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Antawn was the Wizards' MVP this year, unquestionably. He remained healthy basically all season, and was Mr. Consistent in those games. It was a rare occasion to look at the box score and see Jamison without a double double or something close to it.

There's a big reason (among others) that Washington was able to secure a top-5 seed in the East despite missing it's best player for basically the entire season and it's second best player for around 20 games, and Antawn Jamison is that reason.

However, there are other players that are certainly All-NBA 3rd team caliber as well. As it stands, here are the 3rd team members...

G - Manu Ginobili (SAS)
G - Tracy McGrady (HOU)
F - Paul Pierce (BOS)
F - Carlos Boozer (UTA)
C - Yao Ming (HOU)

Did the voters make the correct decision on their 3rd team members, or was Antawn snubbed?

snubbed.

take out pierce. i can't stand that guy. he's on a team that sucks one year and then he gets two good players and suddenly the team is good. i dont think it's his doing. and anyway, jamison averaged 20-10.
3 of the 4 other players that averaged 20-10 were on all nba teams. and the one that didn't was on a team that is pretty much horrible (timberwolves). he led the wiz to the playoffs. he earned it.

I think Jamison deserved more votes than a few guys ahead of him, but definitely not Pierce or Boozer. No snub here, says I.

This is one of those situations where AJ got snubbed, but just about anyone they would have to kick off to make room for the Captawn would also be snubbed. Sometimes, there's just too much talent for the spaces available. Like trying to make the All Star team at point guard in the Western Conference.

How on earth could Jamison possibly displace Boozer on the 3rd team? He only plays one way.

hermitkid wrote:How on earth could Jamison possibly displace Boozer on the 3rd team? He only plays one way.

Ah, the fabled "Carlos Boozer is a superior defender" argument, and my doubters had thought it to be a thing of myth. The fools, so long as there is Antawn Jamison to blow by, even the most disinterested and unathletic will draw praise.

I guess I'd like to see Jamison get credit for all he did in Washington this year, Miller. I mean it would give me great personal satisfaction as a Wizards fan to see him on the all-NBA team lists just because I realize how unfair we sometimes are to the guy, knocking him for his shot selection and effort when he's a 6'8" thirty one year old who should have the option of deferring to Gil and Caron, instead of hoping Deshawn's feeling the Tony Yayo on any particular night. Antawn is incredibly professional and a truly unique player to watch, and yes, our MVP for the year.

So personally, as a fan, yeah, I could argue all day that he's more valuable to the Wizards than Pierce is to the Celtics or Boozer to the Jazz. But once you get out of All-NBA first team country you're working with a bunch of players floating around in roughly the same level of the stratosphere anyway. Why Boozer over Bosh, over Jefferson? You can't tell me that Boozer is more important to the Jazz than Jefferson is to the T'Wolves. So ultimately no, not really a snub. It's hard to really differentiate between a whole bunch of guys towards the end of the All-NBA rosters and those who just miss the cut, and one of the later just happened to be Antawn.

When a player is understood to be third best on his team, it's unlikely he'll be acknowledged as top 15 in the NBA.

I suspect Melo's DUI cost him the 3rd team over Boozer.

fugop wrote:When a player is understood to be third best on his team, it's unlikely he'll be acknowledged as top 15 in the NBA.

rough, but true

fugop wrote:When a player is understood to be third best on his team, it's unlikely he'll be acknowledged as top 15 in the NBA.

Except AJ was clearly not 3rd best on the Bullets this season. He was obviously -- and by a wide margin -- the team's MVP.

hermitkid wrote:How on earth could Jamison possibly displace Boozer on the 3rd team? He only plays one way.

I didn't think anyone apart from Boozer's agent would assert that Carlos plays much defense.