Spurs Brazil
01-25-2009, 08:04 AM
Reserve Judgments
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
(Archive)
We're going to do it, as always, just like the coaches do it.
Instructions for how to select All-Star reserves were e-mailed to all 30 teams Friday, with the head coaches in each conference asked to vote for seven players -- but none of their own -- by Tuesday at 3 p.m.
Each coach's list of seven submissions for the Feb. 15 show in Phoenix must include two forwards, two guards, one center and two wild cards, with those picks to be ranked from 1 to 7 to give each vote a point value for tiebreaking purposes. To increase the likelihood that the seven guys having the best seasons are indeed selected, coaches are also invited to ignore the listings on the official All-Star ballot if they feel a player can play multiple positions.
Results of the coaches' secret balloting will be revealed Thursday. Using all of the above guidelines, here's how our benches would look:
EAST RESERVES
Forwards: Paul Pierce (Boston), Danny Granger (Indiana)
We issue the same caution on Pierce as we give whenever Kevin Garnett comes up these days: Don't stare too hard at the stats. Pierce hovers at a new level of clutch ever since his NBA Finals MVP performance, even if his numbers don't look as gaudy as they did when he was younger. He's a lock.
Giving the other forward spot to Granger was tougher, given our longstanding reliance on the team-success doctrine. Yet this is an East with only six teams over .500, so even us team-success sticklers have to lighten up. That's especially true when Granger (26.1 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 3.4 apg) has been the most efficient small forward in the league not named LeBron James ... and when the Pacers, despite their unsightly 16-27 record, are still in playoff contention. (Did we mention those wins over the Celtics and Lakers while Mike Dunleavy was out injured?)
Guards: Joe Johnson (Atlanta) and Jameer Nelson (Orlando)
Johnson is merely the best Summer of 2010 free agent who no one ever talks about. His all-around brilliance (21.7 ppg, 6.0 apg, 4.5 rpg) has also helped the not-so-deep Hawks withstand injuries to Josh Smith and Al Horford, comfortably maintaining Atlanta's membership in that exclusive East six-pack of teams with winning records.
On this scorecard, meanwhile, Nelson places ahead of Devin Harris, Mo Williams, Rajon Rondo, Derrick Rose and any other on-the-rise East guard you want to name … for two reasons: 1. His statistical efficiency (.506 shooting from the field, .881 shooting from the line and .443 shooting on 3-pointers) has been Steve Nash-like. 2. Of the many reasons Orlando appears to have made the jump into the Boston/Cleveland stratosphere, little Jameer's increasing dependability -- when doubts about Orlando's backcourt were so loud in October -- might be the biggest.
Center: Chris Bosh (Toronto)
Bosh is listed on the All-Star ballot as a forward, but the rules -- as I'm sure you've memorized by now after hearing this lecture for a few years running -- allow the coaches to vote for players at the position "most advantageous for the All-Star team" and "not necessarily the one he plays most often during the season."
The league's memo to the coaches contains these exact words for cases like East center, where the only worthy backup to starter Dwight Howard is Charlotte's Emeka Okafor: "The position at which he is listed on the All-Star ballot should have no bearing on your vote."
So ...
Bosh goes here with his solid portfolio (23.1 ppg and 9.8 rpg) and without dwelling too much on the Raps' struggles with injuries and everything else. To counter any protests we simply wish to repeat pretty much everything we said to rationalize why Indy's substandard record shouldn't hurt Granger.
Wild cards: Devin Harris (New Jersey) and Mo Williams (Cleveland)
I'm guessing I'll be in the minority on this one, but I really wanted to make room for a second Cav to go with two players each from Boston and Orlando -- symmetry and all that. So Williams is the pick with Harris in spite of his modest statistical production (16.3 ppg and 4.0 apg) by All-Star standards, given the huge intangibles boost he has given LeBron James' Cavaliers. Williams' impact really stands out when you scan the NBA map and take stock of how many big offseason moves have panned out so far. Since Mo is pretty much it.
Limiting myself to two Celtics and two Magicians means no reserve spot for Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis or Hedo Turkoglu. The other hard choice here, then, came down to Harris and teammate Vince Carter for the wild-card spot opposite Williams, which I narrowly gave to Harris to acknowledge the sizable step he's taken after giving us no hint in his first 25 games as a Net last season that he was headed for the league leaders in scoring.
