First All-Star Returns

[Andrew]

Story @ NBA.com

Our starters, if voting ended now:

EAST

C: Dwight Howard
F: Kevin Garnett
F: LeBron James
G: Vince Carter
G: Dwyane Wade

WEST

C: Amar'e Stoudemire
F: Dirk Nowitzki
F: Carmelo Anthony
G: Tracy McGrady
G: Kobe Bryant

Nash isn't too far behind T-Mac, so there's still a strong chance he'll edge him out by the time voting closes.

[buzzy]

TMac

[JaoSming]

why is he even on the ballot

[Lamrock]

Indeed. Didn't know he still had fans. Really rooting for Nash, but I bet when its all said and done, the league will skew the results again so that CP3 or Nash gets the nod. Its really cool to see Dirk and Carter on pace to start though.

[NovU]

I blame Modify.

[bowdown]

who are the idiots who put mcgrady on the ballot this year? especially knowing the chinese will be all over him

[Null17]

Wouldn't it be fun to see him play at the All-star game but not with the Rockets?

[Rip32]

I wonder what the All-Star team would look like if the Media or Coaches chose the entire team? It may be refreshing seeing some of the guys who the general fan doesn't know about playing. It'd be a good spotlight to give them some national exposure.

Of course no average Joe fan would watch and the All-Star Game is all about $$$$$$ anyway lol, it's just an interesting idea.

[benji]

The coaches are worse than the fans. (Especially when you consider they are supposedly voting for two separate things.)

I proved this with facts once.

Best method, as always, let the fans pick the entire team.

[Kenny]

I'd probably have Duncan over Dirk and CP3 instead of McGrady, but apart from that, the teams look good.

[hova-]

I like how Dirk is might have a chance to start with Amare being listed as C. He'd definitely deserve it. At least once in his career.
T-Mac should not get the nod over anybody. I hope Nash will start instead. I also don't want Carter to start, I mean he does not bring big highlight anymore and I don't see why Joe Johnson or Ray Allen should be behind him. (except the fact that they are just not as popular)

[yosifun]

I also don't want Carter to start, I mean he does not bring big highlight anymore and I don't see why Joe Johnson or Ray Allen should be behind him. (except the fact that they are just not as popular)

I wish you're going to eat those words at game time


What about Dunken? he has been a solid starter for 10 years (!!) and now is being guys like Dirk and Pao.

[NovU]

I like how Dirk is might have a chance to start with Amare being listed as C. He'd definitely deserve it. At least once in his career.
T-Mac should not get the nod over anybody. I hope Nash will start instead. I also don't want Carter to start, I mean he does not bring big highlight anymore and I don't see why Joe Johnson or Ray Allen should be behind him. (except the fact that they are just not as popular)

Agreed.

But I guess that's what fans want. Yet, I'm surprised there are still that many people who'd vote for Mac and Cart. It makes me wonder if those so called fans really watch and keep track of things around NBA. Especially for Tracy, it's just amazing how he got all those votes.

[hova-]

I also don't want Carter to start, I mean he does not bring big highlight anymore and I don't see why Joe Johnson or Ray Allen should be behind him. (except the fact that they are just not as popular)

I wish you're going to eat those words at game time


What about Dunken? he has been a solid starter for 10 years (!!) and now is being guys like Dirk and Pao.

I would not have a problem with that. If Carter starts and shows what he had showen us during his 5 or 6 years of ASG starts than I would be more than satisfied.

Actually I don't know why TD is far behind this year as he has been a starter every year and deserved to be one. Maybe it's because the Spurs struggling in the early season.
But for me personally, I always wanted Dirk to start in the ASG. At least once. And the game will be in Dallas, so it would be a nice highlight in his career as he is already 31 and does not get better/more popular I guess.

[TomCat]

T-MAC!!!??? WTF!! Ridiculous! Pretty sure Brandon Roy should be in there...

[Martti.]

Glad that everyone knew Yao's gonna be out the whole year, otherwise Amare would be far behind.

Just put Paul instead of T-Mac and the roster look all right.

[Drausus]

T-MAC!!!??? WTF!! Ridiculous! Pretty sure Brandon Roy should be in there...

I agree. Roy should be put in there.

[Andrew]

By the numbers, Chris Bosh probably deserves the starting spot over KG but KG is still a long way ahead of T-Mac, given that he's actually playing and still a valuable part of a team that's currently 18-4. I'm confident Bosh will be there as a reserve anyway.

[Modifly]

I blame Modify.

T-Mac FTW!!!!!!!!!

In all seriousness I do agree with you guys. He shouldn't be on the ballot because he has yet to play a single game this season, let alone all those votes he's getting. Still, as a big fan of his, I couldn't help but smile to see that there are people who are still voting for him, even though a vast majority of them are Chinese. It's very likely that other players will easily edge him out as the voting continues, but maybe McGrady will return to action soon and people will continue voting for him. Who knows?

[benji]

I assume that when they made the ballots it was when McGrady was assumed to come back this year instead of 2010. Balloting started a month ago, and they probably drafted the ballot a month before that.

The 120 players on the ballot were selected by a panel of media who regularly cover the NBA: Mike Breen (ABC/ESPN), Eddie Sefko (Dallas Morning News), Doug Smith (The Toronto Star and President, Pro Basketball Writers Association) Marc Spears (Yahoo! Sports), Marc Stein (ESPN.com) and Ian Thomsen (Sports Illustrated).

[Lamrock]

Roy doesn't deserve to be an all-starter because he hasn't been that good this year. He's established himself as a perennial all-star, so he'll make it over guys like Deron Williams no matter how shitty he plays. Gotta agree with Ben on the coaches making terrible picks. David West over Carmelo last year was epic failure.

hova-, VC is, and will always be better than Joe Johnson, who is perhaps the most overrated player in the NBA. I was pissed when he was anointed an MVP candidate when Atlanta was doing well in the first week weeks, despite Josh Smith and Al Horford being the team's real stars. Ray Allen meanwhile is way past his prime. Carter isn't what he was in 2001, but he is still a pretty good player. I voted for him, and the Raptors are my second favorite team.

[Modifly]

Joe Johnson is overrated? What makes you say that?

[Lamrock]

Because he has become a perennial all-star despite being only an above-average shooting guard. Last year was the only season he actually deserved it, being the best team on the #4 seed in the East, but this year, in addition to being outplayed by the Horford and Smith, Crawford has also been superior, with his far more efficient chucking. People see him as this elite shooting guard, but really he's just an above-average starter. I'd take Carter over him any day.

[benji]

Johnson looks like more than he is because he can do so many various things and he has the ball a lot. The problem is he doesn't do any one thing at a high level, they're all slightly above-average for a starter.

He's certainly not a max player, and calling him an All-Star in any year, outside of the fact he plays so many minutes and players who play lots of minutes deserve it more because, is highly questionable.

The problem with Johnson and lots of others is a point I constantly make. The confusion of team success with individual performance combined with the lack of knowledge of the actual cause of a teams success and the other players on the team leading to the assigning of all blame (both positive and negative) on the best/most popular player on the team.

Did you know Johnson is unchanged from last year but he's shooting worse? Not from media coverage, all you'd hear about is Johnson "leading" the Hawks to their surprising record. Are you hearing a lot about the career year from Al Horford? Josh Smith being not just a serviceable player but a dominant one? (Horford's also having a dominant year.) Jamal Crawford being the third-straight driver of the Hawks offense from the Sixth Man slot? Maurice Evans incredible offense? Of course not, the media forgot about Horford after they didn't need a phony ROY debate. Josh Smith's change in his game sounds boring outside of someone like a Hollinger. Jamal Crawford was a "star" with the Knicks, so him actually finally being put in his proper role, boring.

Easier to point to the guy who plays way more minutes than everyone and gets the magical 20+ ppg and bestow him with magical powers. Then you can get back to screaming over each other about who is more upset about LeBron dancing, Shaq cheating or the return of Agent Zero.

So to recap, we debunked the coaches in the past, we've always known the media should never pick.

Let the fans pick the entire team.

[Rip32]

So to recap, we debunked the coaches in the past, we've always known the media should never pick.

Let the fans pick the entire team.

I understand where you're coming from on both sides of that, but what is the fairest way to pick the team? I know the fans are going to select Dwight Howard and Shaq as the team's two centers, what about Brook Lopez and Al Horford? It's obvious that good players are going to be snubbed by an All-Star team, it always happens, but I just don't think there is a way to make it work.

Hell, maybe if the players voted that would be a more efficient way. There is no question a player vote would generate zero attention from fans/media, but maybe the correct guys would get out there because the players are out there night in and night out.