Sorts of Sports

NBA All-Star Snubs

Did the NBA get it right when picking this year's NBA All-Star reserves including four Boston Celtics players? We can only blame ourselves, or the ignorant fan base, for the starters, but even then, it's not like Yao Ming is taking someone's place. He will be replaced and someone will be substituted in. But could this be the year that the NBA doesn't have any snubs for this exhibition game?

Start with the East, which seems to be the easiest. The starters are status quo with Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose and Amare Stoudemire. I don't watch enough of the Knicks to know that Amare Stoudemire is not a center. I mean he is listed as a PF on ESPN but you mean to tell me that Danilo Gallinari starts at center? Or Wilson Chandler? Maybe Ronny Turiaf? Ok, so maybe the NBA screwed that up. Insert Kevin Garnett to the PF spot, move Amare Stoudemire to the bench (only because I believe that Amare is a center). The rest of the starters work for me.

Looking at the bench with the aforementioned Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Chris Bosh, Al Horford, and Joe Johnson. Which one of these do not belong? I'm going to go ahead and say Chris Bosh and his 18 & 8, while ok (not as good as previous 5 years), should not be on the team. I mean Andray Blatche of the Wizards put up these numbers. How about Carlos Boozer 20 & 10? The rest I can deal with. I can't wait to watch the Heat, Celtics, and Hawks play in Los Angeles.

Another quick note with Boozer. He should be there because he wants to be there.

"I hope so," Boozer said before the Bulls played the Clippers on Wednesday night. "I know I missed some games with my broken hand. I feel like I am deserving of an All-Star appearance, but if not, I'm not going to be disappointed. There's a lot of guys that feel that they're deserving of the All-Star Game. There's so many good players in the NBA. Guys that want to be there that won't be there, and if I am there I'll be extremely happy I'll tell you that."

How many of these characters want to be there? LeBron James does not care about the NBA. He only cares about himself. This is boring to him. I have yet to see a special on ESPN where Lebron James is announcing that he was taking his talents to Los Angeles.

Looking at the West, again, disregarding the Yao Ming pick, I don't have anything to complain about with the starters. But let's look at the bench of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Blake Griffin, Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Russell Westbrook, and Deron Williams. If the East can do it, I think that Dirk moves to the starting lineup and starts at Center. Then we add Kevin Love to the team, because he is an MVP candidate on a horrible team, much like Alex Rodriguez, 2003 Texas Rangers. The next thing we can do is dump Tim Duncan. The guy is having his worst year statistically and being named a starter is for vans who vote on names, not those on the bench. So take out Duncan and put in Zach Randolph with his 20 & 13. I can't make a real case for Tony Parker or Steve Nash being in over Westbrook and Williams but add those 2 as snubs.

Looking at these two teams and predicting a winner is rather easy. The only thing that matters in the NBA All-Star game is the last 12 minutes. The first 36 minutes are about jokes, centers dribbling, alley-oops off glass, and zero resemblance of defense. The last 12 minutes showcase the best players and when you have the talent that the East does, depth doesn't matter. The East win this game 149-139.