If the Nets hadn't slipped so far below .500 with a five-game skid through Friday's play, I'd have probably chosen Harris and Carter, since Vinsanity has been special, too, ratcheting up his trade value at a time when many presumed that his hefty contract would be near impossible to move at 32. I'll go out on a limb and concede that there's a far greater chance, in real life, that we'll see Carter than Williams on the East squad.
The Line's 1-7 East Order:
1. Johnson, 2. Pierce, 3. Bosh, 4. Granger, 5. Nelson, 6. Harris, 7. Williams
WEST RESERVES
Forwards: Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas) and Pau Gasol (Los Angeles Lakers)
Nowitzki suckered in his critics with a so-so November after turning 30 over the summer. Now? He's producing at a rate reminiscent of his MVP season in 2006-07 season. Let's face it: If the coaches were selecting the starters, Dirk would be a unanimous selection at forward alongside Tim Duncan.
But it's handy to have him available here to help us make it a European sweep with Gasol at the backup forward slots. You will find All-Stars with gaudier numbers than Pau's 17.5 points and 9.1 rebounds per game and 55.7 percent shooting -- and injuries to Carlos Boozer and Carmelo Anthony have created frontcourt openings that might not have been there otherwise -- but Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson would be the first to concur that the Spaniard's arrival, as much as anything, is what has pitched the Lakers so far ahead of everyone else in the West. He has to be in Phoenix.
Guards: Chauncey Billups (Denver) and Brandon Roy (Portland)
You've surely seen what's happened to the Nuggets since Billups arrived in early November -- Denver is 27-13 despite playing without Anthony for 12 games -- and what's happened to the Pistons since Billups left. As with Gasol, Chauncey has changed the way we think about his new team without stats that slay you.
Then there's Roy, who has the flashy numbers (averaging 22.3 points, 5.2 assists and 4.7 rebounds) and the Billups-like prominence with his team. He was a somewhat surprising reserve selection by the coaches in 2008, but there will be no suspense this time, even in a conference teeming with good guards.
Center: Shaquille O'Neal (Phoenix)
Unlike the East, we've got options here without, say, needing to slide Gasol into this slot. Minnesota's Al Jefferson has a valid claim to a spot on the West bench, as the catalyst for a 14-27 team that's 8-2 in 2009 under new coach Kevin McHale. Golden State's Andris Biedrins has less of a claim with the Warriors mired at 13-31, but the Latvian lefty is at least worth a mention as the one double-double constant in a season filled with injuries and turmoil for the Dubs.
However ...
Like so many of our colleagues, we've been swept up in Shaq Fever. Picking O'Neal as Yao Ming's backup will inevitably be slammed as a lifetime-achievement selection or a sentimental choice because the Suns are hosting All-Star Weekend, but O'Neal's revival at 36 -- even allowing for all the problems Phoenix is suddenly having again -- has been one of the stories of the season.
I think we can all agree that the story only gets better if the West's coaches heed the growing calls to vote Shaq (eight 20-point games since Christmas after just eight last season) into the same All-Star locker room with Kobe and Phil.
Wild cards: Tony Parker (San Antonio) and Carmelo Anthony (Denver)
Who would be surprised if Steve Nash gets a reserve spot? Coaches everywhere love him and figure to be mindful of the Phoenix factor. Fact is, though, that the Suns awoke Saturday sitting ninth in the West. They haven't played well enough to merit three All-Stars; even two is a stretch after what we've seen from them this week. So with Amare Stoudemire starting and Shaq filling our void at center, our beloved Nash is omitted here, victimized by the slight statistical hit he's taken in trying to keep the Suns glued together through their bumpy transition from Mike D'Antoni to Terry Porter.
But the wide gap between the top nine teams and the bottom six makes our team-success mandate more relevant when selecting the West's reserves, which is why we couldn't quite squeeze Jefferson in here. Injuries did increase Big Al's chances, but Parker and Anthony are the choices in spite of the time they've missed, just ahead of Utah's Deron Williams, Dallas' Jason Terry and New Orleans' David West … as well as unexpected late-arriving contenders like Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant and Utah's Paul Millsap.
The Line's 1-7 West Order: 1. Nowitzki, 2. Gasol, 3. Billups, 4. Roy, 5. O'Neal, 6. Parker, 7. Anthony
Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-090124-25
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
(Archive)
We're going to do it, as always, just like the coaches do it.
