The NBA all-star voting period is almost over, so I figured it was time for me to share my opinions on who should play in the 55th annual game. The NBA gives their fans the power to select the starters, and then allows the coaches to decide who will make up the rest of the prestigious squad.
I see many flaws in their system.
Often fans vote for a player who is injured, or severely underperforming, solely based on past success or their latest shoe deal. For example, Phoenix forward Amare Stoudemire received 193,268 votes as of last week, and he hasn?t set foot on a basketball court this season. Even though that only puts him in 8th place among Western Conference forwards (the top two start), that?s a substantial amount of votes that could have been cast towards a much more deserving candidate.
Like his teammate Shawn Marion.
Marion is having an outstanding season, but had received only 182,850 votes as of last week. Another example is Ron Artest. While the Pacers forward played extremely well in the early part of the season, he hasn?t played in over a month. Yet he has earned 355,844 votes from the fans, and sits in 5th place among Eastern Conference forwards.
Meanwhile Yao Ming is without a doubt going to be the Western Conference?s starting center in Houston this February. While it?s nice that he?ll extend his starting streak, and get to do so in front of his home fans, I don?t feel he deserves the starting nod. In fact, I left him off of my team entirely.
Nonetheless, here are my selections for this year?s All-Star squads:
Starters
Eastern Conference
(G) Allen Iverson (33.2ppg, 7.5apg)
(G) Dwyane Wade (26.6ppg, 7.1apg)
(F) LeBron James (31.3ppg, 6.6rpg)
(F) Jermaine O?Neal (21.4ppg, 9.7rpg)
(C) Chris Bosh (22.4ppg, 9.2rpg)
Western Conference
(G) Steve Nash (19.1ppg, 11.3apg)
(G) Kobe Bryant (34.4ppg, 5.6rpg)
(F) Shawn Marion (20.9ppg, 12.0rpg)
(F) Dirk Nowitzki (26.1ppg, 8.6rpg)
(C) Tim Duncan (20.3ppg, 11.7rpg)
Of my ten starting selections six or seven of them will end up starting when the fan balloting is revealed in the coming weeks. Of course, I had the liberty of being able to bend the rules slightly. Tim Duncan is listed on the fan balloting as a forward, but I felt he should get the starting nod in Houston, and putting him at center was the only way.
My selections of Chris Bosh, Shawn Marion, and Dirk Nowitzki are long shots to start in the official NBA game, but David Stern isn?t overseeing my column. The East?s starting center will likely be Shaquille O?Neal. Bosh is averaging four points per game more than Shaq with similar rebounding numbers. As far as I?m concerned in the first half of the season, Bosh has been the East?s best center.
In the West the aforementioned Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady are likely going to take the spots I awarded to Shawn Marion and Dirk Nowitzki. Marion and Nowitzki are much better selections in my mind. Of course, Ming and McGrady have the home court advantage - so to speak, but Marion and Nowitzki have been leading their respective teams to wins all season. On the other hand, McGrady has been sidelined with a bad back for twelve of his teams 36 games so far, and the Rockets are a dismal 12-24.
With that said here are my reserve selections:
Reserves
Eastern Conference
(G) Gilbert Arenas (28.6ppg, 6.3apg)
(G) Chauncey Billups (19.0ppg, 8.2apg)
(F) Paul Pierce (26.1ppg, 7.5rpg)
(F) Vince Carter (25.1ppg, 5.8rpg)
(F) Dwight Howard (14.7ppg, 12.4rpg)
(C) Ben Wallace (8.4ppg, 12.7rpg)
(C) Shaquille O?Neal (18.2ppg, 9.5rpg)
Western Conference
(G) Baron Davis (18.1ppg, 9.3apg)
(G) Ray Allen (24.1ppg, 4.2rpg)
(G) Tracy McGrady (25.2ppg, 6.8rpg)
(F) Kevin Garnett (22.2ppg, 11.3rpg)
(F) Carmelo Anthony (25.7ppg, 5.6rpg)
(F) Lamar Odom (14.6ppg, 9.3rpg)
(C) Elton Brand (25.5ppg, 10.8rpg)
Most of these reserve selections aren?t too controversial. You may not see guys like Dwight Howard and Lamar Odom on a lot of other writer?s teams, but Howard is second in the league in rebounding and Odom is the only player who will help Kobe carry the Lakers to the playoffs in Los Angeles.
As I said earlier it?s likely that Shaq and McGrady will be starting for their respective conferences come February, but I felt a reserve selection is all they deserve this season. Shaq missed a significant amount of time after injuring an ankle very early in the season against Indiana, and I already touched on McGrady?s injury woes.
Of course there is a chance that McGrady may not be able to suit up for the game, and there are always a few guys who elect to skip the game in order to rest their injured bodies in preparation for the second half of the season.
In light of the inevitable, I?m going to select two replacement players from each conference. Should any of my current selections decide that playing the real all-star game and my fictional one is too much, they can award their spot to one of the following.
Fill-Ins
Eastern Conference
(G) Michael Redd (24.8ppg, 4.5rpg)
(F) Chris Webber (19.5ppg, 10.1rpg)
Western Conference
(G) Jason Richardson (22.7ppg, 5.9rpg)
(F) Pau Gasol (19.9ppg, 9.4rpg