So here we are again, just a few weeks into the brand new NBA season, and it is already time for the greatest fan participation event of the year to begin. The one event that really gives NBA fans access into watching who they want to see play. The one event that has seen Tracy McGrady's value soar higher than it has in half a decade. Yes, boys and girls, I'm talking about the NBA All Star Game.
The 2011 version of the game is still months and months away. The All-Star Game this season will be played at the Staples Center in Los Angles home of the Lakers (and another team, which also has a similar stationary-sounding name to Staples. Oh yeah, Clippers). Well anyways, just like everywhere, the NBA is allowing fans to vote in this year's ballot. If you haven't ever done this before, its about time you join the club. From now until January 23, you can vote every day for your eastern and western conference starters: two guards, two forwards, and two centers each.
I've already chosen my starters - I'm known to be notoriously biased in my all-star voting. So I've always picked players depending on who I like, not depending on how they are performing. So this year, the following will be my all-star picks:
Western Conference:
Forward: Ron Artest (LA Lakers) Forward: Pau Gasol (LA Lakers) Guard: Baron Davis (LA Clippers) Guard: Deron Williams (Jazz) Center: Yao Ming (Rockets)
Eastern Conference:
Forward: Kevin Garnett (Celtics) Forward: Chris Bosh (Heat) Guard: Dwyane Wade (Heat) Guard: Gilbert Arenas (Wizards) Center: Al Horford (Hawks)
My biggest issue here? The Center position. In the NBA's strictly defined positions, there are barely any centers that I rate very high. That is why Yao Ming makes it to my Western conference list. To be honest, I would have rather chosen Gasol at Center and upgraded someone like Carmelo Anthony as my forward in the West.
Similarly in the East, I would have rather taken Amar'e Stoudemire as Center if he had been listed in that position, but he was named forward.
Anyways, this is my list. Why don't you guys vote for your own and let me know.
It's 2007, and I'm playing ball at the Royal Park court in Leeds. We haven't yet started a game - my friend Zyman and I are just shooting around at one of the four baskets on the outdoor court. Before taking every wild, ill-advised three-pointer, we shout out odes to our favourite basketball players, perhaps for inspiration, but mostly because its goddamn funny.
"Kobe!" says Zyman.
"Hibachi!" I shout. After nine bricks I finally score a swish. Gilbert Arenas is watching.
It's 2008. Arenas has played only eight games the whole season due to a knee injury. The Wizards play the Cavs in the playoffs, but with his skills limited, Arenas is barely able to make a difference and save his team from making a first round exit.
It's the year 2004-2007, and the world is at the height of ArenaMania. Playing in his best years with the Washington Wizards, Arenas was an All Star in all three seasons. He led the Wizards to the playoffs in 2005, 2006, and 2008, and at one point, had the team looking like amongst the best in the East. He averaged 25.5 ppg in 2004-05, 29.3 in 2006-06, and 28.4 in 2006-07. He scored a franchise record 60 points (with 8 assists and 8 rebounds) against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in an overtime victory at the Staples Centre, including an NBA record 16 points in overtime. He was so ruthless in those years, that especially after that one game, Kobe friggin Mamba Bryant called him "cold-blooded".
It's now 2009 - The season that he signed a six-year $111 million contract with the Wizards - Arenas missed almost the entire season due to his injuries, and only played two games in the end.
Back to 06-07: Arenas, also known as 'Agent 0', has made 11 of the first 13 buzzer beaters he took in the 2006-07 season, the most amazing of which were game-winners against the Bucks and the Jazz in the space of two weeks. In both situations, Arenas had the ball in the final seconds with the score tied, and in both situations, he decided to shoot a long three. And in both situations, he celebrated the basket even before it went in. Now that's gangsta.
I can never get tired of watching this...
December 24th, 2009: It's two and a half years later, and it is revealed that Arenas had stored unloaded firearms in his locker at the Verizon Centre (the Wizards home-court). In doing so, he not only violated NBA rules against bringing firearms into an arena, but also violated D.C. ordinances as well.
