On Thursday the NBA announced reserves for the 2012 NBA All-Star game in Orlando. Denver Nuggets small forward and leading scorer Danilo Gallinari had been on the fringe of the All-Star picture and considered a finalist for a reserved spot, but he ultimately didn't make the cut. Instead, Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki took the spot Gallinari had hoped to get. Gallo was not alone in his disappointment, as Utah Jazz forward Paul Millsap also missed out on the honor, but did they truly get snubbed? SB Nation's Tom Ziller tackled the subject of perceived snubs on Friday, and he thinks the selections were fair in the end:
Out West, the major issue is that Dirk Nowitzki got in over perhaps more deserving forwards Pau Gasol,Paul Millsap and Danilo Gallinari or one of the myriad guards considered (James Harden, Monta Ellis,Ricky Rubio among them). Dirk is having his worst season since 2000 (his second year), but his performance has been right on par with all of those other options. Nowitzki has been so, so good the last 10 years that when he's less than amazing he looks like a shadow of himself. But as it turns out, the shadow of Dirk Nowitzki still legitimately has a case as one of the top 12 players in the West.
Gallinari is having a breakout season and leads the Nuggets in points per game at 17.0, but is out for approximately four weeks with an ankle injury suffered on Monday night against the Houston Rockets.
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