Instructions for how to select All-Star reserves were e-mailed to all 30 teams Friday, with the head coaches in each conference asked to vote for seven players -- but none of their own -- by Tuesday at 3 p.m.
Each coach's list of seven submissions for the Feb. 15 show in Phoenix must include two forwards, two guards, one center and two wild cards, with those picks to be ranked from 1 to 7 to give each vote a point value for tiebreaking purposes. To increase the likelihood that the seven guys having the best seasons are indeed selected, coaches are also invited to ignore the listings on the official All-Star ballot if they feel a player can play multiple positions.
Results of the coaches' secret balloting will be revealed Thursday. Using all of the above guidelines, here's how our benches would look:
EAST RESERVES
Forwards: Paul Pierce (Boston), Danny Granger (Indiana)
We issue the same caution on Pierce as we give whenever Kevin Garnett comes up these days: Don't stare too hard at the stats. Pierce hovers at a new level of clutch ever since his NBA Finals MVP performance, even if his numbers don't look as gaudy as they did when he was younger. He's a lock.
Giving the other forward spot to Granger was tougher, given our longstanding reliance on the team-success doctrine. Yet this is an East with only six teams over .500, so even us team-success sticklers have to lighten up. That's especially true when Granger (26.1 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 3.4 apg) has been the most efficient small forward in the league not named LeBron James ... and when the Pacers, despite their unsightly 16-27 record, are still in playoff contention. (Did we mention those wins over the Celtics and Lakers while Mike Dunleavy was out injured?)
Guards: Joe Johnson (Atlanta) and Jameer Nelson (Orlando)
Johnson is merely the best Summer of 2010 free agent who no one ever talks about. His all-around brilliance (21.7 ppg, 6.0 apg, 4.5 rpg) has also helped the not-so-deep Hawks withstand injuries to Josh Smith and Al Horford, comfortably maintaining Atlanta's membership in that exclusive East six-pack of teams with winning records.
On this scorecard, meanwhile, Nelson places ahead of Devin Harris, Mo Williams, Rajon Rondo, Derrick Rose and any other on-the-rise East guard you want to name … for two reasons: 1. His statistical efficiency (.506 shooting from the field, .881 shooting from the line and .443 shooting on 3-pointers) has been Steve Nash-like. 2. Of the many reasons Orlando appears to have made the jump into the Boston/Cleveland stratosphere, little Jameer's increasing dependability -- when doubts about Orlando's backcourt were so loud in October -- might be the biggest.
Center: Chris Bosh (Toronto)
Bosh is listed on the All-Star ballot as a forward, but the rules -- as I'm sure you've memorized by now after hearing this lecture for a few years running -- allow the coaches to vote for players at the position "most advantageous for the All-Star team" and "not necessarily the one he plays most often during the season."
The league's memo to the coaches contains these exact words for cases like East center, where the only worthy backup to starter Dwight Howard is Charlotte's Emeka Okafor: "The position at which he is listed on the All-Star ballot should have no bearing on your vote."
So ...
Bosh goes here with his solid portfolio (23.1 ppg and 9.8 rpg) and without dwelling too much on the Raps' struggles with injuries and everything else. To counter any protests we simply wish to repeat pretty much everything we said to rationalize why Indy's substandard record shouldn't hurt Granger.
Wild cards: Devin Harris (New Jersey) and Mo Williams (Cleveland)
I'm guessing I'll be in the minority on this one, but I really wanted to make room for a second Cav to go with two players each from Boston and Orlando -- symmetry and all that. So Williams is the pick with Harris in spite of his modest statistical production (16.3 ppg and 4.0 apg) by All-Star standards, given the huge intangibles boost he has given LeBron James' Cavaliers. Williams' impact really stands out when you scan the NBA map and take stock of how many big offseason moves have panned out so far. Since Mo is pretty much it.
Limiting myself to two Celtics and two Magicians means no reserve spot for Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis or Hedo Turkoglu. The other hard choice here, then, came down to Harris and teammate Vince Carter for the wild-card spot opposite Williams, which I narrowly gave to Harris to acknowledge the sizable step he's taken after giving us no hint in his first 25 games as a Net last season that he was headed for the league leaders in scoring.