Almost exactly two years prior to that incident, Arenas is voted the best celebrity blogger by the 2007 Weblog Awards. He becomes the world's first blog superstar, and his hilarious and honest writings about life as an NBA superstar make him the most loved and approachable player in the league. He was the player's player, a fan of the game just like every fan that followed him.
Eight days after the story about Arenas having firearms in his locker, it is revealed on January 1, 2010, Arenas and teammate Javaris Crittenton had unloaded guns in the Wizards' locker room during a Christmas Eve argument regarding gambling debts. The D.C. Metropolitan Police and the U.S. Attorney's office began investigating, and on January 14, 2010, Arenas was charged with carrying a pistol without a license, a violation of Washington D.C.'s gun-control laws.
While the investigation is in process, Arenas continues to take matters lightly, and being famously photographed making finger-gun signs during Wizards pre-game warm-up.
Four years before this incident, while having a career-best season, Arenas begins to shout-out "Hibachi" every time he takes a jump shot. A "hibachi", according to Wikipedia, literally means "fire bowl", and its a traditional Japanese heating device. "In English, however, "hibachi" often refers to small cooking grills typically made of aluminium or cast iron, with the latter generally being of higher quality. Owing to their small size, hibachi grills are popular as a form of portable barbecue." The 6 foot Arenas was a little fire-bowl, ready to burn up anything that came in his way.
I'm jumping to the present now. David Stern, commissioner of the NBA, learns about "Hibachi's" shenanigans and decides to suspend him for the rest of the NBA season. He becomes set to miss 60 games in 2009-2010. The real kicker was this quote added by the commish: "Although it is clear that the actions of Mr. Arenas will ultimately result in a substantial suspension, and perhaps worse, his ongoing conduct has led me to conclude that he is not currently fit to take the court in an NBA game."
Ouch!
In February 2007, Gilbert's fans vote him in as a starter for the Eastern Conference in the 2007 All-Star Game, thus solidifying his position as one of the most popular players in the game. In July 2008, Gilbert Arenas makes his way to the Philippines, where he was damn near worshipped by the basketball-crazy fans.
Pulling a gun on Crittenton wasn't the first time that Arenas played a tasteless prank on a teammate. Go back in time a to 2005 and here comes the funniest and most shocking of recent locker room stories: Arenas actually took a shit in teammate Andray Blatche's shoes - and he got away with it!
March 26, 2010, four days ago, Arenas was convicted of his crimes. He was sentenced to 30 days in a halfway house and two years probation.
Now, let me take you waaay back. It is 2001, the night of the NBA draft, and the talented Mr. Arenas doesn't get picked by any team in the first round. Finally, with the 31st pick, the Golden State Warriors drafted him. With a vendetta against every other team that had overlooked him, Arenas went on a destructive streak, and by the time his second season in the NBA ended, he was named the league's Most Improved Player.
In 2006, now as part of the Wizards, he wasn't picked for the USA team for the FIBA World Championships, his talents and injuries cited as reasons for him to not fit into the team model. He followed the snub with a vengeance, destroying everyone else that came in his way again for the next season.
And in 2009, after only playing 15 regular season games in the last two years, and after being written off by everyone related to the game, Agent 0 started the first two months of the new season with notable performances such as a triple double against the Pacers and 45 points in a win against his former team, the Warriors.
I'm back in 2007 now. Back at the Royal Park Court. Back shooting three-pointers with a "Hibachi" shoutout, and back turning my back to celebrate the baskets even before they go in. My inspiration is Arenas, one of my favourite players, and certainly one of the most perplexing individuals in basketball. It's difficult to like him after all the foolishness and the mistakes, and it's difficult to hate someone like him with such an explosive talent and fan-friendly personality. Maybe that's the reason why he's one of my top five nominees of current NBA players that I would like to see visit India.
