Damian Lillard was selected first overall to represent Team Shaq in the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge. He’ll face off against Team Chuck, which includes Ricky Rubio. Credit: Greg Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The NBA Rising Stars Challenge (long-ago known as the Rookie/Sophomore Game) is the All-Star Game before the All-Star Game. It’s a showcase of the league’s best up-and-coming talent. It’s also a pretty solid gimmick.

The All-Start Weekend is about selling the NBA to the masses. It’s a full-on blitzkrieg of cross-platform marketing, brand building, and synergy. I’m working on a post that should cover most of that stuff, hopefully I’ll get it done before the actual All-Star Game while it’s still relevant. Until then, know that the All-Star festivities have basically already begun.

Thursday night the participants in the various non-game related activities were announced. Also, Charles Barkley and Shaq held a draft, selecting their respective teams for the aforementioned BBVA NBA Rising Stars Challenge.

In a bit of a shocker, Portland’s Damian Lillard went number one overall to Team Shaq. Selecting next, Team Chuck grabbed Anthony Davis, setting the stage for what might have been the biggest draft-day drop of all time. Going number three overall, Kyrie Irving will join Damian Lillard in arguably the best young back-court of all time.

OK, that’s an exaggeration, but still, I knew that a possible Irving/Lillard guard pairing would be something everybody would want to see. This tweet should prove that:

Betting the picks for the Rookie/Soph game with be Kyrie 1st and Dame 2nd, but how great would they be on the same team?

— Rip City Project (@ripcityproject) January 30, 2013

Here’s the official release about the Rising Stars Draft from the NBA.

For those not interested in clicking a link and reading a press release, here are the rosters in draft order by team:

Team Shaq

• Damian Lillard (Portland)
• Kyrie Irving  (Cleveland)
• Andre Drummond (Detroit)
• Klay Thompson (Golden State)
• Harrison Barnes (Golden State)
• Chandler Parsons (Houston)
• Dion Waiters (Cleveland)
• Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (Charlotte)
• Tyler Zeller (Cleveland)
• Kemba Walker (Charlotte)

Team Chuck

• Anthony Davis (New Orleans)
• Kenneth Faried (Denver)
• Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio)
• Bradley Beal (Washington)
• Ricky Rubio (Minnesota)
• Tristan Thompson (Cleveland)
• Nikola Vucevic (Orlando)
• Brandon Knight (Detroit)
• Isaiah Thomas (Sacramento)
• Alexey Shved (Minnesota)

Looking at these rosters, you can be forgiven if your first thought is “damn, Shaq’s team is going to win by 100.” You can also be forgiven if your second thought is, “good thing Chuck is working in broadcasting, because there’s no way he’s getting a real front office job.”

Fans can go to NBA.com’s Rising Stars Challenge page to vote on starters.

@mikeacker | @ripcityproject | mike.acker1@gmail.com

LaMarcus Aldridge is heading to the All-Star Game. Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

It’s official, LaMarcus Aldridge will participate in his second NBA All-Star Game.

Here are some Tweets confirming it:

Hearing @jharden13 and @aldridge_12 have indeed made West All-Star team. Official annoucements in minutes

— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) January 24, 2013

Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Zach Randolph, LaMarcus Aldridge and David Lee are in as West reserves. — Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) January 25, 2013

New on OregonLive: LaMarcus Aldridge becomes 11th Blazers player chosen to a second NBA All-Star Game bit.ly/10F3hSP — oregonlive/blazers (@blazersblog) January 25, 2013

TNT makes it official: Western Conf. coaches have voted #Blazers PF @aldridge_12 to All-Star Game as a reserve. It’s his 2nd All-Star nod. — Joe Freeman (@BlazerFreeman) January 25, 2013

Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge makes All-Star team, source tells Y! Sports. — Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) January 25, 2013

I can confirm, #Blazers F LaMarcus Aldridge was just notified he has been selected to Western Conference All-Star reserves. — Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) January 25, 2013

Well-deserved selection! Congrats to LA @aldridge_12 of @pdxtrailblazers for making his 2nd NBA All-Star team in a row!#RipCity

— Paul Allen (@PaulGAllen) January 25, 2013

Following Wednesday’s win over the Pacers, LaMarcus was not confident that he would get selected to represent the Western Conference in Houston. I can neither confirm nor deny that his post-game attitude was a put-on. What I can say is, LA has been better than decent the last few weeks, even with Portland dropping six straight games.

The reaction from the local media and fans to LA’s selection is positive, as you’d expect it to be. Across the NBA Twitter-sphere though, fans seem to think taking LaMarcus over Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors was a mistake.

Here are a couple examples:

West snubs: LaMarcus Aldridge and Zach Randolph over Steph Curry and Marc Gasol. East snub: Luol Deng over anyone else (mainly Brook Lopez).

— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) January 25, 2013

How did @stephencurry30 not make the All-Star team, but Lamarcus Aldridge did? Smh

— Sal Popal (@The_Standout) January 25, 2013

Take Lamarcus Aldridge off and put Curry in…the Warriors have beaten every good team this year

— Cory Mack (@macktology101) January 25, 2013

To nobody’s surprise, really, Damian Lillard was not selected to the All-Star Game. He’s been great, there’s not doubt about that, but the last guard selected in his rookie year was Michael Jordan. Not even LeBron James got the All-Star nod in his rookie year. Kevin Durant made the All-Star Game in his THIRD season. Dame not getting selected doesn’t count as a snub. He’ll get there, don’t worry about that.

