Friday, February 1, 2008

All-Star Reserves Announced!

Last night there were the usual TNT games + a couple local games as well in Detroit and Seattle, but the big news was concerning the All-Star reserves, who were announced on TNT. Here are the reserves as picked by the coaches in each conference:

West:
G: Chris Paul
G: Steve Nash
G: Brandon Roy
F: Dirk Nowitzki
F: David West
F: Carlos Boozer
C: Amare Stoudemire

East:
G: Chauncey Billups
G: Rip Hamilton
G: Joe Johnson
F: Caron Butler
F: Antawn Jamison
F: Paul Pierce
C: Chris Bosh

I'll begin by saying that I don't have much problem with any of the choices given here. Everyone on that list is having an All-Star worthy campaign, but this wouldn't be much fun unless I could give my input for some guys who are IMHO more deserving of these spots. Here are the guys I would have chosen with the reserve rules put in front of me:

My West:
G: Chris Paul
G: Steve Nash
F: Dirk Nowitzki
F: Carlos Boozer
C: Marcus Camby
11th Man: Baron Davis
12th Man: David West

My East:
G: Joe Johnson
G: Chauncey Billups
F: Caron Butler
F: Paul Pierce
C: Chris Bosh
11th Man: Jose Calderon
12th Man: Antawn Jamison

I thought the coaches did a great job picking their reserves this season, although I did have one big problem on both sides. I think that there are other guys who are very deserving as well (Manu, Tony Parker, Josh Howard, Deron Williams, Tyson Chandler out West and Ray Allen comes to mind out East), but the Brandon Roy decision out West and Rip Hamilton decision in the East were the biggest ones that I thought should not have been. I think Brandon Roy has been having a great season in just his 2nd year, but he would have been in the Rookie/Sophomore game anyways, while Baron Davis is a seasoned vet. For the coaches to snub him in arguably his best season (22ppg, 8apg, 2spg), it's ludicrous. He's having a better statistic season than Roy and his team is currently in the playoffs (1 game ahead of Portland). There's nothing else that needs to be said. He should be in the game. David West is the other decision that raised eyebrows to an extent. I love the guy's game and am surprised the coaches recognized his game as well, but I think that the fact that the game in his backyard (New Orleans) had a bit to do with it. With that said, I'm content with the 1st place Hornets getting 2 bids. Normally I'd be a bit peeved neither San Antonio nor Dallas got more than one bid, but the Spurs are struggling and the West is incredibly deep so Dallas just getting Dirk is OK i guess. Most of the coaches' choices were the right ones. Now for the east. I think Jose Calderon should easily be a reserve guard in the thin eastern conference. I understand that Detroit has the 2nd best record, but Rip has not had a ridiculous season by any means and Jose Calderon is one of the most efficient and effective pure point guard campaigns in a while. He's a quiet player that will be overlooked because he plays in Canada though. I'm fine with a lot of Eastern teams getting multiple bids though because that conference outside of the top 4-6 teams has issues. I'm also glad the coaches showed their love for the Hawks (Joe Johnson), who are having a surprising season with their young core. I also have one last notion for this AS game. Since the All-Star game doesn't stand for anything (like MLB's does) and everyone (the fans) want to see the best players, why not just pick the 24 best players instead and have them play each other? There would still be snubs, but not to this extent (a lot more snubs out West than East, I'm fairly sure few people would argue otherwise) and the most deserving players who want to entertain the fans will get that opportunity. Just a thought.

No comments: