RealGM

OK, the All-Star game is fast approaching so lets put everything All-Star related here.

I haven't given it too much thought but who do you guys think should be in the All-Star game?

The dunk comp contestants seem pretty good also.

Howard Moon, the man, the myth, the maverick.

I hope TMac does pass on the all star game. IMO he doesn't really deserve to make the cut this year and I think he knows it.

So it looks like the starters by virtue of fan vote are going to be:

East:
G Jason Kidd
G Dwayne Wade
F LeBron James
F Kevin Garnett
C Dwight Howard

West:
G Tracy McGrady
G Kobe Bryant
F Carmelo Anthony
F Tim Duncan
C Yao Ming

Let's start with the east. I had a hard time trying to come up with 7 additional players that should make the team (most of them certainly wouldn't make the west squad) but hey, that's how it goes. Here are my picks (in order of merit):

F Paul Pierce
F Caron Butler
F Antawn Jamison
G Ray Allen
C Rasheed Wallace
F Chris Bosh
G Vince Carter

Hedo Turkoglu, Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, Andrew Bogut just miss the cut, too bad because I was hoping to make room for Hedo, and Bogut has really com on strong as of late, in a conference devoid of good Centers.

The west is significantly tougher:

G Nash
G Paul
F Nowitzki
F Boozer
C Stoudemire
C Kaman
G Davis
F West (if Tmac sits out)

Bit of a contrast compared to years past, when the top teams (Suns, Spurs, Mavs) all have had multiple allstars; however this year, as the top of the west is so tight, most teams only have the one representative. Some might argue against Kaman getting a spot but I think he deserves all NBA this year, even as high as 2nd team. I think he's right around 18-14-3 on the season; too bad the rest of his team stinks.

You could make an argument for AI replacing TMac but I think NO deserves a 2nd rep as the hosting city, they haven't had too much to be happy about for a while and they're definitely playing well enough for it.

Should be a good game this year.

Damn, I forgot about Brandon Roy. Maybe sub him in there for Baron Davis. Boy, the west is tough..

I'd love to see Dalembert being rewarded for the great season he's playing. He definitely deserves to be chosen over Bogut in my opinion.

Regarding the West, even though he means big competition for Amare, Kaman has to make it into the squad. The Caveman stepped up his game so much with Brand injured, he's clearly one of the best Centers in the league this season.

What's up with the NBA allowing fans to vote for the dunk contest winner? They basically made it into a "which fanbase has the most homers" contest...

Edit: holy crap, I just realized I was a 'RealGM'....since when, I have no idea, but woo!!

rsavaj wrote:What's up with the NBA allowing fans to vote for the dunk contest winner? They basically made it into a "which fanbase has the most homers" contest...

Edit: holy crap, I just realized I was a 'RealGM'....since when, I have no idea, but woo!!

Congratulations, buddy. You're part of an awful bunch now.

The only thing about the dunk contest I want them to change is to keep guys from trying a dunk as often as they need in order to get it done. Remember Nate Robinson 2 years ago? That was awful, I almost fell asleep

JustMoe wrote:-= original quote snipped =-


Congratulations, buddy. You're part of an awful bunch now.

The only thing about the dunk contest I want them to change is to keep guys from trying a dunk as often as they need in order to get it done. Remember Nate Robinson 2 years ago? That was awful, I almost fell asleep

How many tries should they get? I guess 3?

Also: Nate is now the punching bag of all conversations about that contest. I'm not sure I'd ever want to try more than three times, you know?

That Robinson thing was a joke...I felt sorry for him. But then I realised he was getting paid millions of dollars to play his favourite sport.



And then I realised it was for the Knicks, so I felt sorry for him again

They need more guys there...I wanna see Smith, JRich, JSmith, LWilliams along with the guys they have now

impulsenine wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



How many tries should they get? I guess 3?

Also: Nate is now the punching bag of all conversations about that contest. I'm not sure I'd ever want to try more than three times, you know?

It's not even like I want to make fun of him, Chris Anderson did the same a few years ago, Nate just was the first guy that came to my mind. On the one hand I liked the fact that Robinson kept trying it instead of just giving up, but on the other it just became pretty annoying.
They used to have a clock, didn't they? A certain amount of time, or a certain number of trials, that would make sense in my opinion.

Edit: I agree with Mace here: 4 guys just aren't enough in my opinion. There are so many spectacular players in the league, therefor I'd really love to see the number of participants go up. And with a clock or certain number of trials they'd also prevent the contest from taking way too long, even with more players participating.

I wanna see who has the highest vert...HIGHEST DUNK OFF!

TASTIC wrote:I wanna see who has the highest vert...HIGHEST DUNK OFF!

Remember what Dwight did with the sticker last year? At first I thought that he just made a pretty lame dunk, but then...

I can't beleive that Nash got snubbed for the dunk contest again! WTF? I swear, Stern is a joke. I know he had something to do with this....

Should there be 4 PGs (AI, Nash, Paul & Parker) or should one get dropped to balance the squad out?

i am looking forward to seeing the Dleague game of "HORSE" they are having for their allstar game as a test to see if its worthy of having in the allstar weekend for the NBA

imagine nash vs baron, kobe vs bron etc in a game of horse

If Moon wins the dunk contest the whole canada will act like they just won a championship

Man, I just can't wait for Jamario to win the dunk contest - I will feel like my beloved Raptors just won the NBA championship

i can see the commentators in the dunk contest now

"Dwight Howard just smoked green, then we saw moon and gay slammed it in HARD!"

there has to be some "gay moon" jokes in there somewhere

-SDU- wrote:i can see the commentators in the dunk contest now

"Dwight Howard just smoked green, then we saw moon and gay slammed it in HARD!"

there has to be some "gay moon" jokes in there somewhere

I can see Barkley saying that, but thats the only person that can do that and make it funny.

Regarding how many dunks players should get, IMO it should go like this.

They get as many opportunities as they need to make the dunk, ala Nate/Anderson. But they get 3 free tries, after that they lose half a point for each attempt.

By doing it this way the judges can feel free to judge on the "greatness" of the dunk and not have to take into account the misshaps.

So for e.g. with that Nate dunk. Say he got 48 for the actual dunk from the judges, remember just judging on the DUNK. It takes him 16 tries with the first 3 free, meaning that he loses 13 half points and making his 48 turn into a 41.5.

By doing it this way, you get the dunkers to still be creative without having in the back of their mind, "what if I don't make it this time?" It is a win win, you get the best dunks possible with the rightful winner winning the trophy.