The NBA 2008 All-Star ballots were released on Wednesday, and for the first time since the mid-nineties there will be some drastic change on the Western front.

The Western Conference has been represented by two forwards every year since 1998 (there was no game played in the strike year of ?99). This year neither of those men will be in the starting lineup for the West, with one on the East Coast and another strangely listed among the conference?s centers.

Kevin Garnett has made ten consecutive all-star appearances as a forward for the Western Conference, with eight of those coming as a starter (voted in by the fans). This season he?ll undoubtedly make his eleventh-straight appearance, but this time he?ll be representing the Boston Celtics and the Eastern squad.

He also seems like a lock to hold down one of the conference?s starting slots, pushing either Toronto?s Chris Bosh or Indiana?s Jermaine O?Neal out of the picture. In the process, he?s also opened up a space for the likes of Dirk Nowitzki, Shawn Marion, Carmelo Anthony or Carlos Boozer. Throughout their careers each of those Western forwards has played second-fiddle to Garnett. Thanks to a mid-summer blockbuster, two of those MVP-caliber players will advance into the conference?s all-star starting lineup.

You might ask ? why won?t Tim Duncan be holding down one of the West?s starting positions come February? Simple administrative error, if you ask me. You see Duncan, who represented the West as a starting center last season as an injury replacement from Yao Ming, has been placed on this year?s ballot as a center.

That?s like being sent to purgatory for an eternity for an NBA center. Yao Ming?s huge Chinese fan base will never allow Yao not to start for the Western squad. He simply accumulates too many votes, too quickly, for any player to overcome. Duncan will go down as one of the best, if not the best, power forwards in the history of the game, but he won?t start for this year?s all-star team listed as a ?center.?

It truly signals the changing of the guard, or shall I say forward, in the Western Conference. For the first time during his Hall of Fame career Garnett will suit up for the East, and for just the second time during his ten-year career Duncan will start the all-star game on the bench.

Now let?s imagine the Lakers finally pull the plug on Kobe Bryant before this season?s trade deadline and send him east of the Mississippi. Bryant has been one of the two starting guards for the Western Conference for eight-straight seasons ? 2008 would mark the ninth.

Traditionalists, who can be adverse to change, might spontaneously combust. We may see three first-time starters on this year?s Western Conference all-star squad. That?s something we haven?t seen since Michael Jordan was putting the finishing touches on the Chicago Bulls? second three-peat.

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