NBA All Star Game - Part 2

Posted by Keith Haney on January 09, 2008
Keith Haney

I love the NBA All Star Game. OK, scratch that, I love VOTING for the NBA All Stars. The game itself is usually quite uninteresting. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the all star ballot and some things I wished the NBA would change with the selection process. Today, I want to highlight my picks for this years all stars as well as a few other voting anomalies and options. I’d love to hear any comments from readers with their picks for both the East and West teams.

Jumping right into it, I must explain how I vote online everyday at NBA.com and at every home game with the paper ballots. I follow along the lines of the “Homer Ballot”. The homer ballot means you vote for everyone on your favorite team. Any remaining slots should be filled with the most unbelievable candidate that could make the team. This way you don’t encourage other great players to cancel out homer votes for your guy. You may think this sounds foolish, but remember, a billion chinese are voting for Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. I have to combat that somehow. Here’s my my ballot for the West this year:

homer-vote.JPG

Notice how Antoine Walker is in there? He’s a much better pick than say Kobe Bryant or Chris Paul. A vote for those guys just puts them one more vote ahead of our guys! Come on, be a homer. Everyone else is doing it. You know you want to.

So what do I do for the East on my homer ballot? I vote for the most qualified starters. Here is what that look likes:

my-picks.JPG

Also in this picture is who I really think deserves to be the starters for both the West. If you’re not being a homer, it’s hard to argue with the numbers CP3, Kobe, Duncan, and Yao are putting up.

Amazingly, this year is shaping up to be a banner one for the fan voting as they look to be getting things almost right for a change IMHO (google it). Here’s who is leading the votes:

leaders.JPG

Not much to argue with there except T-Mac on the West (he hasn’t played nearly enough games) and D-Wade in the East (see McGrady + the Heat suck). You can make a solid argument for Anthony to start at the forward - especially because he is actually a small forward. The Nuggets are also leading their division and should be represented in the starting lineup. I like Boozer more though. He’s been a monster this year. During the Jazz December woes, he was their most consistent player even in losses. Maybe I’m still being a homer here too.

OK. Enough of the fancy photos. Here are the rest of MY all-star picks:

West Reserves
1) Carmelo Anthony - Nuggets - Forward
2) Josh Howard - Mavericks - Forward
3) Allen Iverson - Nuggets - Guard
4) Steve Nash - Suns - Guard
5) Brandon Roy - Blazers - Guard
6) Tyson Chandler - Hornets - Center
7) Dirk Nowitski - Mavericks - Forward

East Reserves
1) Paul Pierce - Celtics - Forward
2) Caron Butler - Wizards - Forward
3) Richard Hamilton - Pistons - Guard
4) Dwayne Wade - Heat - Guard
5) Chauncey Billups - Pistons - Guard
6) Chris Bosh - Raptors - Center. Check this out.
7) Josh Smith - Hawks - Forward

I’m sure there will be many that argue Deron Williams should be on the team but come on, over Nash, or Paul or Tony Parker or Baron Davis? I don’t think so. Not this year. Not with they way the Jazz have played.

Anyways, chime in with your picks and comments.

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16 Comments

Heather Williams on January 09, 2008 said:

I guess I am a homer cause I have been voting for our guys too. Although, I can’t figure out why Williams has not gotten more votes. He is not even on the radar and he is 4th in assist. I started voting every day but after the last two results have come out and I saw that Williams isn’t even on the radar I have cooled off on the voting realizing my vote doesn’t matter if the rest of the nation is voting for the most popular guys whether they play or don’t. I agree that Mcgrady and Wade(one of my favorites) should not be in the all star game. They have not played enough. So here is my plea if the rest of Utah will step up and become homers I will pick my voting back up. All of our guys deserve the all star bid. So come Utah get out and VOTE!!

Tittle on January 09, 2008 said:

Nice Picks…. Fortunately (and unfortunately) I know you and you tought me a long time ago about throwing a vote to someone who is obviously not going to make it. I like to vote for Walker as well.

I agree with your last statement about D-Will not making the team. He really started this season strong, but has been in a slump (at least compared to the others on the list). I think he can still make it, but he needs to start playing strong every night. It would help if the Jazz went on a bit of a winning streak as well. If not maybe that will light the competitive fire in him like it did last year and he will lead the team to another strong finish. As of today I really only see Boozer as the lone Jazz All Star.

Superdarkpenguin on January 09, 2008 said:

I am a homer. I vote for all of the Jazz players, but I leave the other guard spot empty. And since we obtained Korver I have started to vote for him in the East.

I think D-Will should have gone to the allstar game last year, but this year there are too many good point guards in the West. Boozer should definatly be on the allstar team this year.

fruitylili on January 09, 2008 said:

I’m a homer.
Now there is Chris Paul it’s goin to be hard for Deron Williams to be in the All Stars.

