Stars Collide in LA for the 2011 NBA All-Star Weekend

Here are thoughts on this year’s NBA All-Star Weekend:
All-Star Lineups
First, let’s just say that we’re glad that Yao Ming won the voting for the Western Conference’s starting center. Yes, he does not deserve it; but if he was taken out of the ballot we’ll be seeing either Emeka Okafor or Nene at the starting position rather than Griffin. This also meant that Kevin Love, who is having a tremendous season wouldn’t make it to the All-Star game.

We should thank all the people who voted for Yao because they made the All-Star game a bit more interesting; it doesn’t matter if they knew it or not.

The starters for the West are Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Griffin, Anthony, and Kevin Durant. The reserves are Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Russell Westbrook, Love, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Deron Williams.

For the East, the starters will be Derrick Rose, Wade, James, Stoudemire, and Dwight Howard. Their bench will be composed of the Big 4 from the Celtics, Chris Bosh, Al Horford, and Joe Johnson.

All-Snubbed Team
This happens every year. There will always be a bunch of players who deserve to be named All-Stars but don’t (we seriously think the NBA should increase the number of All-Stars to 14 per team).
Our Western All-Snubbed team consists of Steve Nash, Monta Ellis, LaMarcus Aldridge, Zach Randolph, and Kevin Martin while the Easter All-Snubbed team is bannered by Raymond Felton, Danny Granger, Andrew Bogut, Carlos Boozer, and Josh Smith.

All these fellows deserve to be called All-Stars; sadly, there’s a limit to the guys who can play in the All-Star game. Allen has had a tremendous year but if you ask me to take out one player from the Easter All-Stars, it will have to be him. We just don’t see the logic behind having four players from the Boston Celtics and only two from the league-leading San Antonio Spurs. Sure, you can say that the West has more stars but there are players from the East who are playing better than Allen right now.

Among those ten players, Aldridge most deserves an All-Star billing. The guy is carrying Portland right now, scoring in the 40s in two separate occasions. It’s too bad that his team’s poor standing affected his trip to the All-Star game.

Slam Dunk Contest
This has got to be one of the most awaited Slam Dunk Contests in recent history. We’ve all seen how Blake Griffin humiliated Timofey Mozgov. We’ve all witnessed how he almost kissed the rim off an alley-oop. We know that Griffin is capable of doing something special in the Slam Dunk Contest and all eyes will be fixed on him.

There will be three guys who will try to make this a competition and not a coronation: Washington’s JaVale McGee, Oklahoma’s Serge Ibaka, and Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan. We don’t think Ibaka aka Air Congo has the creativity to challenge the others so it becomes a three-horse race with Griffin winning over DeRozan in a tight battle. The winner will still be chosen by fan votes and considering the rep that Griffin has been getting as of late, it looks like he’s taking the title home with him unless he misses a couple of dunks. Our fingers are crossed that we’ll see dunks that we’ve never seen before.

Three-Point Shootout + Skills Challenge
Paul Pierce will be coming back to defend the title but the favorite for the Three-Point Shootout has got to be Ray Allen. The other contestants are Kevin Durant, Dorell Wright, James Jones, and Daniel Gibson. We think Allen will win but we’re rooting for Gibson for this one. Why? Because the Cleveland Cavaliers need to win something. Anything.

The Skills Challenge is also poised to be interesting this year but Chris Paul is the definite favorite. The fans will choose between Derek Fisher, Baron Davis, Tyreke Evans, Tony Parker, Stephen Curry, Derrick Rose, John Wall, and Russell Westbrook and the four top vote-getters will join Paul in the competition.

All-Star Weekend Rookie Challenge
The players to look out for Rookies are John Wall, Landry Fields, and DeMarcus Cousins (Griffin most likely won’t play). Amar’e Stoudemire will be an assistant coach for the rookies along with Kevin McHale.

For the sophomores, look out for Ibaka, DeRozan, Tyreke Evans, Stephen Curry, Brandon Jennings, and Jrue Holiday. Carmelo Anthony and Steve Kerr will serve as assistant coaches to this bunch.
Expect the sophomore team to blow the rookies out of the water.

This year’s draft class pales in comparison with last year’s. This game will be fun to watch as these youngsters will definitely try to entertain the crowd with high-speed basketball. What not to expect: a single ounce of effort. It’s going to be all flash, and that’s not a problem at all in our books, because hey, it’s just an exhibition game featuring the league’s rising stars.

Our pick to win the All-Star Weekend Rookie Challenge MVP: Golden State’s suave point man Stephen Curry.