The NBA 24/7 365 All-Stars

As I’m sure you know, the announcement of the 2011 All-Star reserves will preceed TNT’s 8 o’clock game tonight.  In addition to the starters, who were named last week, each conference will be given two more guards, two more forwards, a center, and two “wild cards”.  So there’s room for seven more players on each squad, and obviously there’s more than seven players in each conference who have a valid case for a spot.  Here’s who I’d send to LA if it were up to me…

WEST

Guards

  • Manu Ginobili: With the league’s best record, I’d say the Spurs are more than deserving of at least one representative.  Manu’s play has been excellent in San Antonio’s new uptempo system, and he’s put up the numbers necessary to make the game.  His 18.8 PPG are easily a career best, and his 4.8 APG are just a tenth of an assist under his career mark. 
  • Deron Williams: It’s hard to argue with 22 points and nine assists.  The scoring is his career best, and he’s doing it on nearly 47 percent from the field.  The Jazz have been slipping a bit lately, but they’re still going to be a playoff team, and Deron’s individual numbers are some of the best out West at the guard position.

Forwards

  • Dirk Nowitzki: The guy’s a leading MVP candidate, so he’s gotta be in the All-Star game.  He should be starting in place of Carmelo Anthony, who shouldn’t be in at all and is going to cause someone to get completely shafted… but I’ll get to that later.  Dirk is doing 23 points per game and has the Mavs in third place out West.  Want to question his value?  Dallas is 2-7 without him… and they dropped games to Milwaukee and Toronto.
  • Blake Griffin: This is a no-brainer now that the Clippers don’t totally suck.  Griffin’s doing 23 points, 12.7 boards, and 3.6 dimes these days and has LA’s other team playing better than .500 basketball over the past two months.  Plus, I mean let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to see Blake in the All-Star game?  Even if he didn’t totally deserve it I’d be petitioning for his inclusion.  The NBA says this game’s for the fans, and I’m pretty sure Griffin is exactly who the fans want to see.

Center

  • Pau Gasol: No, I don’t care that he’s listed as a PF on the ballot.  He’s played the majority of his minutes at center this season, and since there is not a single other C in the conference that’s actually worthy, please just let it go down like this.  There’s far too many deserving forwards to have Nene or Andrew Bynum playing in the game.  I’ll be pissed if that happens.

Wild Cards

  • Kevin Love: I don’t care that his team sucks, the guy’s putting up numbers that haven’t been seen since the 80s.  Anyone out there care to try and tell me that 21.4 PPG and 15.5 RPG don’t belong in the All-Star game?  His team could be 0-whatever and I’d still put him in there.
  • LaMarcus Aldridge: He and his 21 points and nine boards have a Portland team that has no business being competetive in the playoff race.  I wish we could make him Yao Ming’s injury replacement because, like I said, there are ZERO deserving centers in the West.  If David Stern would just make a slight positional exception, then we could get this next guy in there…

My apologies to:

  • Monta Ellis: He’s sixth in the league in scoring at 25.2 PPG.  He’s shooting 46 percent from the floor.  He dishes 5.6 assists a night.  The numbers are gaudy, and the Warriors don’t even suck that bad… but I couldn’t justify his inclusion over LaMarcus Aldridge, who’s been dragging the all-injury team on his back for two months… basically Monta gets shafted due to Carmelo’s inclusion.  Dirk should be starting, which would make room for Love in the backup forwards section, which would open up a spot for Monta as a wild card.  Melo made it on his reputation this season, unfortunately. 
  • Russell Westbrook: Same deal as Monta… just a slightly smaller scoring number, a slightly larger assist number, and he plays for the better of the two teams.  I knew I was forgetting someone in the honorable mention column out West, and it was Russell.  Better 10 minutes late than never, right?

EAST

Guards

  • Raymond Felton: With averages of 17 PPG and 8.9 APG, he has the numbers necessary to make it.  I’m going to give him the nod because I think he’s been a huge factor in New York’s return to basketball relevence… not quite as big a factor as Amare Stoudemire, but Amare couldn’t have done this without him.
  • Joe Johnson: He got off to a rough start, but he’s back on his game these days (26.7 PPG since January 1st) and has Atlanta in the fourth spot in the East.  The guard position in the East is a little weak… I think this is an easy call.

Forwards

  • Kevin Garnett: I was happy to see Amare pass KG in the voting and get the starting nod, I think he deserves it.  That being said, Garnett has certainly earned his spot on the roster.  His numbers aren’t what they used to be, but he still impacts the game defensively like few others in the league
  • Paul Pierce: Pierce is having a remarkably efficient season with averages of 19 points and 3.3 assists on 51 percent shooting with under two turnovers a game.  He’s still the guy with the ball in his hands down the stretch for the best team in the conference.

Center

  • Al Horford: With Joakim Noah missing so many games due to injury, this is a one-man race.  Horford’s doing about 16/10, and with the top competition being Andrew Bogut and Andrea Bargnani… that’ll be enough.

Wild Cards

  • Carlos Boozer: Not only is he doing just a fraction of a point under 20/10, he’s shooting 54.4 percent from the floor.  Chicago is sitting in the second spot in the East right now, so they’ve certainly earned two representatives.
  • Ray Allen: It was either Boston or Miami getting three players, and I decided to go with Ray Ray over his Chris Bosh.  Allen’s shooting an incredible 46 percent from downtown and 51 percent from the field and has brought up his scoring average a full point from last year’s.  Allen also plays for the better of the two teams at this point.

My apologies to:

  • Rajon Rondo: Sorry Celtics fans, I’m just not that impressed.  Yeah, ok, he averages a league-leading 12 assists per game… he is said to “run the show” for the team with the league’s second best record, so what’s the deal?  Well, I just don’t see him doing anything that looks all that, well, special.  A lot of his assists come on passes that I’m confident that most guards in the league could make.  I feel that he could do a better job of pushing the ball up the floor more often.  He frustrates me when he gets four feet from the rim and refuses to put up a shot.  I think his defense is just as overrated as his offense.  I guess I’m taking the stance that he benefits from his teammates more than the Celtics benefit from him.  The 6-4 record that Boston’s posted without him doesn’t really do much for my arguement, but I’m sticking to what I see when I watch the games… and what I see is one of the league’s more overrated players.
  • Chris Bosh: 18/8 simply isn’t all that impressive.  LeBron and Dwyane have been running the show with Bosh taking a back seat.  I rolled with Carlos Boozer instead.
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One Response to The NBA 24/7 365 All-Stars

  1. Solid list. Now I’m curious about your thoughts regarding the actual selections.

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