For what it’s worth, my All-Star ballot:
Toughest choices:
Duncan/Durant over Anthony: Anthony deserves to start this game, and it speaks to the crazy depth of forwards in the West over the last decade that Carmelo has had so much difficulty just getting into All-Star games, nonetheless starting them. But I want to go with a true 1-2-3-4-5 in my All-Star lineup. Duncan locks in pretty easily at the four. But Durant and Anthony are both threes, so something’s got to give. Even though they’re both having great years, and I was tempted to give the older guy some love here, Durant’s having an incredible season (and frankly, the NBA should want to publicize Durant as much as possible). If I didn’t care about starting two small forwards, I’d just pick Anthony and Durant and be done with it.
Rondo over Rose/Williams: Again, this is a matter of wanting to stay true to the positions as much as possible. Derrick Rose and Mo Williams are more hybrid points than Rondo, who is more of a facilitator point. Point guard is a pretty terrible position in the East, and there’s a considerable drop-off from the top group. All three likely wind up going to Dallas.
Al Jefferson over Kaman/Stoudemire/Marc Gasol: You could even make a case for Nene here. A guy who would be a great choice is Chris Kaman, but he isn’t on the ballot at all (because, it seems, the Clippers wanted to have Blake Griffin on the ballot at forward… whoops). There are a lot of good big guys in the West, but many play either at the four spot or as a hybrid four/five (Duncan, Pao Gasol, etc.). Marc Gasol is having a very nice year and Stoudemire is having, well, pretty much the exact same year he has every year.
The West lineup doesn’t look as dynamic as it could be, in part because guys like Anthony and Deron Williams would be coming off the bench. But that really just speaks to how good the West is, because if these fives played, even without those two guys playing, I’d still bet on the west (good scoring/rebounding balance, even if the overall defensive edge probably swings a bit for the east).
~Greg
Toughest choices:
Duncan/Durant over Anthony: Anthony deserves to start this game, and it speaks to the crazy depth of forwards in the West over the last decade that Carmelo has had so much difficulty just getting into All-Star games, nonetheless starting them. But I want to go with a true 1-2-3-4-5 in my All-Star lineup. Duncan locks in pretty easily at the four. But Durant and Anthony are both threes, so something’s got to give. Even though they’re both having great years, and I was tempted to give the older guy some love here, Durant’s having an incredible season (and frankly, the NBA should want to publicize Durant as much as possible). If I didn’t care about starting two small forwards, I’d just pick Anthony and Durant and be done with it.
Rondo over Rose/Williams: Again, this is a matter of wanting to stay true to the positions as much as possible. Derrick Rose and Mo Williams are more hybrid points than Rondo, who is more of a facilitator point. Point guard is a pretty terrible position in the East, and there’s a considerable drop-off from the top group. All three likely wind up going to Dallas.
Al Jefferson over Kaman/Stoudemire/Marc Gasol: You could even make a case for Nene here. A guy who would be a great choice is Chris Kaman, but he isn’t on the ballot at all (because, it seems, the Clippers wanted to have Blake Griffin on the ballot at forward… whoops). There are a lot of good big guys in the West, but many play either at the four spot or as a hybrid four/five (Duncan, Pao Gasol, etc.). Marc Gasol is having a very nice year and Stoudemire is having, well, pretty much the exact same year he has every year.
The West lineup doesn’t look as dynamic as it could be, in part because guys like Anthony and Deron Williams would be coming off the bench. But that really just speaks to how good the West is, because if these fives played, even without those two guys playing, I’d still bet on the west (good scoring/rebounding balance, even if the overall defensive edge probably swings a bit for the east).
~Greg
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