carmelo Anthony.

The Nets are 12-36 and sit at the bottom of the Eastern Conference -- barely ahead of the once tanking Philadelphia 76ers. Brooklyn's relevancy slips with every loss. The only thing keeping them in headlines is the ongoing soap opera off the court in finding a coach and GM.

Lopez, however, continues to be one of the very few players worthy of talking about on the Nets' roster. This past week, he averaged 26 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in four games. He's notched a double double in six of his last seven games.

Not to mention, he's played extremely well since Lionel Hollins was axed with 21 points and nine rebounds per game. It's a small sample size of 11 games but it's something worth keeping an eye on.

Maybe he'll continue to dominate in the second half of the season and prove that he was indeed an All-Star snub. Still, the number that's most important is 107. That's the number of consecutive games he's played in since getting reconstruction surgery on his foot.