Old news, but the All-Star starters were made official last Thursday. For the West, Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, and Andrew Bynum round out the lineup. This Thursday, seven reserves from each conference will be given the nod based on a poll of the NBA’s head coaches. I doubt that the NBA will ever change the rules to make it so it’s up to me, but if they’d done it this year these would be the Western Conference players making the trip to Orlando.
Guard–Russell Westbrook: Can’t honestly say I love the guy, but I’m not stupid enough to leave him off of the All-Star team. I guess I’ll leave it at that.
Guard–Kyle Lowry: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Kyle Lowry needs to be an NBA All-Star this season. I probably watched nearly every game this guy played during the second season of his career (which was basically his rookie season due to injury troubles the previous year) and I would’ve told you I was 115% sure that he would never be considered for an All-Star game. Hell, I never even thought he’d be a regular starter. A nice energy guy to have off your bench, but nothing more than that–that was Kyle Lowry’s ceiling in my view. My view wasn’t a very good one, obviously. I could tell he was a scrapper, but I had no idea he was capable of averaging 6.1 boards per game at six feet tall. This little bastard is his team’s second-leading rebounder. He’s also their third-leading scorer (15 PPG) and top assist man (8 APG).
Forward–Kevin Love: No ifs, ands, or buts about it this year… Kevin Love is All-Star material. The knocks on him last year were that he played for a terrible team and hadn’t yet figured out the defensive end of the floor. While he still isn’t exactly a prime Ben Wallace, I think 12-12 is a sufficient record (especially in the West) to get the first 25 and 13 guy we’ve seen in quite some time into the damn All-Star game.
Forward–LaMarcus Aldridge: I had LaMarcus making the cut last year–as did many others–but he likely missed out due to a slow start to the season. With new career bests currently occupying the scoring and field goal percentage columns I don’t think there’s any way he isn’t voted in this time around.
Center–Marc Gasol: It’s got to be Gasol or Nene, and I went with Gasol because I think he plays a larger role in his team’s success. While the Nuggets have a better record than the Grizzlies, Nene has a tendency to disappear at times and allow Denver’s other scorers to carry the offensive load. Gasol hasn’t had an opportunity to shy away from any work due to Zach Randolph’s injury, and this has resulted in bigger numbers that I believe are indicative of who the more dominant player has been.
Wild Card–Paul Millsap: What you know about Paul Millsap is that he’s a true blue-collar guy. What you may not know is that he’s become a knock-down shooter in crunch time as well as a go-to scorer on the block in times of need. Millsap is the biggest reason why the Jazz have been able to post a surprising record of 13-9, and he absolutely needs to be on this team. I’m gonna be pissed if I don’t hear Millsap’s name on Thursday.
Wild Card–Tony Parker: I don’t watch the Spurs… they essentially don’t exist to me… but not even I can help but notice that they’re sitting in the third spot out West with no Manu Ginobili and an aging Tim Duncan. I know Tony Parker just hung 42 on the Thunder, and I’m seeing that he’s averaging about 18 points and 8 assists? Sounds like an All-Star to me.
My apologies to–The Denver Nuggets: I love the Denver Nuggets, I really do… but it’s such a team effort with them… it’s just hard to say that any one guy has separated himself from the pack enough to deserve an All-Star nod over any of the players I’ve selected. Reasonable arguments could be made for Danilo Gallinari, Ty Lawson, Nene, or even Al Harrington, but I’ll let someone else do it.
My apologies to–Dirk Nowitzki: Actually, I take that back; no apologies to Dirk Nowitzki! The guy simply has not had an All-Star season. He’s averaging, what, 17 and 6 for a struggling Mavs team? Although he’s had a few Dirk-like games recently, he hasn’t been the Dirk of 2011, folks. He’ll probably get voted in off of last year’s success, but he really hasn’t earned it.
East coming… before Thursday.
