The Stars Align

As you may or may not know, the NBA season is nearly half way through. Just about 40 games through the season. Every February, there's every basketball fan's dream. For one weekend, the stars align and the league's brightest stars all share the spotlight on the court. This season, the annual NBA All-Star game is held in L.A. at Staple's Center. Despite all the bright lights and media coverage, there's always a few players every season that are deserving of a spot on the league's star-studded event, but are left off. So...let's hope I get it right on this one.

Eastern Starters


G. Derrick Rose - Yes, Derrick Rose. (<-- You just might wanna click that link on the left.) Not Rajon Rondo. Derrick Rose is playing at the highest level of basketball. Arguably the MVP so far of the first half of the '10 - '11 season. He's carrying an injury plagued team (Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah), and carrying them well. Leading them to the third best record in a stacked Eastern Conference. There's no one playing at a higher level than Derrick Rose. The man has been absolutely amazing.

G. Dwyane Wade - Dwyane Wade hasn't exactly been producing nearly as much as what we're accustomed to seeing him produce, but nonetheless, he's been great. When playing without LeBron, Wade dropped 33 points in a losing effort to the Chicago Bulls. Even with LeBron in the lineup, Wade scored a jaw-dropping 40 points on the New York Knicks on December 28th. That's only one game though? Oh well...Mr. Wade just so happened to score a season-high 45 points the following night on the Houston Rockets. Any more questions?

F. LeBron James - Next up on the list is Mr. LeBron James. LeBron James has been... well... LeBron James. There's not really much else that I can say other then the fact that, he's taken the Miami Heat from Dwyane Wade. Don't get me wrong, Dwyane Wade's been great, but has he been better than LeBron James? I don't think so. After a busy summer, LeBron's put in work and has been able to quiet his doubters (momentarily?). He even led the Heat to a Christmas Day victory over the reigning champs over on the other conference in the league. A lot of nights, I feel like LeBron doesn't even try and he still manages to get about 20 points. That just shows how much talent that this young man has.

F. Amar'e Stoudemire - Amar'e Stoudemire is back. Since he first returned from that microfracture surgery, a couple of seasons ago, people have been wondering whether or not, he would ever return to his former self. Well, let me be the first to tell you that he's back and better than ever. A lot of people doubted him at the beginning of the season and during the summer, myself included. No one saw him single-handedly leading the Knicks back to glory before the season started. I mean, sure, you could say that you thought they'd be alright, but can you say that he would be able to lead them back to contention this early? Amar'e is having a career year, and there's been only one person that's been more exciting to watch (Blake the Cornflake Griffin anyone?).



C. Dwight Howard - A rather magical season by Dwight Howard wouldn't you say? He's not putting up the numbers that he's put up in recent years, but he hasn't really needed to. His number of boards is up, but it's his efficiency this season that does it for me. One summer with Hakeem the Dream, and his post game has gotten that much better. It really has. If you've watched Orlando play this season, you should be able to notice that Dwight's inside game has improved immensely. His footwork has gotten a lot better as well. Putting in the work has only helped improve Howard's candidacy for a starting spot in the coveted All-Star game.

6th. Rajon Rondo - At the beginning of the season, Rondo was arguably the best player in the beginning of the season. Since his injury, people have stopped talking about Rondo and started talking about Derrick Rose. Rajon Rondo was on track to decimate the NBA assists per game (APG) record set in the '89 - '90 season by none other than John Stockton. If it weren't for the injury, I would have both Rondo and Rose starting in this year's All-Star game.

Rest of the squad:

7. Al Horford
8. Raymond Felton
9. Andrew Bogut
10. Danny Granger
11. Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce
12. Chris Bosh


Snubbed: Joakim Noah - Joakim Noah would be on the All-Star team if it weren't for his recent injury. In my opinion, I think he's been playing much better than Chris Bosh. Statistically, he's been better than Andrew Bogut as well.

