Andre Iguodala has waited a long time for Friday afternoon.
This is not his first All-Star Weekend. He was a runner-up in the slam dunk contest and did his seemingly requisite two-year stint in the Rookie-Sophomore Game. But since Nate Robinson topped him for the 2006 Dunk crown, Iguodala has not returned to the NBA’s mid-season festival.
You can argue that this was a travesty. Iguodala, after all, was the top player on a team that finds itself annually in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt and averaged near 20 points per game. He was a star but not quite a superstar.
More than anything, he was a solid player left at the doorstep year after year.
You could argue this is Iguodala’s worst statistical season of his career. He is averaging 12.4 points per game and shooting 43.3 percent from the floor. His 17.7 PER is strong, but hardly elite.
However, this is the season Iguodala finally cracked the Sunday roster.
“It’s kind of just like, ‘We finally made it,'” Iguodala said. “I talked to Luol Deng and I was like: About time. It took us long enough. We always wanted to be here from the rookie game. We assumed we would play on Sundays and not just Fridays.”
Judging by the way Iguodala reacted to the announcement that he would finally be an All-Star — finishing up at the barber shop, grabbing a bite to eat and continuing on a normal day.
That has made Iguodala’s accomplishment so deserving. Iguodala’s success this season is not built on his statistical impact and his scoring ability, as it might have been in years past. Rather, his success and his All-Star berth might be based on the intangible contributions he has given to his team.
Iguodala established himself as one of the top defensive players in the league during the 2010 World Championships in Turkey and that has carried over into the season. That new mentality has, in turn, carried over to his team. Philadelphia has surprised the league by sharing the basketball and the scoring load and getting to a 20-14 record at the break and the top defense in the league with a 94.2 defensive rating.
Things are working real well in the City of Brotherly Love, and, judging by talking with Iguodala, a lot of it is the attitude he and his teammates carry.
“When guys are winning, guys are happy. That’s the biggest part,” Iguodala said. “I want to leave an imprint on my teammates’ careers in the NBA. I feel like I represent a great team. We find a way to do it collectively to get a win. We fight over rebounds. We fight over that every night. We compete with each other, but at the same time, we do it in a setting where set ourselves up to win games and it’s working for us.”
It certainly is.
The 76ers are one of the feel-good stories of the season. Nobody on the team averages more than 16 points per game and just one has more than 15 points per game. That is Lou Williams and not Iguodala.
Iguodala’s inclusion in the All-Star Game seemed like a recognition of the job the 76ers have done surprising the NBA. This is a team that is unselfish and does the little things. And Iguodala has become emblematic of that.
This is not some lifetime achievement award for Iguodala. He is still young and has the talent for plenty of future All-Star appearances. It is also a clear recognition that the Iguodala’s value goes far beyond statistics. Iguodala is not the kind of player averaging 25 points per night, he needed the coach’s vote to get in. And for a lot of players that means a whole lot more.
So how does a player that has become a defensive ace approach the All-Star Game? He is taking a page out of the host’s book and saying he will have a good time. His focus will not be on defense for the big game… not entirely.
“I’m going to try and have fun,” Iguodala said. “I think for once, I’m going to take a vacation on defense. I’m not going to let my man score, but all the attention is not going to be for me to shut down my man on Sunday. That’s going to be a relief.”
Certainly he can afford a vacation just for this weekend.
What we all really want to know is what will be next for Iguodala. Is this the beginning of a new stretch of All-Star caliber play from Iguodala? Those are questions Andre and his 76ers will have to answer the rest of this season and in the years to come.
Iguodala knows that having the All-Star label attached to him means certain things. It certainly means that players will attack him with more zeal and give him their best every night. Much the same way Iguodala approaches many of his matchups on a nightly basis since he is usually guarding the opponent’s best player.
For now, though, Iguodala has finally arrived. He has finally become an All-Star.