He's suffered through a career of downs and each time, has answered them with succesful comebacks. It is long known that Arenas performs best when he plays with a vendetta. In about seven months, at the start of the 2010-11 season, he may have a chance to prove that again. Agent 0 is officially dead - Arenas has joined LeBron to be a #6 next season, but here's hoping that the on-court drive, the swagger, the cold-bloodedness remains the same.
Here's hoping that the Hibachi will be back on fire.
108,713. A hundred and eight thousand, seven hundred, thirteen. That's how many people showed up at the Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington, Texas, making it the most attended basketball game of all time. The record was certified by Guiness Book of World Records.
The All Star Game itself didn't dissapointment, with the Eastern Conference taking a close 141-139 victory over the West. Dwyane Wade finished with 28 points, 11 assists, and 5 steals to become the game's MVP. It was an exciting game from start to finish, and it needed to be too, considering the snore-worthy events of the night before.
Let's go back to the first night's events. Some celebrities beat some other celebrities to win the Celebrity Game on Friday night. What was of interest was the Rookie Challenge, which, surprisingly, the rookies won behind great performances by Tyreke Evans (the game's MVP), Dejuan Blair, and Brandon Jennings. The D-League did something somewhere also that night.
Now, All Star Saturday was to be the beginning of the real events. The programme was shown live in India on Sunday morning, but I couldn't catch it until the repeat late on Sunday night. Star Sports decided to skip H.O.R.S.E. for the repeat, which was won by Kevin Durant.
Here are my running notes for the rest of the broacast.
- it begins with the thoroughly uninteresting Shooting Stars competition. - i don't understand the rules, and i dont want to understand them - c-webb is alive - hometown star dirk nowitzki gets the loudest cheer during introductions. - the commentators are taking this show a bit too seriously. they're actually mad at the competitors for not being as serious about it. Can't say I blame them. - kenny smith is hilarious - team 'texas' win. yawn.
- should be fun: Russell Westbook, Brandon Jennings, Steve Nash, Deron Williams.. - i like to have a favourite for each competition... before i could understand and side with the sacramento team in the shooting stars tournament, they were already knocked out... skills challenge? go deron (last year's winner). - Derrick Rose, who was supposed to be here, suffered an injury. He's been replaced by westbrook. - nash should be a comedian - brandon jenning's hair is AWESOME - jenning's on fire... for most of the time - even the skills challenge makes kg's emotional - the vets in the final: deron vs. stee
- steve's got everyone off their feet. STEE! - oh its over! STEE wins - and he's the oldest guy of the 4... respect
Former US Presidents "Dubya" Bush and Bill Clinton come and talk about haiti support. bush looks like an idiot. haha i can't stop laughing. its great that nba is supporting haiti. but bush is still an idiot.
- this is a good lineup... paul pierce, chauncey, curry, gallo - i'm talking to my friend about shaq... just realized, that they should put HIM in a 3-point challenge. - actually... they should put shaq in the skills challenge. i might die laughing. seriously. - the all star game without game without shaq will suck - barkley looks stoned. He's talking shit.. well, barkley always talks shit... but more than usual this time. - chauncey's jump shot is beautiful. sexy, actually. - stephen curry's got an impressive jumper, too. - gallo, my great Knick hope, has dissapointed - curry loses... The truth wins. paul paranoid pimpin 3-pointing pierce ... Arnold The Governator is in the crowd, and he is happy too. So is KG, obviously. - its fitting that pierce is the first celtic since larry to win this. It's also hilarious that he called himself "One of the best shooters in the world." He is The Truth, after all.
