NET THIS TIME: While the Nets are having a lot of success on the court, Brook Lopez (above), Joe Johnson and Deron Williams were all left off the All-Star team roster this year. (Getty Images)
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Brooklyn Nets will have to wait until next year to have their first All-Star.
Despite entering Thursday night’s action with the third-best record in the Eastern Conference, the NBA coaches passed over Deron Williams, Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez for next month’s game in Houston.
After Wednesday night’s win in Minnesota saw the Nets improve to 26-16 on the year, no one on the team — from interim coach P.J. Carlesimo on down — thought there was much of a chance of the Nets sending no one to the All-Star Game.
“I don’t see that happening,” Williams said after the Nets beat the Timberwolves.
In fact, Carlesimo thought all three players had made convincing cases to go to Houston.
“I think all three of our guys should be on, but it doesn’t matter what I think,” Carlesimo said. “I couldn’t vote for them.”
“They’ve made a strong case, both how they’ve played individually and I think the fact that our team has played well also argues on their behalf.”
Neither of those factors were enough to get any of the three into the game, as the Nets were the only one of the 10 NBA teams with a winning percentage of over .600 this season to have no All-Stars.
The player with the biggest gripe was Lopez, who had been expected to receive his first All-Star selection after a terrific first half of the season.
Nets general manager Billy King weighed in on Twitter after the rosters were announced, saying, “I am speechless.”
Soon after, Nets guard MarShon Brooks tweeted, “Name a center playing better basketball than Brook Lopez right now? Don’t worry, I’ll wait.”
After spending almost all of last season sidelined with a pair of foot injuries, as well as being subjected to endless trade speculation as the Nets chased Dwight Howard, Lopez is averaging 18.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.1 blocks in just under 30 minutes a game.
Lopez, who had joked after Wednesday’s game he’d sit in his hotel room with the lights off instead of watching the announcement, is the highest scoring center in the NBA, and was considered a near-unanimous lock to make the team by media prognosticators.
It appears Lopez was one of the odd-men out in a year that saw several big men worthy of selection, as the coaches selected Knicks center Tyson Chandler, Bulls center Joakim Noah and the Heat’s Chris Bosh in addition to the fans voting in Kevin Garnett.
After the reserves were announced on TNT, Charles Barkley made it clear he felt the reason the league’s coaches left the Nets off the roster was at least partially because of Avery Johnson being fired last month.
“Those coaches, they’re mad because Deron Williams got the coach fired, so they were hating on the Nets,” said Barkley, who felt Lopez should have made the team. “Coaches stick up for each other.”
Johnson, on the other hand, will be missing out on All-Star Weekend for the first time in quite awhile, after making it each of the last six seasons while playing for the Hawks.
While he didn’t have as strong of a case as Lopez, Johnson has played well after a slow start in his first season with the Nets, averaging 17.4 pointsand hitting game-winning shots against the Pistons and Wizards — both in double-overtime — as well as against the Knicks this week.
“Honestly, I don’t think about it much,” Johnson said after Wednesday’s win. “I just sit back and wait and see what happens.”
Williams missing out on the festivities is much less of a surprise, after he admitted recently he wasn’t playing at an All-Star level. Even after an impressive run of performances in January as the Nets have surged back near the top of the Eastern Conference standings by going 12-2 under Carlesimo, Williams is still averaging below his career averages in points (17.0), assists (7.8), field goal percentage (40.5 percent) and 3-point field goal percentage (32.7 percent).
With Williams and Johnson missing out, the East saw a pair of first-time All-Star guards make the team in Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving and Phildelphia’s Jrue Holiday, while Indiana’s Paul George and Chicago’s Luol Deng were the other two representatives selected by the league’s coaches.
Nine of the 12 players in the Eastern Conference came from the Heat, who had three players, and the Knicks, Bulls and Celtics, who had two apiece.