Adebayo, Butler not voted in as starters. But here’s how they can still make All-Star Game
There’s still a realistic path to next month’s NBA All-Star Game for the Heat duo of Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler, but they weren’t voted in as starters.
Boston’s Kemba Walker and Atlanta’s Trae Young were the two Eastern Conference guards voted in as starters, with Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Toronto’s Pascal Siakam as the three East frontcourt players who made the cut.
Adebayo and Butler are both considered East frontcourt players on the All-Star ballot. Both have played big roles in Miami’s success this season, with the Heat entering Friday’s matchup against the Clippers at AmericanAirlines Arena with the league’s third-best record at 31-13.
“Jimmy Butler should have been a starter,” Charles Barkley said after the starters were announced on TNT on Thursday night. “Jimmy Butler should be starting over anybody. The Miami Heat have been a surprise team in the NBA this year. And the real only addition they got is Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler should be starting, plain and simple. And Bam Adebayo should have been in that conversation. First of all, Bam is going to make the team. But if he doesn’t make the team, I’m not going to Chicago.”
The Western Conference All-Star starters were Anthony Davis and LeBron James from the Lakers, and Kawhi Leonard from the Clippers in the frontcourt, and Luka Doncic from the Mavericks and James Harden from the Rockets in the backcourt.
Why did Butler not get voted in as a starter despite having the third-most media votes among East frontcourt players behind only Antetokounmpo and Embiid? Because fan balloting accounts for 50 percent of the vote, with all current NBA players and a media panel each accounting for 25 percent of the vote.
Butler was fourth in the fan vote and sixth in the player vote among East frontcourt players, while Siakam was second in the fan vote, fourth in the media vote and third in the player vote.
As for Adebayo, he finished seventh in the fan vote, fifth in the media vote and fourth in the player vote.
After all votes were tallied, players were ranked in each conference by position (guard and frontcourt) within each of the three voting groups — fan votes, player votes and media votes. Each player’s score was calculated by averaging his weighted rank from the fan votes, player votes and media votes. The two guards and three frontcourt players with the best score in each conference were named All-Star Game starters. Fan voting serves as the tiebreaker for players in a position group with the same score.
When the final score was calculated, Butler finished fourth among East frontcourt players after taking the fan votes, player votes and media votes into account. Boston’s Jayson Tatum finished fifth and Adebayo finished sixth.
For Adebayo and Butler to make the All-Star Game this year, it will have to be as a reserve unless they are elevated to a starting spot because of an injury to one of the selected starters. The conference coaches determine the seven reserves from each conference, which will be announced next Thursday at 7 p.m. on TNT.
The seven reserve spots include three frontcourt players, two guards and two additional players regardless of position. That allows for a maximum of five frontcourt players from each conference to be voted in as reserves.
Adebayo, 22, is averaging career-highs in points (15.8), rebounds (10.5), assists (4.6), steals (1.2), blocks (1.2) and minutes (34.5). Adebayo is one of only two players averaging at least 15 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block this season — a short list that also includes Antetokounmpo.
Butler, 30, is averaging 20.3 points on 44 percent shooting from the field and 26.3 percent shooting on threes, seven rebounds and 6.5 assists in his first season with the Heat. He also owns a team-best plus/minus of plus-225.
Adebayo has never made the NBA All-Star Game, but Butler is already a four-time All-Star and earned a starting spot in the 2017 All-Star Game.
The competition Adebayo and Butler are facing for a frontcourt reserve spot includes Indiana’s Domantas Sabonis, Detroit’s Andre Drummond, Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton and Tatum.
The 2020 NBA All-Star Game will take place at the United Center in Chicago on Feb. 16. It will follow last year’s format: The two team captains will draft rosters from the pool of players voted as starters and reserves in each conference, making their picks regardless of conference affiliation. The All-Star Draft will be televised by TNT on Feb. 6 at 7 p.m.
The captain for each team is the All-Star starter from each conference who received the most fan votes in his conference, which is James from the Western Conference and Antetokounmpo from the Eastern Conference.
While Adebayo and Butler are the two Heat players vying for spots in the All-Star Game, the organization could be represented by a few others during All-Star Weekend. Forward Derrick Jones Jr. already accepted an invite to the Slam Dunk Contest, second-year forward Duncan Robinson is a candidate to receive an invite to the Three-Point Contest. In addition, Robinson, and rookie guards Tyler Herro and Kendrick Nunn are all possibilities for The Rising Stars game.
The participants for The Rising Stars Game will be revealed on Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. on TNT and All-Star Saturday Night participants will be announced on Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. on TNT.
On top of that, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra would be one of the two head coaches in the All-Star Game if it was determined following Thursday’s slate of games.
The two All-Star head coaches are chosen by a best-record scenario, meaning the coach of the teams that are first in their respective conference two weeks before the All-Star Game (games played through Feb. 2) earns the honor. But a coach can’t participate two years in a row.
The Heat entered Thursday with the East’s second-best record, behind only the Bucks. Milwaukee’s Mike Budenholzer is not eligible to coach in the All-Star Game this year because he did so last year. That means the coach of the team with the second-best record in the East, which is currently Spoelstra, would represent the conference.
This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 7:30 PM.