- two good things about not watching this event live 1. i don't have to wake up at an ungodly hour 2. we get to skip all the misses. no thanks, nate 2006 - i think DeMar DeRozan (who beat eric gordon in the dunk-in) will take it. - apparently, derozan had his first dunk at 11... sixth grade... awesome... - take that back--- the misses are not skipped - all dunks look good in slo-mo - derozan/shannon are mildly impressive, gerald "crash" wallace underwhelms - i want vince. - NATE!!! - not bad..! - im very much against fan voting in this... let's keep the fan bias out of the actual event. - we have a kobe appearance - i expected better, shannon - ok, so i like gerald's 2nd dunk - barkley is still talking shit - oh my GOODNESS!!! derozan finally gets EVERYONE off their feet... amazing dunk... that's a 50 isn't it? - nate: nice - nate vs derozan for the finals... - and after missing the 1st dunk a couple of times.... that's it? that's the final dunk? - nate is bored of this. derozan should win. - derozan's dunk: not bad, but its been done before. - now that's a dunk... nate's second ones's good... plus he grabs a pompom from a dallas cheerleader... awesome. - Ugghhh! this is the worst dunk contest ever. i don't care who wins anymore. - wow, great time for commercial break. leave me hanging over a decision i dont even care that much about. damn you star sports. - Nate Robinson wins... 3 times champ. knicks, go! very uncreative... barkley actually added "maybe nobody should win". and i agree.
So that's it. I wasn't impressed by the events tonight, except perhaps that one derozan dunk and by paul pierce. And steve nash's facial expressions. Hopefully tommorow morning's game brings more to the table.
So, I woke up Sunday morning, 7 AM, definately expecting better. The Slam-Dunk contest was embarrasingly bad. The NBA needs to learn from this, and the superstar players need to have less of an ego about participating in this event. I'm calling out Vince Carter, Wade, LeBron, etc. here.
- ive always left the player intros... friggin hilarious. Shaq's dance with the Jabbawokeez last year was probably the best intro ever. - steve nash is still funny. - duncan is showing emotion, and it seems like he's trying hard doing it. I know he'd rather be on sleep mode - usher is there from 2004. - dirk is starting instead of kobe... but joe johnson instead of AI?... where's rondo? - the crowd of 90,000+ is the largest to ever watch a basketball game... twice more than any other all star game! - east will win... i know it
1st quarter - dirk starts with a crowdpleasing jumpshot - dirk again! - they're really hoping for a dirk hometown mvp arent they? - wade does a self-alley oop... nice! - Dwight just hit a three!!! hilarious - duncan is still taking bank shots - wade to lebron is a great combo. i'm knick dreamin - my main man boshasaurus check in
- melo's on fire
2nd quarter - david lee is in, and he scores... - rose and horford in for the east too, nice to see new players getting the attention on the big stage. There are 9 first time all stars this year. - beautiful move by rose - deron to durant, another alley oop - they did this several times tonight - wade!!! oh this game is getting great - durant is showing the world how damn good he is. - its amazing to think that gerald wallace gets nearly 11 rebounds a game - "One of the best shooters in the world" is still shooting.
- east make a comeback and take a big lead, thanks to lebron who is doing whatever he feels like, and al horford. - lebron blocks melo, it's a goldtend, and lebron jumps on melo in celebration - great passing, lebron to bosh to rose - bosh is now playing point guard. - jason kidd is sucking - dirk is DYING to be mvp, taking every shot in sight - melo again - 17 points in the half + 8 rebounds... wade has 10 pts and 7 asssists halftime score: a defensively mindblogging east 76-69 west
- halftime performers are alicia keys and shakira. i'm getting myself a cup of chai to watch this - rule of life: you cant go wrong with a half-naked shakira in a cage. in barkley's words: "can you say sensory overload?" - alicia keys is milking that uber awesome empire state of mind chorus as far as she can... we need jay-z... She's changed the lyrics to "welcome to all star..." - kobe got a bigger cheer/ most fanfare in the team usa player introductions... more than lebron. I'm just saying.
third quarter - dwight coast to coast - and just as i celebrate that... the power goes... i think I heard alicia keys singing "welcome to ind-iaaaa". Lame. - ok, so 8 mins later, power is back. phew! east is up 97-88 - amazing lebron to wade alley oop... seriously, they work well together. - bron is doing some awesome playmaking now - wade has 18 and 10 - kobe calls the all star game the "greatest pick up game in the world". he's right. - deron steal, nice move... he has 14, kicking ass - nash is on the jumbotron singing the canadian national anthem. legend. - another three for paul "best shooter in the world" pierce - the durantula hits a buzzer beating three to end the third. - attendance is 108,713... AMAZING!