Damian will certainly be playing in the rookie game. So at least he’ll get a chance to showcase his talents against the other members of his draft class.

@mikeacker | @ripcityproject | mike.acker1@gmail.com

**UPDATE**

The team has released an official statement announcing LaMarcus’s selection to the All-Star Game.

Here it is:

LAMARCUS ALDRIDGE NAMED TO 2013 NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE ALL-STAR TEAM
Aldridge earns second straight All-Star bid, will represent Portland in Houston on Feb. 17

PORTLAND, Ore. (January 24, 2013) – Portland Trail Blazers forward/center LaMarcus Aldridge was named a 2013 NBA All-Star reserve by a vote of Western Conference head coaches, it was announced today by the league.

Aldridge will make his second consecutive trip to the NBA All-Star Game after making his first career appearance in 2012. He is the 11th player in franchise history to be selected an All-Star multiple times and the eighth to earn the distinction in consecutive seasons.

“Everyone in the Trail Blazers family is proud that the work and dedication LaMarcus shows on a daily basis to this organization was recognized by the opposing coaches in the Western Conference,” said Trail Blazers General Manager Neil Olshey.

Aldridge, 27, ranks ninth in the NBA in scoring with 20.7 points per game to go with 8.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 0.95 steals and 1.28 blocks in 40 games (all starts) this season. Portland’s leader in scoring and blocked shots, Aldridge has led the Trail Blazers in scoring 15 times, rebounding 16 times and blocks on 22 occasions.

“I’m very happy for LaMarcus, he is the foundation of what we are building here,” said Trail Blazers Head Coach Terry Stotts. “He is very deserving of this honor and I’m glad he was recognized by my fellow coaches.”

The Dallas native joins Miami’s LeBron James as the NBA’s only two players averaging at least 20 points and eight rebounds this season. Aldridge is also the league’s only player averaging at least 20 points while committing no more than two turnovers per game.

Aldridge has enjoyed a stellar month of January in which he ranks tied for second in the NBA with nine double-doubles and sits 11th in rebounding (10.5).

The starting five in the Western Conference, decided by fan balloting, consists of Kobe Bryant (L.A. Lakers), Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City), Blake Griffin (L.A. Clippers), Dwight Howard (L.A. Lakers) and Chris Paul (L.A. Clippers). Rounding out the reserves from the coaches’ vote are Tim Duncan (San Antonio), James Harden (Houston), David Lee (Golden State), Tony Parker (San Antonio), Zach Randolph (Memphis) and Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City).

The 2013 NBA All-Star Game will tip-off at 5 p.m. (Pacific) on Sunday, Feb. 17, from the Toyota Center in Houston. The game will air live on TNT and ESPN Radio in the U.S., and reach fans in more than 200 countries and territories in more than 40 languages.

LaMarcus Aldridge is an All-Star. Credit: Richard Rowe-US PRESSWIRE

In case you didn’t already know, LaMarcus Aldridge has been selected to participate in the All-Star Game later this month as a reserve for the Western Conference.  According to the press release delivered by the team, LA is the 15th player from the Blazers franchise to be selected to the All-Star Game.

LA ranks fifth in the NBA in scoring with a career-best 23.3 points per game, to which he adds 8.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.12 steals.  Pretty nice numbers, not to mention that LaMarcus is only one of three players in the league with his scoring average or better to shoot at least 50% from the floor. LaMarcus deserved his inclusion this season. He deserved it last year too.

Marc Gasol joins LA as first-timers for the West (there are five guys making their first All-Star Game appearance due to some regulars not having super productive, lock-out expurgated season). ESPN.com has the roster for both teams.

LaMarcus had a conference call with local media members to discuss his selection. Ben from Blazersedge has a brief Twitter recap. The Trail Blazers official Twitter feed has a couple nice videos (players and coaches here, office staff here). The team video is an especially nice moment for LaMarcus.

As for the impact this All-Star Game may or may not have on LA or the rest of the season? The best I can say is that’s a tough call. An All-Star nod for some players can be the type of recognition that lights a fire under their career, for better or for worse. Brandon Roy’s first All-Star bid was the league’s way of saying that his Rookie of the Year year was no fluke, fast tracking him to super-stardom (better). Russell Westbrook’s first ASG nom planted in his head the germ of the idea that he might be the best player on his team and not a guy named Kevin Durant (worse).

Westbrook and Roy were both All-Stars early in their careers, so they make weak comparisons. Somebody like Chris Kaman might be a little more comparable. Kaman was selected to his first All-Star Game in his seventh season. It was a big build up to that point, and basically a big let down since. Working a whole career to get included one time can have that effect on a guy. I doubt LaMarcus will be Kaman-esque, but it is a little late for LA to be a young All-Star.

As for what this means to the team, hopefully, it means anything, or has any effect, it will be positive. Portland is having trouble right now finding an identity. Having their best and most consistent player recognized for his outstanding play could turn out to be just what the Blazers need to get on track and move back into the thick of the Playoff run.

And hey, now LaMarcus gets to be introduced as “Western Conference All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge.” It’ll be nice to hear that on the Rose Garden PA again.

Email me: mike.acker1@gmail.com

Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject