It seems every year there are some ridiculous selections to the All-Star game as some player makes it on star appeal more than actual play. That happened this year, but for once, it was the right call. Out of the 10 selections made by the fans, only one was wrong, and believe it or not, Yao Ming should have been voted in.
Now of course you're wondering, Kelly, what the heck are you talking about? I'll get to that in a moment, but first, let's cover the picks that were right.
In the Eastern Conference, the fans batted a thousand. Good job. Derrick Rose should have passed up Rajon Rondo based on his carrying the Bulls to the second best record in the Eastern Conference, in spite of injuries to Boozer and Noah.
Dwyane Wade and LeBron James right now are the two best players in the world. This year, right now, no one is better than they are. Derrick Rose is still the MVP this year—but not the best player. That distinction goes to one of those two.
Amare Stoudemire is playing better basketball than any forward in the East not named LeBron James. The whole relevance to New York argument might actually matter some here, because you're talking about stardom. But what gets him to start is that he deserves to.
In the Western Conference, most of the results were right.
Chris Paul is a good pick. I think either he or Deron Williams is perfectly acceptable. It's hard to find fault with either selection. I know some people are thoroughly ingrained in their opinion on this one, but somehow I think if their teams were reversed, so would the opinions be.
Kobe Bryant is deserving because he's Kobe Bryant. An interesting note, I've been doing some research for a Most Improved Player article. Would you believe that in terms of raising his PER, Kobe Bryant is the 26th most improved player this year? Bone on bone, yeah, whatever. Kobe is still Kobe.
Kevin Durant should be going. He's the NBA's leading scorer. He's one of the most exciting young players in the league.
Carmelo Anthony should not be going, and I honestly don't understand how people could have voted him in over the likes of Pau Gasol, Blake Griffin, Tim Duncan or Dirk Nowitzki, but especially Pau Gasol. Gasol should have been the starter. I honestly don't get it.
That does bring up the unintentional genius of the voters from a certain region of the world who voted in Yao Ming instead of one of the undeserving players listed at center on the ballot. It opens up the spot for one of the more deserving forward/centers who wouldn't have gotten voted in otherwise.
Based on players listed on the ballot, voters had to choose between the likes of Marc Gasol and Emeka Okafor. Now Pau or Griffin can get the start in the All-Star game held at the Staples Center. Genius I'm telling you! Genius!
Amanda Peet Amanda Righetti Amanda Swisten Amber Arbucci Amber Brkich
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