3 players snubbed with Melo taking Love's All-Star spot
Given all the recent chatter regarding a Carmelo Anthony-for-Kevin Love trade that will probably never happen, it was fitting that Anthony would be named as Love's injury replacement with the Cleveland Cavaliers power forward out of this weekend's All-Star Game.
Anthony is by no means a unanimous choice among NBA observers, although in his defense, he's been playing well ever since Phil Jackson's buddy Charley Rosen penned that column about him.
Also, the Eastern Conference probably needed another frontcourt player as opposed to a guard.
Forgetting positions however - as the All-Star balloting process has sort of been doing now for some time - here are three other candidates who could have got the nod over Melo.
Bradley Beal
Since 2017 dawned, the Washington Wizards shooting guard is hitting close to 51 percent of his shots, including 43 percent of his threes. The Wizards are 17-5 during this time, a record that's moved them into third place in the East. That's a high enough position to warrant two All-Stars, with his backcourt partner John Wall already headed to New Orleans.
After some public rancor, the pair seem to be consistently on the same page, and Beal is gradually becoming Washington's go-to scorer.
Hassan Whiteside
The argument that Whiteside is an All-Star caliber player is not something you will hear from these quarters.
However, the Miami Heat are 14-2 since Jan. 17 and are two games out of a playoff spot. It's a patchwork squad - when Dion Waiters features as a star on your team, that's all you can call it - but Whiteside is the anchor. Situational defensive shortcomings aside, the fact is he leads the league in rebounding and is fourth in blocks.
Joel Embiid
Obviously, Embiid is hurt and will not participate, as planned, in the Rising Stars Challenge.
Yet he was snubbed when the original All-Star substitutions were announced, and that wasn't fair. Embiid leads the Philadelphia 76ers - another unexpected low-playoff-seed contender - in scoring at just over 20 points per game and is in the league's top 20 in PER.
The moral of this entire exercise, though: injuries suck.