If the Nets hadn't slipped so far below .500 with a five-game skid through Friday's play, I'd have probably chosen Harris and Carter, since Vinsanity has been special, too, ratcheting up his trade value at a time when many presumed that his hefty contract would be near impossible to move at 32. I'll go out on a limb and concede that there's a far greater chance, in real life, that we'll see Carter than Williams on the East squad.
The Line's 1-7 East Order:
1. Johnson, 2. Pierce, 3. Bosh, 4. Granger, 5. Nelson, 6. Harris, 7. Williams
WEST RESERVES
Forwards: Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas) and Pau Gasol (Los Angeles Lakers)
Nowitzki suckered in his critics with a so-so November after turning 30 over the summer. Now? He's producing at a rate reminiscent of his MVP season in 2006-07 season. Let's face it: If the coaches were selecting the starters, Dirk would be a unanimous selection at forward alongside Tim Duncan.
But it's handy to have him available here to help us make it a European sweep with Gasol at the backup forward slots. You will find All-Stars with gaudier numbers than Pau's 17.5 points and 9.1 rebounds per game and 55.7 percent shooting -- and injuries to Carlos Boozer and Carmelo Anthony have created frontcourt openings that might not have been there otherwise -- but Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson would be the first to concur that the Spaniard's arrival, as much as anything, is what has pitched the Lakers so far ahead of everyone else in the West. He has to be in Phoenix.
Guards: Chauncey Billups (Denver) and Brandon Roy (Portland)
You've surely seen what's happened to the Nuggets since Billups arrived in early November -- Denver is 27-13 despite playing without Anthony for 12 games -- and what's happened to the Pistons since Billups left. As with Gasol, Chauncey has changed the way we think about his new team without stats that slay you.
Then there's Roy, who has the flashy numbers (averaging 22.3 points, 5.2 assists and 4.7 rebounds) and the Billups-like prominence with his team. He was a somewhat surprising reserve selection by the coaches in 2008, but there will be no suspense this time, even in a conference teeming with good guards.
Center: Shaquille O'Neal (Phoenix)
Unlike the East, we've got options here without, say, needing to slide Gasol into this slot. Minnesota's Al Jefferson has a valid claim to a spot on the West bench, as the catalyst for a 14-27 team that's 8-2 in 2009 under new coach Kevin McHale. Golden State's Andris Biedrins has less of a claim with the Warriors mired at 13-31, but the Latvian lefty is at least worth a mention as the one double-double constant in a season filled with injuries and turmoil for the Dubs.
However ...
Like so many of our colleagues, we've been swept up in Shaq Fever. Picking O'Neal as Yao Ming's backup will inevitably be slammed as a lifetime-achievement selection or a sentimental choice because the Suns are hosting All-Star Weekend, but O'Neal's revival at 36 -- even allowing for all the problems Phoenix is suddenly having again -- has been one of the stories of the season.
I think we can all agree that the story only gets better if the West's coaches heed the growing calls to vote Shaq (eight 20-point games since Christmas after just eight last season) into the same All-Star locker room with Kobe and Phil.
Wild cards: Tony Parker (San Antonio) and Carmelo Anthony (Denver)
Who would be surprised if Steve Nash gets a reserve spot? Coaches everywhere love him and figure to be mindful of the Phoenix factor. Fact is, though, that the Suns awoke Saturday sitting ninth in the West. They haven't played well enough to merit three All-Stars; even two is a stretch after what we've seen from them this week. So with Amare Stoudemire starting and Shaq filling our void at center, our beloved Nash is omitted here, victimized by the slight statistical hit he's taken in trying to keep the Suns glued together through their bumpy transition from Mike D'Antoni to Terry Porter.
But the wide gap between the top nine teams and the bottom six makes our team-success mandate more relevant when selecting the West's reserves, which is why we couldn't quite squeeze Jefferson in here. Injuries did increase Big Al's chances, but Parker and Anthony are the choices in spite of the time they've missed, just ahead of Utah's Deron Williams, Dallas' Jason Terry and New Orleans' David West … as well as unexpected late-arriving contenders like Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant and Utah's Paul Millsap.
The Line's 1-7 West Order: 1. Nowitzki, 2. Gasol, 3. Billups, 4. Roy, 5. O'Neal, 6. Parker, 7. Anthony
Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-090124-25