Lionel Hollins thinks Kevin Garnett should be an All-Star

Brooklyn Nets coach Lionel Hollins believes Kevin Garnett should be an All-Star, suggesting a new way to add players to the game and honor veterans.

Count Brooklyn Nets coach Lionel Hollins as being in favor of Commissioner Adam Silver’s suggestion that it’s time to expand All-Star Game rosters.

And, wouldn’t ya know it—the coach has some ideas about how to accomplish that very end.

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Hollins told The Brooklyn Game on Friday that he likes the current model—with fans selecting starters and coaches selecting the reserves—but wants to add a third component to the mix, allowing Silver to add three players for something that would be almost a lifetime achievement award.

“I think that more than expanding the All-Star to a larger roster is that you still have the fan vote, you still have the coaches’ vote and then the commissioner gets to add three guys,” Hollins said.

Problem No. 1 with Hollins’ plan—three selections by the commissioner would make the rosters uneven. That is unless one of them plays one half with the West and one half with the East, which would be … weird.

Nitpicking aside—even though it’s fun, Hollins’ overriding issue is a desire to reward veteran players who are nearing the end of their NBA run.

“I think a guy like Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, who helped build this league and sustain this league, when they get to the end, they should have the opportunity to be part of the All-Star experience,” Hollins said.

Duncan is actually already on the Western Conference team, but Hollins’ point is well-taken.

Garnett was last an All-Star in 2013, his last season with the Boston Celtics, and he doesn’t have anywhere near the numbers to merit selection in this, his 20th season.

Garnett averages 6.9 points, seven rebounds, 1.7 assists and a steal in 20.7 minutes a game for Brooklyn. At 38 years old, he’s a part-time player now, even though he starts.

Honestly, I’m not wild about expanding the rosters. I like the idea of there being at least one All-Star Game in pro sports that has an elite feel to it.

I mean, you have the Pro Bowl which—by the time players stop withdrawing with injuries real or imagined—seems to be a contest featuring the very best in the middle of the pack of NFL players.

Then there’s baseball’s All-Star Game, with its rosters so packed that the dugouts look like a spring training game. Between the requirement that every team have an All-Star, replacing guys who pitched on Sunday and the idiotic online final player voting, it seems like MLB’s Midsummer Classic has ballooned up to about a 50-man roster.

At least in the NBA, when writers and fans work up their indignation about Player X being “snubbed”—a stupid word to use when you’re talking about selecting the best of the best—it’s about players who are actually worthy of consideration instead of whether the .240 hitting second baseman for the last-place team should have been picked ahead of the .239 hitting second baseman for another last-place team.

Brooklyn Nets coach Lionel Hollins believes Kevin Garnett should be an All-Star, suggesting a new way to add players to the game and honor veterans.

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