[ESPN] Allen and Okur named All-Star replacements

Ray Allen really deserves to be there. Okur does not. How about rewarding Zach Randolph for being a true 20/10 guy and going a half season without getting arrested?

 

randolph is individually far more deserving than okur. it's possible they wanted to get a jazz in the game who wasn't hurt.

 

If they wanted to do that, they woulda chosen Deron Williams over Okur.

 

They could have put Randolph or Camby instead of Okur. Being "fair" to Utah is dumb. They only had one deserving all-star and he unfortunately got injured.

 

Zach Randolph has been one of the worst defensive bigs in the game this year.

How anyone can say that Okur has had a better year than Elton Brand is beyond me.

 

Exactly. I'm glad to see Ray Allen added to the team. He truly deserves to be there, but the other obvious choice is Elton Brand. How four players can get added to the All Star team due to injuries and Elton Brand isn't one of them? That's just insane.

 

Brands been hurt all season, he shouldnt make the team just because hes been good in the past. The clippers are loaded with talent and are underachieving.

Zach Randolph has been a beast, and the Blazers have a record (.415) better than the sonics (.373)

IMO randolph shoulve gotten it over allen whos sonics have underachieving
hes been the foundation of the blazers that lack talent and experience

without randolph the blazers would be bordering .200 memphis territory

 

Interesing replacements...Yao set the trend of all-stars sitting out this all-star game.

Speaking of the all-star game...Avery Johnson thinks 4 of his players will be all-stars next year INCLUDING Ericka Dampier

Johnson said he believes that next season as many as four Dallas players -- Nowitzki, Howard, Terry and Erick Dampier -- could make the All-Star game when it's scheduled to be played in Johnson's hometown of New Orleans.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=270213015

 

Agreed.

All-star game has turned its selection criteria up-side-down in the past 15 years when you take a look back and see which international players didn't make it then, and which do today.

 

But I don't know how anyone who watches Blazer and Clipper games can say that Randolph has had a better season than Brand. The scoring and rebounding is up a bit, but Brand is one of the best big man defenders in the league (probably the best low-post guy), he gets loads of steals and blocks, and Randolph is an absolute liability on defense. Not just bad, but an issue for Portland.

 

All-Star Injuries in the West: Yao, Nash, Iverson, Boozer
All-Star Injuries in the East: Maybe Kidd

What's happening to the stars in the West?

Also, it could be they went with Okur because they had replaced Yao with a swingman, so they figured they'd use another center.

 

Ray Allen is so overated. He almost always lead in a loss team. I think Camby or Elton are better choices.

 

Allen is awesome. Elton is having a sub par year. Ray's team is really really bad.
Ray and Sam on the Bucks were the best backcourt duo when they were together.

 

Okur doesn't deserve to be an All Star. Brand, Randolph, or Deron Williams would've been better reaplacements.

 

It makes no sense that players continue to get rewarded for having great teammates. I love watching Memo play and think he's had a great year, but he's not an All-Star compared to Brand, or even Randolph. And Howard is worse than the lot of them -- 19 and 7?

 

ya, thats r****ded, apparently he also believes the all star team is selected based on the previous year, since he can predict how well dampier is gonna play next season

there is no way even 3 of those players will make it next year, he was lucky enough to get 2 because of an injury and they have the best record in the nba.

 

Sounds like Okur was pumped to make the AST.

http://www.sltrib.com/jazz/ci_5223663

Okur named All-Star
By Phil Miller
The Salt Lake Tribune

See, this is why the Utah Legislature has debated banning cell phones while driving. The safety of Salt Lake's citizenry is obviously at risk when, say, Mehmet Okur learns during his drive home from practice that he has made the All-Star team.

"I couldn't feel anything," when Kevin O'Connor called with the news, Okur said. "I'm so glad I didn't hit someone with my car."

Yeah, the NBA is too. They expect the Jazz's 6-foot-11 center to be in one piece on Sunday, when he suits up for the first time - and as the first Turk - alongside basketball's greatest players. Okur and Seattle guard Ray Allen were selected Tuesday by NBA commissioner David Stern to replace Suns guard Steve Nash and Denver guard Allen Iverson in Sunday's glamor game in Las Vegas.

Okur has never set foot in Vegas before, and judging by his dumbfounded look of joy as he contemplated his greatest professional honor, he could become the first tourist to not notice anything unusual about the city. Okur couldn't seem to wrap his mind around the notion of actually earning the league's most prestigious invitation; he even made O'Connor, the team's senior vice president, repeat the message before he warily believed it.

"My heart was like t-t-t-t-t. Fast. Man, I started to sweat," he said. "This is more [exciting] than anything in my basketball career."

Then came the tears. "I called my wife and she started crying. She couldn't talk, she just turned the phone off," Okur said. "I called my family [in Turkey], and they started to cry. This is so exciting."

One man's excitement is another's disappointment, an emotion that belongs to Deron Williams. The Jazz guard had been considered a strong candidate, too, but was passed over.

"This is tough. I think he deserved it, too," Okur said. "He's been working hard, day in and day out. But he's such a young player, he's going to make it."

Okur always believed the same of himself, too, and spoke frequently of what it would mean to his homeland. The news figures to make the free-spirited basketball star a hero in Turkey, and that might be what makes him proudest of all, Okur said.

"It's an honor for my country," Okur said, and it's even better than the night three and a half years ago when he won an NBA championship with the Pistons, since he had been only a minor figure in the title run. "This is different. This is the best one in my career," he said.

Okur and Carlos Boozer, out with a fracture in a leg bone, will represent the Jazz in Las Vegas, and though only Okur will play, it's still the first time since 2000 that two Utah players can call themselves All-Stars.

"It's great. He's won a lot of games for us this year," said teammate Matt Harpring. "Of course Boozer too, but Memo's been a big part of our success."

That's an understatement. Okur has nailed game-winning shots in the final 40 seconds of four different games this season, and he has averaged 24.3 points, six more than his season average, since Boozer was injured.

Those big shots - and the Jazz's 34-17 record heading into tonight's game with Cleveland - are probably what earned Okur the invitation over Portland's Zach Randolph or the Clippers' Elton Brand, both of whom have better scoring and rebounding averages.

"He's earned it, as hard as he's worked since he's been here. He's gotten better every year. Look at the improved defense, at the rebounding," O'Connor said. "It validates [the idea that] if you succeed as a team, you succeed as an individual."

Now the hard part: Getting his wife and family to Las Vegas. Okur's parents are looking into trans-Atlantic flights, not certain if they can make it. And Yeliz, Okur's wife of two years? She's eight months pregnant and might not be able to fly.

"I'm going to call her doctor, and we're going to ask her if she's able to fly," Okur said. "If not, we'll find someone to drive."
Uh-oh. Better hope he doesn't get any more phone calls.

 

Wow I guess it does mean a lot to the players. Good to see he appreciates his spot in the all-star event as an honor unlike some player "TT"