Coverage of my knee-jerk reaction All-Star continues today (Catch my Eastern Conference Starters here). Again, I am considering the fan vote as part of the starters, so my starter picks shouldn’t really surprise anyone. To me an All-Star game just needs star power in the starting lineup. We need the biggest personalities, or the most well known players in the starting lineup. The reserves are for the less popular guys who deserve a spot, and that’s where the real fun will start with my nominations.
source: hooped up online, cc
Guard – Chris Paul The All-Star game is a point guard’s game, because he is the one who gets to bring the ball up with 4 extremely capable offensive players in his arsenal. With Derrick Rose out, there is little question that Paul is the best point guard in the game right now. He has an unbelievable assist-to-turnover ratio, and he is probably one of two players in the NBA who I would consider a ‘floor general.’ The other player? LeBron James.
The Clippers look pretty dangerous this season, and they will only get better when Chauncey Billups and Grant Hill return to the lineup… And maybe also when Lamar Odom decides to pull his head out of whatever it’s stuck in. The Clippers are a serious contender with all the pieces that they have, and this pick is a no-brainer.
Guard – Kobe Bryant Is there even a question as to who should start? Kobe has been happily suiting up and starting the All-Star game since he was a teenager. Being the starting Western Conference guard is his part-time job. Kobe has played in All-Star games with all of the 90s NBA stars, and survived the primes of Kevin Garnett, Jason Kidd, Tim Duncan, Rasheed Wallace, Vince Carter, Iverson, Grant Hill, Ray Allen, Tracy McGrady, Steve Nash, Elton Brand, Stephon Marbury, Paul Pierce, Steve Francis, Yao Ming, Jermaine O’Neal, Gilbert Arenas, Ben Wallace, Amar’e Stoudemire… The list just goes on and on and on. He was there when LeBron played in his first All-Star Game in 2005, and fast forward to 2013, LeBron James is challenging the spot of the greatest of all-time, and Kobe is still at the top of the league, getting ready to start another All-Star game. His game has changed a lot since back in the day, but he is still one of the league’s alpha dogs.
This is a true testament to all the hard work and effort that Kobe has put into the game of basketball. Even as a lifelong not-Lakers fan, I have nothing but respect for the guy.
Forward – Kevin Durant
Could Kevin Durant be in store for a historic 10+ rebound season from a perimeter player? Depending on your definition of a perimeter player, the last perimeter player to average 10+ rebounds is Larry Bird. We have a bunch of combo forwards who did it in recent years- the Shawn Marions, Antoine Walkers, and Gerald Wallaces of the league, but all those guys have played extensive minutes at the 4. Durant could very well be the first to pull of this feat since Larry Legend. In other news, Kevin Durant’s all-around game shows improvement from last year, and his scoring is only going to pick up as the season rolls along.
Forward/Center – Tim Duncan We haven’t seen any of Kevin Love or Dirk Nowitzki this season, so they are automatically excluded. The next obvious choice might be Blake Griffin. Blake is a point guard dependent player, and despite being paired up with the best point guard in the league, he has not shown any significant improvement since his rookie season. At this point of his young career, we’ve seen enough of Blake’s dunks that a Blake Griffin dunk is nothing mind-blowing.
Now, Tim Duncan never aging is pretty mind-blowing, and the greatest power forward of all time deserves another chance to start the All-Star game. Only 36 years young, Duncan is leading the Spurs to a great start to the regular season. He’s simply one of the greats. I want to say this may be the last chance for Duncan to start an All-Star game, but with the Spurs you never really know. Even Kobe has contemplated retirement, and Duncan has never released any official statement to the media about retiring.
The crazy thing with Duncan is he’s been in the league for so long, and he could have been in the league even longer if he didn’t come out after his senior year of college. Imagine what 4 more seasons of Duncan on young legs would have done to his legacy. Of course much of his legacy has to do with landing in the best possible situation (the Spurs), but the fate of many franchises would have been altered if Duncan came out before his senior year. Just for fun, the number one picks that could have been used to select Duncan…
1993 (High School) – Orlando Magic (on a team that had Shaq)
1994 (Freshman) – Milwaukee Bucks (with Vin Baker)
1995 (Sophomore) – Golden State Warriors (with Latrell Sprewell, Tim Hardaway, and Chris Mullin)
1996 (Junior) – Philadelphia 76ers (with Jerry Stackhouse and Derrick Coleman)
And another just for fun hypothetical situation… If the Sixers still picked Iverson, the Raptors would have had the second pick. Imagine how different their franchise would have been. And also imagine the dynasty that would have been Shaq and Duncan.
Center – Dwight Howard
So it seems that even though the NBA eliminated the center position from the ballot, the teams are still looking somewhat balanced. Dwight Howard is still an easy pick for many people. If Dwight Howard can one day ‘get it’ on offense, either by learning some semblance of a low post game and/or running the Nash/D’Antoni pick and roll to perfection, no one would ever criticize Dwight again. Shaq would shut up. Dwight definitely has that same power and explosion that Amar’e had back in the day, and if Nash and D’Antoni can make something work with Dwight Howard’s offense, the Lakers will be the best team in the NBA.
No real surprises so far, except for maybe Tim Duncan. Reserves will be a lot more fun and exciting. I promise.
