The Annoucement of the 2008 All-Star Starters

Although most of the All-Stars aren't really much of a surprise, as the NBA has been putting out periodic updates as to how the voting has been progressing, it's still a fun night for the TNT crew to analyze the starters of this year's game in New Orleans (I get to assess the picks as well). Here are the actual starters, for those of you who don't know yet:

West:
G1: Kobe Bryant (LAL)
G2: Allen Iverson (PHI)
F1: Tim Duncan (SAS)
F2: Carmelo Anthony (DEN)
C: Yao Ming (HOU)

East:
G1: Dwyane Wade (MIA)
G2: Jason Kidd (NJN)
F1:Kevin Garnett (BOS)
F2: Lebron James (CLE)
C: Dwight Howard (ORL)

Out of this group, Dwight Howard and Carmelo Anthony are the two first time starters, with Kevin Garnett and Allen Iverson being 1st time starters on the East and West, respectively. These picks are hard to argue with for the most part, but you can definitely argue against some of them. Here are who my starters would have been (based on their season up until now and team standing):

My West:
G: Kobe Bryant
G: Chris Paul
F: Tim Duncan
F: Dirk Nowitzki
C: Marcus Camby

My East:
G: Joe Johnson
G: Chauncey Billups
F: Lebron James
F: Kevin Garnett
C: Dwight Howard

As you can see, there are 3 changes on the West (all involving Denver Nuggets) and 2 on the East. I'm not trying to take away anything from the current starters, as they have all been good enough to merit starting positions. The guys I've replaced them with, however; have had better seasons up until this point. Here's the reasoning:

Chris Paul over Allen Iverson: This had to be the easiest one, even though the West is unbelievably deep at guard. Chris Paul IS the MVP at this point of the season. I shouldn't have to explain this, but I will. He's the leader on the team with the best record in the West, even though they are also in the best division in the NBA (southwest: SAS, DAL, NOH, MEM, HOU). There isn't a better division, don't bother trying to argue. He is also having a statistical season that the NBA might never have seen before. His averages of 20+ppg, 10+apg and close to 3spg have never been done. He also only turns the ball over 3 times a game, which is ridiculous as a point guard who touches the ball every single time down the court, which makes him good for the best efficiency ratio in the NBA as well. Don't bother asking me, I have no idea how they figure that out mathematically, but I do know that the higher it is, the better and he's the BEST.

Dirk over Melo: This one is a bit painful, but there's no doubt in my mind Dirk should be the other starting forward in the All-Star game. He's THE #1 option on his team, which Melo is arguably the #1 at this point. Dirk's stats are a bit down this season from normal, but for Dirk, those numbers are still ridiculous. His team is also ahead of Anthony's by 3 games as well, which might mean his team is better, but I don't think anyone will argue that the Nuggets have a lot of talent.

Camby over Yao: I am Chinese. Just getting that out there even though I might get more hate for this pick. Honestly though, Camby's having one of the best defensive years for a center in a long time. His presence allows the Nuggets to play the way they do, which involves a lot of gambling on defense. The fans got Denver completely wrong. They picked two All-Star starters from the Nuggets and neither was arguably their MVP, which IMHO is Marcus Camby. Without him, I don't believe they are leading the Northwest division right now (0.5 gm ahead of POR). Yao is leading his team right now both ends, but in the deep West, the Rockets at 23-19, are not in the playoff picture.

Joe Johnson and Chauncey Billups over Dwyane Wade and Jason Kidd: I lumped this one together since the AS voting does not differentiate SG and PG. Chauncey Billups has to be starting in the East, which is so thin at guard this season, for whatever reason. Detroit is in second place and beat the Celtics at home, when they were hot at home. The Pistons are still arguably the best team in the East, if not the league and Chauncey is their statistical leader and takes most of the big shots when they need them. Jason Kidd would then be the 1st guard I take out of the starting rotation. I love Kidd's game and his leadership on the Nets, but if they aren't in the playoffs at this point in the season, he can't be starting with his inefficiencies from the field. Even though he's putting in 11.4-10.5-8.3, shooting 37% on a bad team kills the argument. D-Wade and Joe Johnson provides a very difficult decision for me. Joe is a bad percentage shooter as well (41%) and his statistical season is actually worse this season as compared to last season, BUT here's why he's starting over Wade. Wade's playing on a team that has lost 14 straight this season. He's putting up great numbers, but his numbers are down across the board from last season as well, on a team that needs him to do more. He's also missed 8 games, which isn't that many, but they can't win with him IN or OUT of the lineup. If you thought the only reason I picked Joe was because of Wade's team's struggles, it's not true. Joe is THE guy on a Hawks team that is the 6th seed right now in the East. He's the main option on offense and he's the guy who makes plays happen for his teammates (21.9ppg and 5.4apg, both lead the team). He also plays the 2nd most minutes per game (41.1 to AI's 41.7) in the NBA, having not missed any games this season. Dwyane Wade is the flashier pick, but Joe Johnson is the rightful guy.

Like I've said before, I don't think any of the decisions that were actually made were undeserved, just that some of the picks may have been for players that were less deserving that others. I will admit I saw Marc Stein's similar column in "The Daily Dime" on ESPN before I wrote this, but I thought he did it too soon, before the results even came out. Many of these picks are similar, but they are my own. I would not start a blog to copy other writers' ideas. I will probably write and similar entry once the bench players are released as well in a couple of weeks.