Marc Stein goes over the rules and makes his selections here: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-090124-25 My selections would be East guards- Joe Johnson, Jameer Nelson East forwards- Paul Pierce, Hedo Turkoglu East center- Chris Bosh Wild cards- Andre Iguodala, Danny Granger 1. Pierce, 2. Johnson, 3. Bosh, 4. Nelson, 5. Turkoglu, 6. Granger, 7. Iguodala And in keeping with the rules that I can't vote for players on my team.... West guards- Chauncey Billups, Tony Parker West forwards- Dirk Nowitzki, David West West center- Pau Gasol Wild cards- Deron Williams, Jason Terry 1. Nowitzki, 2. Billups, 3. Gasol, 4. Parker, 5. West, 6. Williams, 7. Terry What are yours?
If I can't include any Blazers: East Guards: Devin Harris, Joe Johnson East Forwards: Paul Pierce, Danny Granger East Center: Chris Bosh Wild Cards: Andre Iguodala, Vince Carter West Guards: Tony Parker, Chauncey Billups West Forwards: Dirk Nowitzki, David West West Center: Pau Gasol Wild Cards: Deron Williams, Andris Biedrins
i'm sorry but if you don't have kevin durant on your all stars for the west, your team is a fucking joke.
I am not a coach, so I can vote for any Blazers I want... East Guards- Joe Johnson, Devin Harris Forwards- Danny Granger, Paul Pierce Center- Chris Bosh Wildcards- Mo Williams, Hedo Turkoglu 1. JJ 2. Bosh 3. Pierce 4. Granger 5. Harris 6. Williams 7. Hedo West Guards- Brandon Roy, Chauncey Billups Forwards- Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol Center- Al Jefferson Wildcards- Tony Parker, Deron Williams 1. Roy 2. Billups 3. Gasol 4. Dirk 5. Parker 6. Jefferson 7. Deron
west g - roy, billups f - dirk, durant c - jefferson other - carmelo, parker 1. dirk 2. roy 3. durant 4. billups 5. jefferson 6. parker 7. carmelo east g - harris, johnson f - granger, pierce c - bosh other - vince, nelson 1. bosh 2. granger 3. johnson 4. harris 5. pierce 6. vince 7. jameer making the all star game should not be something based on how good your team is, but how good each player is. it's not a team award. the allstar reserves should be the top 7 guys from each conference(with some consideration for position) that aren't starting in the game. to me in the west, the only spots for debate are the last two spots. roy, dirk, durant, and billups are all guys who have to be there and jefferson is a guy who has to be there at his position. that leaves parker, carmelo, deron, and i guess maybe gasol fighting it out for the last two spots. i think gasol has the weakest case of the four and eventually go with parker/carmelo because deron is having the worst year of his career shooting the ball. in the east things are even easier. i don't see any legitimate way to not include my top 6 guys. the only spot up for debate is the one i gave to nelson. there are numerous guys to consider there like hedo, rashard lewis, ray allen, and jamison. i feel like at that point where no one separates themselves, then it can go to a guy who has played a big role in making his team one of the best in the league and wouldn't object to see that spot going to any of the three magic players i listed.
Your post makes sense. What people get wary of, though, are players who put up big numbers on bad teams, i.e. Kevin Durant and Al Jefferson (though both teams are playing better of late and that does improve their cause). Vin Baker and Shareef Abdur-Rahim did that but I'm not sure either of them were great players. When you play on a horrible team, someone has to score the points. Is it easier to score 24 points on a bad team or even more difficult? I'm not sure. That center spot is between Pau Gasol (if they put him there), Al Jefferson, Shaq, and frighteningly (because of his play of late), Andrew Bynum. We'll see what happens. Jefferson's numbers are the most impressive, no doubt. Would Jefferson get the same numbers on the Lakers though?
i just can't put shaq or gasol over jefferson at center. jefferson has played almost 500 more minutes than shaq at this point and has been more productive in those minutes. gasol is playing really well too and they are going to put him on the allstar team(and i don't have a huge problem with it) but i think jefferson has been better than him as well. al has been the one constant on the minnesota team and now that guys like foye and love are finally giving him some help, they're winning a lot of games. however, i wouldn't be against sliding dirk over to center, pushing carmelo into that forward spot, and then giving the extra spot it creates to deron.
and as far as durant is concerned, he's 6th in the league(3rd in the west) in scoring and doing so on good percentages(47% from the field, 42% from 3). he's also been getting it done on the boards and creating for others lately. since they moved him to his naturally sf spot, his production has been incredible. for december he put up 25.1, 7.7, and 2.9 and then is topping that in january with 27.1, 8.6, and 3.5. i just can't see an argument that i could possibly agree with that leaves him out of the allstar game.
Well, my reason for leaving him off is that there's no compelling reason for me to add him. His overall season has been good but not great. He has a 19.9 PER...pretty much the definition of borderline All-Star. However, his defense is currently below-average, which moves him from borderline All-Star to just below All-Star level. And it's not like he has a great history that puts him over the top (if a perennial All-Star is on the borderline with another player who might just be having a fluke season, I'd be inclined to give it to the perennial All-Star...but that doesn't apply to Durant). You're vastly overstating his case as such an obvious top player that it would be a joke to leave him off. He's been great since December, but it's not a December/January award. November counts, too. I think Durant is having a very nice second season and looks like a lock to be a top player in the league in the future, but this season, he's merely been quite good. That might change by the end of the season, but at this point, I don't think he merits it over players who have been better so far.
i don't feel that i am overstating his case and (obviously) feel that he's definitely been better this season than guys like gasol, west, and biedrins.
Deron Williams could actually miss the allstar game again. He has yet to make it. Seems unfair but if they separate PG vs SG there are a couple PG's better.
