East reserves: F Chris Bosh, G Joe Johnson, C Roy Hibbert, F Paul Pierce, G Deron Williams, F Luol Deng, F Andre Iguodala
Dirk over Lowry, Lawson, or Milsap Williams over Rondo Deng over Granger or Smith ...I am so aggravated. 3 wrong for the 3 right ones, I guess (Marc Gasol, Hibbert, and Iggy)
this, the ASG is ridiculous. i don't even find it that entertaining anymore. smith snubbed AGAIN. He's the best player on the hawks, not joe johnson. rondo, snubbed? paul pierce in? wth is this...
Smith is having one of his worst seasons, majority of Hawks fans are mad about him shooting sh!tty 18footers all game instead of slashing and banging the boards. Smith has 47fg%, 28 3pt% 54 ft%. Joe has been their best player by a big margin this year.
I don't have that much of a problem with the Dirk pick. The thing that bugs me about the All-Star selections is that people place such an emphasis on a couple dozen games at the beginning of this season, while ignoring everything that happened in the months after last year's All-Star game. Dirk hasn't been playing to his own high standards lately, but he's a perennial All-Star, future Hall of Famer, and the reigning Finals MVP. Do people really think he's not going to turn it around? And it's not like his current performance is even any worse than some of the weird new "All-Stars" we've gotten this time around. Luol Deng? Iguodala? Hibbert? WTF? I think the thing with this shortened season is that we have a number of surprise breakout teams, and/or teams that are winning a lot with depth and team play rather than any actual stars. The coaches feel obliged to "reward" these teams by selecting one of their players as All-Stars. Chicago is an excellent team. But is Luol Deng, averaging 16-7-2 on mediocre shooting percentages, really a star? Iguodala's playing like he always has, but with reduced usage on offense since he's just another player on a very deep team. But all of a sudden, he's an All-Star even though he never was before. Looking at his stats, Hibbert seems to be having a career year after being an above-average center for several season now. But he's only 25 games into this career year, and like the two above he's another guy on a very deep team. Wouldn't it look silly years from now if these 25 games turn out to be a fluke? One of the strangest All-Star rosters I've ever seen.
No he's not. smith is their best overall player. 16 pts, 9 boards, 3 dimes, 2 blocks, 1.5 steals for Smith. And let's not forget he's their best defensive player. Joe puts up 19 pts on 4 boards, 3 dimes, not even a steal and no blocks shooting 43%. The all-star berth is for players who play at an all-star level for THAT PARTICULAR SEASON. So if that season so far is 25 games, then yes, you base it on 25 games to make selections. Dirk hasn't played like an all-star. Milsap is more deserving. But Dirk has everybody's respect. And it's mind-boggling to me fans forget about DEFENSE. Deng and Iggy are 2 shut-down defenders who can also score the ball. They have been 2 of the best all-around players this year. Deng is more deserving b/c his team is #1, but I guess they had to reward someone from Philly.
Don't know if serious. For a center who shoots 47%, with a TS% of 50%??? That's not efficiency. Compare to Milsap, who shoots 52% with a TS% of 57%.
Millsap isn't the one getting isolated on the block nearly every single play. Most of what Millsap gets is a product of Al Jefferson's isolations. For the amount of double teams that Al faces, his turnover rate is absurdly low as well.
Nobody got snubbed because of Dirk. Its like Rusillo said; People were calling Dirk the best player in the game in June.
Is Hibbert in because of his position? I watched a couple of Indiana's games this year and Paul George has been far more impressive.
That's another exaggeration. I've seen several Jazz games, primarily v. the Lakers, and Milsap gets plenty of isos v. Pau Gasol. And he torches him I might add. I don't deny Jefferson gets more touches than Milsap. But your claim of him being an "efficiency monster" couldn't be further away from the truth. He may not turn it over, but his TS% is BELOW league average of 52%. We slam guards for having TS% that low. He's a freaking big man. He's not efficient. Jefferson scores 18 points on 17 shots. Are you even serious? And June was the end of the 2010-2011 season. The All-star this year is called the 2011-2012 All-star.
Is this a rule that's stated in writing? Because the All-Star selections, including the coach's picks, are inconsistent as hell. There doesn't seem to be a rule. There are picks for bonafide stars with a history of dominance. Picks for breakout players who perform like stars in the first couple dozen games of that season, seemingly regardless of whether they can actually keep it up. "Reward" picks for good players who aren't quite stars but who are fortunate to play on top teams. Lifetime achievement picks, like what Dirk obviously got. I'm stating my opinion that the All-Star selections should take into consideration the second half of the previous season, and the playoffs. Everyone says it's the playoffs that really count the most. So why are the supposedly most important games so often disregarded from the All-Star process? It's true, defense should be considered. Deng and Iggy have extremely good opponent stats, as well as defensive +/-. But going by that, +/- also says they hurt their teams a lot offensively. Overall though, I would say that defense helps their case.