4th quarter - west are cutting the lead down. It's suddenly a 2 point game - this looks like its gonna be a good finish. 120-119 east with 9 mins to go - great sequence of crazy passes between wade, lebron, and rondo, finally getting wade to the free throw line - CHAUNCEY! - ah, nothing better than some good ol defence - rondo to wade alley oop again. Flash has had around 80 of these tonight. - alley oops remind me of NBA 2K5. actually more of NBA Street. - deron is playing major minutes here. - lebron playing pg now - bosh has 21 and 10 - class of 2003 REPRESENT - but where's melo? - big shot AGAIN by chauncey. - bosh misses an easy alley oop from LeBron. - chauncey again! that shot was so well defended by wade too. game tied at 137, 1 minute left. - wade steals it with 20 seconds left!!!! game tied at 137 - deron sends wade to the line unnecessarily - wade hits both 139-137. 12 seconds left - i agree with reggie commentating right now. give ball to chauncey - who takes final shot for west? - dwight fouls nowitzi! 7.7 seconds. two free throws. game tied at 139 - east now has final shot... i say wade - bosh is tripped, 5 seconds, he gets 2 shots. another dallas native, btw - bosh hits both 141-139 - my (west-biased) friend thinks that this game would've been over ages ago if kobe was playing. - melo misses the three...bad shot... east win 141-139... well defended by wade - bosh's free throws win it - funny that dallas had to see another d-wade takeover. Memories of the 2006 finals are still haunting the crowd.
Wade is mvp with 28, 11, and 5, shooting 12-16.
So, an exciting end to a fun game. The game was broadcast in 215 countries in 41 languages. 215 countries!!!! They're not many places where it wasn't shown. Maybe Antartica. And Bangladesh.
Another fun fact: This was the first all star game to be played without Shaq AND Kobe since 1997 (Kobe's rookie year). In the end, the West had many options of the final shot-taker, was it going to be Melo, Chauncey, or Dirk? If Kobe was playing, I don't think there would have been any question about it. Actually, a Kobe-less result will always have an asterix with it, won't it?
Great performance by the 2003 Draft Class. Apart from Wade's MVP heroics, LeBron added 25, 6, and 5, Bosh had 23 and 10, and for the West, Melo scored 27 points with 10 rebounds.
Kobe Bryant (health reasons) and Allen Iverson (personal reasons) are both set to miss Sunday night's All Star game. They will be replaced by Jason Kidd (Mavericks) and David Lee (Knicks), respectively.
Let's do a Good, Bad, Ugly here, shall we?
The Good: David Lee is an all star!!! Booyakasha bitches!!! Finally... Lee becomes the first Knick all star since Allan Houstan and Latrell Sprewell made it back in 2001 - a whole nine years ago!! That was also, perhaps not so coincidently, the last time Knicks had a winning record. We don't have that, but, I'll take this for now. Baby steps.
Lee is the fifth most effecient player in the league, only behind likes of LeBron James, Chris Paul, Chris Bosh, and Kevin Durant. He is also sixth in the league in double-doubles, and sixth in rebounds per game. Lee's season averages stand at 20 points and 11.4 rebounds per game.
So Josh Smith fans, you mave have a bit of an argument here, but don't tell me Lee doesn't deserve this.
Along with Nate Robinson in the dunk contest and Gallo in the three-point shootout, David Lee now makes it three Knicks attending the All Star Weekend.
Yo, Z-Man, you owe me some Colonel. 2 piece chicken, 1 Zinger Burger (extra cheese), 3 hot wings. Maybe some fries and a Coke, too.
The Bad: It's sad to see Iverson and Kobe not participate. Mamba is obviously one of the best bball players in the entire planet, and AI, despite the fact that he doesn't deserve to make it, is a huge fan favourite. An all star game without Kobe suddenly loses a majority of it's luster.