Andrew on January 09, 2008 said:

Im from Springfield, MA and am a Huge Jazz fan and ive voted hundreds of times and yes you guessed it all the jazz guys and some scrub so yup ive even written in guys like hart or collins or brewer haha,its not just D-Will not getting votes but what about Andrei too? i just wish memo was playin a lil better

J R Stewart on January 09, 2008 said:

Vote for Kyle Korver in the East, to add one more to your “homer” ballot.
Jazzaholic

Linda McFarland on January 10, 2008 said:

Sorry, but I have to say again that I HATE the All Star Game. It is a place where everyone is showing off and therefore an easy place to get an injury. It is also a place where those who are popular get in and to heck with those who play well. Hate to go against all of you but that is the way I have felt for a long time. Why not do like the NFL and have it at the end of the season?

Chuck Nunn on January 10, 2008 said:

Not bad. Reminds me of my ballots, which basically end up looking like the Utah Jazz and Steve Nash against the Charlotte Bobcats and Antawn Jamison.

Also folks, don’t forget the write-in vote. Ronnie Brewer’s gotten my write-in vote every time I vote.

With 10 days left, including today (Thursday) if every Jazz fan takes advantage and votes every day online, plus the 10 ballots that fans will have the opportunity to fill out soon at ESA, it’s highly conceivable that at least Booz and Memo get enough votes to get it … maybe. Well, a guy can hope.

Also, don’t forget Morris Almond and Kyrylo Fesenko on the D-League All-Star ballot. Even though Mo is back with the Jazz, you never know given AK’s injury situation when he might get sent back to Orem. Besides, it’s a good way to get some deserved props to Utah’s two future HOFs (OK, bit of a stretch, but you never know).

Bud Ivey on January 10, 2008 said:

Boozer is the only jazz player who has the numbers to be on the all-star team. Although he is listed as a small forward, he actually plays the center position against taller opponents. Vote for Boozer as a starter…

Evelyn on January 11, 2008 said:

I was very disappointed with the way Girichek was treated and felt bad that he was traded. I feel that for his benefit he needed to play someplace else and I wish him all the best. I’ve been impressed with Korver and feel like he is a great addition to the Jazz.

Chad on January 11, 2008 said:

i think that boozer should be there cuz look at his numbers also though d-will really should have been there last year and wasnt so if chris paul is there this year that isnt right i mean chris paul gets enough credit as it is all the espn guys give him all the credit and when d-will got it in the playoffs last year bill walton was saying with all these people slobbering about how deron williams was playing in the playoffs last year and i mean the is the only credit d-will got instead of chris paul and then bill walton says look a paul every shouldnt be talking about d-will only chris paul and i mean thats just another bust to him if he makes the all star team this year and d-will dont this year or last so with that said enough about chris paul and vote d-will and booz ight!

john adrian on January 13, 2008 said:

i hope memo is an all-star again.

guy smiley on January 16, 2008 said:

if i was putting together a team d-will would be at the point not chris paul

Darren Williams on January 17, 2008 said:

Yes-That’s really my name! I’m the “original”, however, since I am 43 .I live in Central Illinois and have loved Deron ever since he came to the Illini.In my opinoin,biased of course, one has to first get on the NBA’s radar one year before being voted the next.Obviously, Deron did that last year.Lastly, stats don’t tell the whole story in the D-will vs Paul comparison, the most “complete” player is Deron.

Justin on January 22, 2008 said:

Deron could only be considered the more “complete” player because the Jazz would be mostly worthless without him. He runs our offense and gets everyone involved.

CP3 has taken it to a completely different level though. Not only does he get his teammates involved and get assists early, he can completely take-over games at the end. So quick, he’s unstoppable. I was out of the loop on the standings and results lately, but it looks as if the Hornets are #1 or #2 in the West right now, and that’s all Chris Paul baby (even though they got a couple more good guys to help)

As much as I love the Jazz, seems like the D-Will vs. CP3 debate is starting to lean in Paul’s favor. The little sh*t is unstoppable, though prone to injury. D-Will started to play like that last season and the beginning of this one, but has become more average lately.

Definitely needs to lead his team to some wins on the road. And I’ve seen at least a couple games where other guys were on fire (AK, Memo), and D-Will tries to be a hero and do it all himself at the end of the game after he has not been playing well at all, and of course they lose.

Some things like that have just been making me think either D-Will hit some kind of wall, while CP3 continues to get better and better, or maybe Sloan’s style of coaching is holding him back somewhat. I wonder how Deron would be in a free-style offense like Phoenix.

When it’s said and done though, if Chris Paul can stay injury free he will be hall of fame caliber. Possibly with Williams too, can’t be as sure of that right now though..

Pete Maravich on May 18, 2008 said:

D-Will beats Rockets in 6 Boozer beats lakers in 7 Memo beats spurs in 7 AK beats Pistons in 4

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