Resurgence of All-Star Centers

[Mike G]

In the 3-point era, now in it's 40th season, about 200 players listed as C (or C-F) have gotten at least 8 Win Shares in a season.
We also find almost 200 with at least 3 VORP.
And 146 times, we have 8 WS and 3 VORP from a C. That's 3.75 per year, or just about enough for an AllStar roster.
(Apologies to 1999 and 2012, short seasons.)

Here's the annual trend:

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yr   #      yr   #      yr   #      yr   #
80   6      90   4      00   4      10   3
81   4      91   5      01   3      11   2
82   6      92   4      02   2      12   3
83   8      93   6      03   2      13   2
84   4      94   5      04   2      14   3
85   4      95   6      05   2      15   5
86   2      96   5      06   2      16   3
87   5      97   2      07   1      17   4
88   4      98   4      08   3      18   4
89   6      99   2      09   2      19   2

http://bkref.com/tiny/ZzGMx
In 1983, we had Kareem, Cartwright, Gilmore, Laimbeer, Moses, Parish, Ruland, and Sikma.
By 2007 it was just a young Dwight Howard. Before that a few years of Shaq + Brad Miller.

These players make the list multiple times. AllStars and snubs:

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13  Olajuwon   4   D Jordan
12  Robinson   4   Moses
11  Shaq       4   B Miller
8   Ewing      3   T Chandler
7   Kareem     3   Gobert
6   Laimbeer   3   Jokic
6   Mutombo    3   Towns
6   Sikma      2   Camby
5   Horford    2   Divac
5   Dwight     2   Mourning
5   Parish     2   Noah
4  Daugherty   2   Ruland
4   M Gasol    2   Sabonis
4   Gilmore         

Note in the previous chart, 2 players from this very season: Jokic and Gobert are already qualified.
Projecting to the full season, these centers would be worthy:

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center    WS   VORP
Jokic    12.5   7.5
Gobert   14.4   6.2
Towns    11.5   6.0
Vucevic  10.0   5.5
Embiid   10.5   3.5
Adams    10.2   3.5
Nurkic    8.2   3.9

Only Nurkic is close to missing the cut.
Anthony Davis does not appear among C / C-F, even though 96% of his minutes this year are at C. Surely others are lost in this history.

[Mike G]

What started this topic was noticing Rudy Gobert ranking top 5 in WS, VORP, and rpmWins -- yet not making the AllStar teams.
Team Giannis started Embiid and brought Jokic and Vucevic off the bench, total 48 minutes.
Team LeBron started 3 forwards and used Towns 11 minutes, A Davis 5.

Gobert currently has 10.3 Win Shares and 4.4 VORP, ala b-ref.com
His projected totals by season's end would be 14.3 and 6.1
The only player to hit 14 and 6 and be snubbed from the ASG was Horace Grant in 1992 -- 14.1 and 6.7. Both were by far his career highs, and he made one ASG, 2 years later.

If Gobert only makes it halfway to 14 and 6, he joins these non-Allstars who have totaled 12.3 and 5.25

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player      tm  yr    WS   VORP    Pts   Reb   Ast  StBk
Ho Grant   Chi '92   14.1   6.7   14.2  10.0   2.7   2.8
K Anderson Por '97   12.4   5.5   17.5   4.4   7.1   2.2
Blaylock   Atl '97   12.5   7.1   17.4   5.3   5.9   3.0
 
Nowitzki   Dal '01   14.6   5.3   21.8   9.2   2.1   2.2
Towns      Min '17   12.7   5.3   25.1  12.3   2.7   2.0
Gobert     Uta '17   14.3   5.4   14.0  12.8   1.2   3.2

http://bkref.com/tiny/o9jKC
Gobert isn't just one of the biggest Allstar snubs ever, he's two of them.
In 2017 he did get put on the All-NBA 2nd team. Not sure if anyone's been through that sequence twice.

Dirk at 22 and Chet Walker (Chi'72) are the only players with 14.3 WS to be left out of the ASG. Ever.
In the 3 point era, about 2 players per year get that many WS. In 1981, it would have led the league. Last 2 seasons, only Harden has done it.
Players with 6.1 VORP and no ASG: Kareem'78, Barkley'86, Pippen'91, Grant'92, Blaylock'97, and Steve Francis'01