NBA All-Star starters are announced tomorrow, but it’s fairly easy to figure out who those are going to be, especially on the Western side:
G: Kobe Bryant
The Mamba is my leading candidate for MVP right now, and will continue to be if he keeps the Lakers afloat. I know all about why KG should be at the top with the dramatic effect he’s had on the Boston defense, but if it goes to him it’s as the honorary 2006 Mavericks team award that went to Dirk. Speaking of KG, SJ’s Webber post brings up a good point — get your butt in the post.
G: Tracy McGrady
More on him below. Playing one great game every fifth or sixth time you take the floor isn’t enough. I’m past beginning to get worried about him.
F: Carmelo Anthony
No gripes here, but at the same time he might not even be selected by coaches if he wasn’t voted a starter — he’s just not the reach T-Mac is. I expected more of a leap from him after his fantastic play with Team USA, but once again the Nuggets are permanently teetering on the edge of being a contender.
F: Tim Duncan
Sure, call him boring, but put him on the same floor as Kobe and the magic happens. Think of him as the elder point guard among Western forwards. Most people don’t realize what he does as a facilitator, as that’s a huge part of having an entertaining All-Star Game.
C: Yao Ming
No point in debating this. He’s got an entire country behind him. You think Yi might feel a little slighted by his people?
As far as China is concerned, Tracy McGrady is a god — but that doesn’t mean he is worthy of a starting spot, much less a bench spot. The Rockets have vastly underacheived and, coupled with McGrady’s injuries, Steve Nash should be in his place. Fortunately T-Mac might either miss the weekend due to injury, because no matter how nice it was to hear him say he wasn’t deserving, the league will never work around the fans like that, not while David Stern is around. Rules are rules, so now we have to knock Steve Nash down into the first reserve spot and create the massive clusterfudge at the bottom.
Reserve Guard No. 1: Steve Nash
If T-Mac plays, I guarantee you Nash will get subbed in faster than you can say “Bob’s your uncle.” This is the one thing I’ve always agreed with Bill Simmons about: you need to have a great point guard in at every moment of an All-Star game. I just don’t know how much longer he’s going to be around. Hard to forsee him having the longevity of a John Stockton. Part of what is making the league so fun now is, aside from the abundance of young talent, the number of above-average point guards in the league. It’s like the complete opposite of the 2002 season.
Reserve Guard No. 2: Chris Paul
Another possible MVP candidate, CP3 has been absolutely shredding people. Think he might have been a little irked at all the attention Deron Williams was getting after the playoffs last season?
Reserve Center: Amare Stoudamire
How Erick Dampier was ever in the top-3 for Western Center voting is beyond me, but unless the coaches decide they really want a defensive force in the game and select Camby, Amare will be dunking aproximately 9.7 times in New Orleans. By the way, if you are doubting Greg Oden and his rehab, just watch Amare. The magnitude of Oden’s injury was less that Stoudamire’s, and he is still a beast on offense. Let’s just hope microfracture doesn’t make Greg afraid to play defense.
Reserve Forward No. 1: Dirk Nowitzki
Last I checked, he still had a chance to be voted in a starter, but he’s making the team regardless. Despite those early struggles, Dirk is the hurricane that spins the Maverick windmill. SJ, you might have written them off a little early, I still believe they are taking the correct, marathon-like approach to the regular season. The Mavs might not win a championship, but Dirk, Josh-How and co. will make sure they don’t go out like 2007.
Reserve Forward No. 2: Carlos Boozer
Nobody is mentioning this much these days, but Deron Williams makes Boozer look better than he actually is. Don’t get me wrong, Booz definitly deserves a spot on the squad for the numbers he’s putting up, but the Jazz have underacheived despite their tough schedule early on and Booz is only marginally better than Amare on defense, without the same athleticism. While we’re here, how ridiculous is it that Mehmet Okur was ever an All-Star. I think that might be overshadowed only by the crazy Jamal Maggloire selection, but even that was in the slightly darker days of the league.
Extra Reserve No. 1: Brandon Roy
Believe it or not, I’m not being a homer here. After that last Portland v. Miami game on ESPN when Roy countered a huge third quarter from D-Wade and destroyed the Heat in the fourth, I think enough people have seen him play great on a national level to warrant the selection. If you’ve been following the writing of Oregonian beat writer Jason Quick at all, you’d notice that after most games he has a number of leftover quotes from oppoising coaches saying how great a player they think Brandon is. Coaches have seen what he does when he’s on the floor in a Blazer uniform, and the number in the wins column is irrefutable. Two months ago I said Roy had the same chances of an albino in Africa of being an All-Star, but like the Blazers, he keeps chugging along, proving everyone wrong. I’m still bothered by how low Simmons put him on his trade value column. There aren’t 25 players with more value than Roy in this league, but he’s just young enough to be the guy messed over by the number of worthy guards.
Sidenote: While I think he still wanted the shot, I thought it was great the way Roy handeled Coach McMillian giving Travis the last shot against Atlanta. It doesn’t hurt that it’s hard to be mad at Travis for anything after you hear him speak. In his words, “Yeaaaaahhhh.”
Extra Reserve No. 2: Tony Parker
So many people could be selected here. I dropped Baron Davis because he’s let me down far too often this season. Even when they win, the Warriors just aren’t the same team on the road as they are when Captain Jack and Baron are feeding off the GS crowd. Ginobili doesn’t make it simply because I think Parker is more important to the Spurs, and he’s not topping his starting PG. Deron Williams misses out because Utah isn’t even in the top eight ri
ght now and, even though they will definitly be in the mix, the All-Star game rewards the first half of the season. Feels wierd not to have Iverson around, and he’s probably going to get this spot regardless, but I believe it’s time people start recognizing impact over numbers. No Marion because he is having a sub-par season by his standards and Al Jefferson because the Wolves suck. The Dark Horse candidate is Josh Howard, who I’m still mad about not drafting over Luol Deng because I was worried about that sore wrist. Funny thing about all this is, almost every single on of these guys who are getting left off would make the Eastern squad (but not over Caron Butler). T-Mac could make this all much easier.