BOSTON — Monday was the final day of fan All-Star voting. For Alex Caruso, it was greeted with an exhale.
The 25-year-old guard has enjoyed riding the wave of a surge of fan voting, clocking in a No. 4 among Western Conference guards last Thursday ahead of such esteemed players as Russell Westbrook, Donovan Mitchell and Devin Booker.
But fun is fun. Even Caruso isn’t stumping for himself at this point.
“I don’t want to say it’s a ‘travesty,’ but …” he said, with a wince.
Caruso is undoubtedly a valuable rotation player for the Lakers, but he was also averaging 5.7 points and 2.0 rebounds entering Monday’s game in Boston. It’s not exactly All-Star-level production.
But owing to his status as a social media cult hero for the league’s most popular franchise, he’s gotten a boost among fan voting. And, yes, he gets a kick out of it.
“Obviously I enjoy it. I love fans, and the fact that I have fans is an amazing thing in general,” he said. “But yeah, kind of ready for it to move along, give the guys who deserve it their attention and getting back to regular games.”
Among those who deserve it, Caruso’s teammates are near the top of the board: As of Thursday, both LeBron James and Anthony Davis had more than 4 million votes with James in the lead. Davis was fourth overall. Both figure to be easy starting selections for the Feb. 16 All-Star Game in Chicago.
Caruso is not a true threat to be chosen when adding player voting and media voting, which accounts for the other 50 percent of the selection criteria. Only starters, who will be announced on Jan. 23, are selected in that process – reserves will be decided by the leagues’ coaches.
He’s found himself on the other end of matchups from some of the players he’s leading in balloting lately, including Westbrook and Chris Paul. But he said he’s yet to hear the All-Star voting factor into any trash talk.
“Nobody on opposing teams has said anything about it – I think that just kind of goes to the way I carry myself,” Caruso said. “I don’t go around gloating like, ‘Yeah, I should be an All-Star.’ I’m a realist. I know my role and I know what I’m doing for the team. Obviously I’m not one of the best 30 players in the league.”
The run was fun, Caruso said. But he’s ready for it to be over.
“There are people who are very deserving who have had great years,” he said. “Fans do what fans do. Especially in the era of social media that we live in, once something catches fire, it just spreads. Like I said, I appreciate all the love. But the guys who deserve it, deserve it.”
STEVENS, VOGEL KEEP CLOSE
The first quality time Celtics coach Brad Stevens spent with Lakers coach Frank Vogel wasn’t in a gym, an arena or a film room. It was at a swingset in Carmel, Ind., a suburb north of Indianapolis, watching their children play.
The two coaches share Indiana roots: Stevens from his days at Butler, and Vogel from his time with the Pacers. But those ties have grown into a friendship that survives despite the divide the two men fans on opposing franchises of the NBA’s greatest historical rivalry.
That didn’t stop Stevens from taking a few good-natured shots at Vogel, once a mentor and now a peer in the NBA coaching ranks.
“I told him he looks terrible in purple but other than that, he’s a good friend,” he said at Monday morning’s shootaround. “I’ll like him tomorrow.”
The two coaches have long seen eye-to-eye on the game, but their relationship was bolstered last season when Vogel was out of the NBA and came up to Boston during his yearlong sabbatical. Stevens gave him access to coaches’ meetings and other inside mechanics of the Celtics, and Vogel has consistently spoken glowingly about his time there.
Vogel has his own history with the Celtics: He got his NBA start as a video assistant for Rick Pitino, coaching for seven years in Beantown. The Celtics posted a picture of Vogel outside of the Lakers’ locker room alongside Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley with the message “WELCOME BACK” – of course, the photo was from Vogel’s childhood appearance on David Letterman, balancing a basketball on a toothbrush with his mouth.
It might seem like sacrilege coming from the Lakers’ head coach, but Vogel said he likes Boston.
“I always felt warmth coming here because I got my start here,” he said. “I was here for seven years, I met my wife here, had my first daughter here in Boston. This organization will always be special to me.”
Stevens said he also used to repay the visits, grabbing coffee with Vogel when the Celtics came to Orlando. It’s unclear if the two men still have coffee meet-ups when Stevens visits L.A. these days, but the friendship remains.
“I really love Frank,” Stevens said. “When he moved on from Indiana and Orlando, it’s proof that there are really good coaches out there that if they find the right spot, everything’s gonna be great. And this is a great spot. He’s done a really good job.”