Here is my quick list of all the (non-injured) players who deserve to make it over Kidd in the West:
jason terry (his more deserving teammate) aaron brooks luis scola marc gasol rudy gay oj mayo david west tony parker russell westbrook lamarcus aldridge carlos boozer monta ellis (i'm not entirely sure if he's healthy, actually) tyreke evans
I'd be surprised if even Dallas fans wanna see Kidd in the all star game. Hell, I'd rather see Mark Cuban play than Jason friggin Kidd.
Wow, it's All Star Weekend already... The NBA season just seems to be blurring past us, isn't it? The "show" begins in Dallas on Friday and concludes with the main event, the All Star Game, on Sunday night. Here is a list of some of the weekend's highlights (please forgive me if I purposely skip over the the Taco-Bells and the T-Mobiles and all the other dumbass sponsor names in the event titles):
All eyes are on Sunday night's bonanza, which like every year, will features most of the league's finest stars. As you may be aware, the league allows fans to vote in their starting 5's. Unlike most sport writers and critics, I like to vote for these players based purely and unabashedly on passion instead of their actual talent/performance. There, I admitted it. Stop criticizing me, bro.
So, my starting fives were:
East:
G: Dwyane Wade: my favourite player.
G: Vince Carter: Ya, I've heard the disses. Half Man/Half Gimpy Knee. No heart, etc. etc. Whatever, I'm still a fan since the rookie year - I still wear #15 on my basketball jerseys. Somewhere in France, Freddie Weis is still shaking in a dark corner.
F: Kevin Garnett: Yes, he was injured for most of the season, and no, I don't care.
F: Chris Bosh: Along with Wade, this is my second "deserving" pick for the starting five. 'The Boshasaurus' has arguably been the best big man in the league this season.
C: Al Horford: Because someone has to play center. And because I hate Dwight.
West:
G: Baron Davis: Try using him in NBA 2K5, the guy is murda. Zyman, if you're reading this, I'd just like to add the word 'posterize'.
G: Deron Williams: Cuz he deserves it, and cuz Iverson only played three games in the west.
F: Ron Artest: I had a faint suspicion that he will start a brawl with all the other all stars and get the best of the NBA suspended for the season and thus lead to David Stern's suicide. Okay, time to wake up again.
F: Pau Gasol: I'm not the biggest Laker fan, but Gasol has always been one of my favourites.
C: Amar'e Stoudemire: He likes to dunk. And I love that needless apostrophe in his name.
That's right, no love for LeBron, Kobe, Dwight, and definately none for gimpy ass T-Mac. The final rosters are unsurprisingly very different from my picks:
East:
Dwight
KG
LeBron James (leading vote getter)
Wade
Allen Iverson
West:
Amar'''e
Carmelo Anthony
Tim Duncan
Kobe Bryant
Tracy Mcgrady
Luckily, T-Mac will not be taking part, and the much-deserving Steve Nash has taken his spot instead. As of today, there are also doubts about AI and even reigning ASG co-MVP Kobe missing the game. Unlike several criticisms, I don't have too much of a problem with fan voting. The game is after all an "exhibition" more than an actual serious affair, and the NBA makes no qualms before admitting that it is designed specifically for the fans. If the fans wanna see AI and T-MAC, then give them AI and T-MAC. (okay, maybe not T-MAC). My solution is that the system shouldn't change, but the names on the ballots should. Only players who have averaged a given minimum average of minutes per game in a given minimum amounts of games played should be in the list. This would mean that the NBA needs to chill and not post the ballot list out too early in the season. This way, we can get rid of all the players getting voted in despite much contribution to the league.
The reserves roster looks like this:
East:
Horford
Bosh
Paul Pierce
Gerald Wallace
Joe Johnson
Rajon Rondo
Derrick Rose
If Iverson does skip out, I am hoping that the league does me a favour and makes David Lee the first Knick all star since Allan Houstan.
