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Cleveland Cavaliers: Which Cavs Will Join LeBron James & Tyronn Lue As NBA All-Star Reserves?

By Dustin Murrell
Published on: 05:13 PST, Jan 28, 2016

The starters for the 2016 NBA All-Star Game were announced last week. Unsurprisingly, LeBron James was the leading vote-getter (1.09 million) from the Eastern Conference, coming in third overall in the league behind Kobe Bryant (1.89 million) and Stephen Curry (1.60 million). James — who has recently been called a “coach killer” — will make his 12th consecutive start for the Eastern Conference All-Star team. No one else from the Cavs made the starting lineup.

However, after having only served as a head coach in the NBA for three games, Tyronn Lue was named the coach of the Eastern Conference team yesterday. Those positions are traditionally reserved for the coaches of whichever teams lead their respective conferences two weeks before the All-Star game. With their current lead, the Cleveland Cavaliers will still be on top of the Eastern Conference no matter what on Sunday. Despite the coach’s short tenure thus far, Kevin Love had a witty reply to the media when they asked him if he felt Lue should be coaching in Toronto during NBA All-Star Weekend.

“He’s won 66 percent of his games so far, right?”

But will Love maintain that sense of humor if he is snubbed from this year’s game? When NBA.com announced the starters, they also revealed the Top 15 big men and Top 10 guards from each Conference. While Kyrie Irving was No. 3 overall among guards, Kevin Love was just No. 8 overall among forwards and centers.

Eastern Conference Voting Result — Frontcourt

  1. LeBron James (1,089,206)
  2. Paul George (711,595)
  3. Carmelo Anthony (567,348)
  4. Pau Gasol (566,988)
  5. Andre Drummond (515,296)
  6. Kristaps Porzingis (473,579)
  7. Chris Bosh (351,420)
  8. Kevin Love (332,685)
  9. Hassan Whiteside (301,362)
  10. Giannis Antetokounmpo (84,617)
  11. Jonas Valanciunas (73,079)
  12. Joakim Noah (48,509)
  13. DeMarre Carroll (46,044)
  14. Marcin Gortat (43,496)
  15. Paul Millsap (41,654)

Eastern Conference Voting Result — Guards

  1. Dwayne Wade (941,466)
  2. Kyle Lowry (646,466)
  3. Kyrie Irving (580,651)
  4. Jimmy Butler (564,637)
  5. DeMar DeRozan (444,868)
  6. John Wall (368,686)
  7. Derrick Rose (302,389)
  8. Jeremy Lin (195,920)
  9. Isaiah Thomas (153,642)
  10. Reggie Jackson (76,688)

There seems to be little debate about whether or not Kyrie Irving will make the team. Kyrie has been a part of the Eastern Conference squad for the last three years and even started in 2014. He’s had a great season so far, proving that he’s a vital part of the Cavaliers team. He is likely to be the first reserve off of the bench when Wade or Lowry are ready for a break.

Will Irving and Love joing James and Lue in Toronto?
Will all of the Cavs’ ‘Big 3’ make it to the All-Star Game? Kyrie Irving seems very likely, but could Kevin Love be left out? [Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images]

Kevin Love’s participation in the NBA All-Star Weekend has been less consistent than Irving’s. While Love is also a three-time NBA All-Star, he’s missed the cut twice in the last three years. If the reserves were chosen based on fan votes, he would be 14th overall in the Eastern Conference, just missing the 13-man cut-off.

But when the NBA coaches vote on the reserves, will they feel more strongly about Love than the NBA fans? While Pau Gasol and Andre Drummond seem like no-brainers, will Kevin receive more love from the coaches? All-Star coach Lue doesn’t think there even needs to be a conversation about it, according to ESPN.

“There’s no way to me he shouldn’t be an All-Star this year.”

“I don’t know,” Kevin Love said, much less confident than Tyronn. “We’re first in the East. I think that helps. But I have no idea.”

The reserves for both teams will be announced tonight on TNT at 8/7c. The 2016 NBA All-Star Game will take place on February 14 in Toronto.

Between now and then, however, the Cleveland Cavaliers have more important things to worry about. Rumors continue to float around about Kevin Love being traded. LeBron’s PR team are stuck trying to deal with James’ new “coach killer” stigma. On top of that, the Cavs have eight more regular season games to focus on, including Friday night’s game against the Detroit Pistons.

[Photo by Mike Larie/Getty Images]

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