Paul, Griffin, and Jordan achieve All-NBA status

After yesterday was a great day individually for two of the big three for the Los Angeles Clippers, today was a little better as all three of them were voted onto two of the three All-NBA teams. The official release came out nearly four hours ago and, when it did, it showed just how good this team's best players were. While the offseason ended early for our beloved squad, the individual accolades these guys get are pretty cool and show just how hard they worked in the offseason and how great they were during the season.

Chris Paul was selected to the All-NBA Second Team. It marked the sixth time he's been selected to one of the teams and the first time since 2010-2011 that he did not make All-NBA First Team. Joining him in the backcourt is Russell Westbrook, who received ten First Team votes while Paul received one. At the forward spots are LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMarcus Cousins. They received 13 and 18 First Team votes, respectively. Pau Gasol, who received 15 First Team votes, was the Second Team center. Of the five players elected to the All-NBA Second Team, Paul had the third highest point total and appeared on 121 of the 129 total ballots.

Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan were elected to the All-NBA Third Team with 189 and 175 points, respectively. Griffin received two First Team votes and Jordan received 12. The two guys that voted for Griffin were Eddie Sefko and our own Ralph Lawler. Jordan got a slew of First Team votes from people that worked at TNT or ESPN. Joining them in the frontcourt on the Third Team was Tim Duncan, who happened to receive six First Team votes. Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson were the two selected to the guard spots. This is Jordan's first ever appearance on any All-NBA squad while this is Griffin's fourth straight selection. Griffin showed up on 97 ballots and Jordan was on 75 of them.

On the First Team, LeBron James and Stephen Curry were unanimous selections, appearing on all 129 ballots on the top team. James Harden got 125 First Team votes to appear in the guard spot next to Curry. Anthony Davis got 119 votes for First Team and mans the forward spot next to James while Marc Gasol, who finished with 65 First Team votes, is the center. Gasol appeared on 115 of the ballots while the other four on the team graced all 129 of them.

The NBA's Defensive Player of the Year, Kawhi Leonard, missed out on a selection to any of the teams. Leonard finished with 155 points, which was actually higher than the point totals for both Thompson and Irving but, since he's a forward and they're guards, he missed the cut. Also missing out were Paul Millsap, Al Horford, John Wall, and Jimmy Butler. Horford received a First Team vote from Dave McMenamin. If they handed out an All-NBA Fourth Team, they'd be it.

Among the curious voting tabulations was Rudy Gay to All-NBA Second Team by Stephanie Ready. There was also a vote for Tyson Chandler to the Third Team by Dwain Price, a vote for Khris Middleton to the Third Team by Jim Paschke, and a vote for Carmelo Anthony to the Third Team by Cedric Maxwell. Six voters put Nikola Vucevic down as the Third Team center, three voters put DeMar DeRozan on the Third Team, Eddie Sefko put Kevin Love onto his Third Team, and Cedric Maxwell, who voted for Anthony, also marked down Kyle Lowry onto his Third Team.

So, basically, another year of All-NBA teams is in the books and voters still don't know who to vote for half the time. A few voters elected to move James Harden to one of the forward spots on the First Team in an effort to vote for Russell Westbrook. Some just left Harden off completely in favor of Westbrook. If you are at all interested in the who-voted-for-who aspect of this process, the NBA released that information a little bit ago. Congratulations to everyone that made it but especially to Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan. All were deserving and we are proud of them.