West:
Gasol
Kevin Durant
Dirk Nowitzki
Zach Randolph
Chris Paul
Chauncey Billups
Brandon Roy
Chris Kaman
Deron Williams
Chris Paul and Brandon Roy are both injured and will not participate in the game, hence the additions of Billups and KaveMan in the lineup.
Me being a Knick fan, and most of my favourite teams playing in the East, my allegiances are going to lie with the Eastern Conference taking this one. D-Wade for MVP.
Now, on to the other exciting events. The Dunk Contest will obviously be a great crowd pleaser like always, but I am still waiting to see players like LeBron, Kobe, Wade, Vince, Josh Smith etc. come into the fray of things. This year, we will see the dunkaholic Nate Robinson take on the likes of Gerald Wallace, Shannon Brown, and either DeMar DeRozan or Eric Gordon. All great dunkers, but my money is on DeRozan.
Speaking of Vince and dunk contests, here you go. Thank me later:
The Three-Point Shootout is another fun event. Knick Sophomore and my favourite for this tournament Danilo Gallinari is going to cause some damage here. Remember where you heard it first - the guy is the best shooter in the league. "Gallo" will be beating Billups, defending champion Daequan Cook, Stephen Curry, Channing Frye, Paul "Paranoid" Pierce on his way to the victory stand. Btw, credit the "paranoid" nickname to hours on the playstation and bullshit conversations in my university years while playing with Pierce on the aforementioned NBA 2K5.
I don't care much about the Skills Challenge, Shooting Stars, Celebrity Game, the NBDL Dream Factory (because I don't care about the NBDL), and especially about friggin H.O.R.S.E. (seriously, H.O.R.S.E.? how about C.H.O.O.T.? let's play that, shall we?)
The Rookie/Sophomore game on Friday night should be fun. The Sophomores usually take this one very easily, but the Tyreke Evans led rookies seem to be determined this time around. Some of the players I'm looking forward to performing well here are Evans, Jonny Flynn, James Harden, and Brandon Jennings for the rookies.
The Sophomores are gonna take this one though. They have way too much talent: A lineup of Michael Beasley, Marc Gasol, Gallo, Eric Gordon, Brook Lopez, Kevin Love, Anthony Morrow, OJ Mayo, and Russell Westbrook seems too damn good to be beat. AND, they are playing without Derrick Rose, who would rather save his energies for the friggin Skills Challenge the next day.
Come to think of it, the 2008 draft class is pretty damn awesome.
I was frantically hunting for All Star TV Timings in India, but nothing was listed on the Global NBA Programming schedule. Following a few short moments of despair, I discovered that ESPN/Star Sports WILL be showing some of the events live here (phew!). The Saturday night events will be on live at 7 AM on Sunday morning on Star Sports and then repeated at 10 PM. Sunday's All Star Game will be shown Monday morning here, again at 7 AM on Star Sports with a repeat at 2:30 PM the same day.
Hopefully it's another memorable All Star Weekend. I'll recap what I saw next week.
P.S.: I still think Ron Ron should be at weekend somehow. H.O.R.S.E.? Coaching the Celebrities? Coaching the cheerleaders? Whatever... just get him there.
So here we are again, just a few weeks into the brand new NBA season, and it is already time for the greatest fan participation event of the year to begin. The one event that really gives NBA fans access into watching who they want to see play. The one event that has seen Tracy McGrady's value soar higher than it has in half a decade. Yes, boys and girls, I'm talking about the NBA All Star Game. 
I've already chosen my starters - I'm known to be notoriously biased in my all-star voting. So I've always picked players depending on who I like, not depending on how they are performing. So this year, the following will be my all-star picks:
My biggest issue here? The Center position. In the NBA's strictly defined positions, there are barely any centers that I rate very high. That is why Yao Ming makes it to my Western conference list. To be honest, I would have rather chosen Gasol at Center and upgraded someone like Carmelo Anthony as my forward in the West. 
