Tough choices for Houston trip
posted: Monday, January 16, 2006 | Feedback

As we near the end of voting for this year's All-Star Game in Houston -- the final day of voting is Jan. 22 -- I feel compelled to name my Eastern and Western Conference reps.

In the East, the starters are simple: AI and D-Wade at the guards. LeBron and Jermaine O'Neal at forwards and Shaq in the middle.

I'll pick my seven reserves according to league rules: at least two guards, two forwards and one center. The center is easy -- Ben Wallace.

It gets a little tougher at the forward spot, but I'm going with Paul Pierce and Chris Bosh. I know, I know, both guys are playing for losing teams. But it's certainly not their fault.

I hate to leave off Richard Jefferson, but Pierce is having a monster year (career highs of 26.2 ppg, 7.5 rpg and 49.1% FG), and Bosh is fantastic, regardless of the Raps' record.

C Webb's playing well, but his 20 and 10 gets diminished in my eyes because even with AI playing great, the Sixers are still just .500. Plus he's shooting 42 percent and not exactly shutting folks down on the defensive end. Despite the nice numbers, this is nowhere near vintage C Webb. If it were, the Sixers would be a force, not just a team that squeaks into the playoffs.

As difficult as the forward selections are, the guard spot gets downright crazy. Chauncey Billups and Vince Carter are musts, which leaves me with only two spots for Michael Redd, Rip Hamilton, Jason Kidd and Gilbert Arenas.

I can't win here because all four are legitimate All-Stars. See, this is what happens when centers cease to score. Now we've got all these guards putting up "all-star numbers'' because many centers are all but useless. I could also throw in Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis as All-Star caliber guards in the East, though there's a slight drop-off there, particularly with Francis.

Anyway, here goes: I have to put Redd on the squad because he's averaging a career-high 24.7 points and most importantly, the Bucks (19-16) are winning. They've gone stretches without Mo Williams, T.J. Ford and Bobby Simmons and yet, Redd keeps them alive.

At first, I gave my final spot to Rip, then I thought, "How can I leave J Kidd off?" Then I said, "Arenas is averaging 29 points and six dimes. Am I nuts?"

I could easily pick this last spot out of a hat and be satisfied, but I guess I have to go with Arenas. His numbers are pretty ridiculous and his league-high turnover average (4.1) is less than one gaffe higher than Kidd's 3.29 miscues a night.

It seems unthinkable to leave Kidd off -- I'm second-guessing myself as I type -- because he's still a top three PG in the league. But the East is so full of guards it's ridiculous.

On to the West.

Starters:
Guards -- Kobe and Steve Nash; Forwards -- Tim Duncan and Elton Brand; Center -- Marcus Camby.

My reserve at center is Yao, and one of my guards is Tony Parker. My last guard spot is between Warriors' teammates J Rich and Baron Davis and New Orleans rookie Chris Paul.

I'm going to shock you with my choice because I'm going with the youngster, Paul. If the Warriors were still winning, I'd pick Davis since he makes them go, but Paul is winning more with a much weaker roster.

He's also ahead of Davis in steals (2.17 per game to 1.7), turnovers (2.2 to 2.89), FG shooting (43 percent to 38 percent), FT shooting (79.9 to 65.7) and rebounding (5.7 to 4.5). Davis is ahead in ppg (17.9 to 15.9) and assists (9.3 to 7.2).

Now it gets even harder because as the East is full of guards, the West is full of forwards.

KG, Dirk and Shawn Marion are no-brainers, leaving me with one spot for three deserving players: T-Mac, Carmelo and Pau. Four if you throw in Kirilenko.

Pau's the first to fall. He's having a great year and once again leading the Grizz to 50-plus wins, but it's just that tough in the West.

Carmelo is really balling, and T-Mac has been laden with injuries. Nevertheless, I'm going with T-Mac.

I realize that Camby, Yao and T-Mac may miss because of injuries, which could make the center spot fairly ugly out West. If Commissioner David Stern stuck to adding two centers as reserves, you're probably looking at Mehmet Okur and Brad Miller.

Ouch.

Now that I'm done, here's a suggestion for the league: increase the All-Star rosters from 12 players in each conference to 15. Now that there are 30 teams, it's only right. Then just about all the truly deserving players would make it.

And it would save me from trying to explain how I can leave J Kidd and Rip out of the midseason classic.

i like the way he took an age-old argument and made a entertaining article.

every year there is a few players who an argument could be made for and blah blah blah

but gilbert arenas took the torch from Ason kidd. he wasn't handed the torch -- he took it.

Gotta love Marcus Camby for surviving.