Western Starters


G. Chris Paul - Christopher Emmanuel Paul has been dazzling fans with his basketball wizardry since he entered the league in '05, but is he deserving of a starting spot in the NBA All-Star game? Yes and no. Yes, because his team is at its best since '08. No, because he hasn't exactly been needed as much this season only putting up 16.1 PPG and 9.6 APG. Yes, because he just got back from an injury filled season, he's playing pretty good, and he's Chris Paul, everyone's favorite. No, because Deron Williams and Russell Westbrook are, arguably, playing much better than Paul this season. Even with Williams and Westbrook "playing better", Chris Paul will still get that starting spot. Why, you ask? Because he's Chris Paul, one of the best the world has to offer.

G. Kobe Bryant - Fresh off of a championship season last season, Kobe Bryant is playing better than ever. Statistically, it's not the best, but no one has worked harder and been more deserving of a starting spot on the Western Conference starting lineup than Kobe Bean Bryant. With age, you'd think that Kobe would be getting slower, playing more inconsistently, and so on and so forth. But no, he hasn't. About a week ago, I saw Kobe play for the first time in person, and it was nothing short of amazing. Kobe wowed the crowd with near impossible shots. Bucket after bucket, the basket just seemed to be getting bigger and bigger for him. He finished the game with a game-high of 39 points. Kobe just seems to be getting better and better. With that work ethic we've heard so much about, Kobe's window of opportunity is still wide open for that 6th ring. This season, Kobe is chasing greatness in the shadow of his Airness.


F. Kevin Durant - Durantula is leading the league in scoring and is leading the Thunder to the third best record in the NBA. Coming back from the Gold Medal this summer in Turkey, Durant caught the eye of many. While he's not exactly performing as well as he did last season or as he did in the summer, Kevin Durant is still having quite a season. And in my opinion, he's a top 3 talent in the league, and should only be getting better. Kevin Durant and his team had a lot of expectations heading into this season, and they've responded well. The Thunder currently hold the 3rd spot in the West. However, some people are saying that Russell Westbrook has been more valuable and playing better than Durant this season. I can see where these things are coming from, but at the end of the day, this is Durant's team and without him, the Thunder wouldn't be in the top three of the conference right now.

F. Kevin Love - To be honest, I don't think anyone is playing better basketball than Minnesota's Kevin Love. I know everyone loves the Kevin Love, because well...you just have to. Kevin Love would be my number one pick for this season's MVP Race if it weren't for his team's horrible record. The Timberwolves currently stand at 10 and 32. I mean really now? I know you lost Al Jefferson and everything, but when you have a guy that's playing as well as Kevin Love, you really should at least be above .250 in win percentage. Kevin's probably not going to get the starting spot during the All-Star game, but he really deserves it. When's the last time you heard of someone scoring 30 points and grabbing 30 rebounds in one game? Oh. Never you say? Me neither.

C. ? - Without much talent in the West's center pool, I really don't think any of the players on the list deserve to start in the All-Star game. Initially, I was going to put Pau Gasol, but due to the NBA's messed up ballot, I couldn't. I think the East has a much better pool of centers this season (Andrew Bogut? Joakim Noah? Al Horford? Brook Lopez? Roy Hibbert's even better than 95% of the centers on the West's list.) I really don't have much else to say, except for... Yao's going to lead the votes. However, he's injured so he won't be playing. Hopefully, the NBA puts someone worthy in his spot.

5th. (I didn't pick a center) Manu Ginobili - The best player on the best team in the league this season should most definitely have a spot on this year's NBA All-Star team. No one on the Spurs has carried the load more than Manu Ginobili has this season. I know a lot people aren't exactly Ginobili fans or even Spurs fans for the matter, but there's no denying that this man is deserving of an All-Star spot this season.

Rest of the squad:

6. Blake Griffin (Would start over Ginobili)
7. Deron Williams
8. Russell Westbrook
9. Pau Gasol
10. Dirk Nowitzki
11. Monta Ellis
12. Carmelo Anthony

Snubbed: Eric Gordon - Eric Gordon has been playing very well this season. Gordon and Griffin have been the only bright spots on the lowly Clippers. Everyone knows that Gordon's been playing much better than Tim Duncan. However, Gordon's overall team record will hurt him when it comes time for the GM's and coaches to vote on this season's All-Star reserves.