2/17/07 NBA All - Star Weekend

NBA All - Star Weekend

Every where I read, I see comments about how great this all-star weekend is going to be.

I love Las Vegas, don't get me wrong, there could be lots of sub plots that we'll probably never hear, but having the game in Vegas can't make the game itself good.

Bill Simmons (espn, sports guy) wrote this week about the greatest all-star game ever http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/070215 Check this out. I read his columns religeously and find his writing style and comic style to be nearly perfect. Sure he has a Boston slant on everything, that is the icing on the cake.

Ok, so comparing to 1987 is unfair.

Simmons quote - "For the love of God, LOOK at those lineups again. You had Magic and Bird in their absolute primes. You had MJ during the season when he won the dunk contest, averaged 37 a game and put himself on the map as The Next Great Guy. You had Barkley and Hakeem in their breakout seasons. You had Isiah, McHale, Parish, Worthy and 'Nique at their absolute peaks. You had Moses, English, Cheeks, Davis and Kareem with something left in the tank. You had Doctor J in his final All-Star appearance. You had six guys who ended up making the NBA's "Top 50" list on the bench to start the game. You had John Stockton, Joe Dumars, Patrick Ewing, Fat Lever, Clyde Drexler, Terry Cummings, Sidney Moncrief and Karl Malone watching from home because THEY WEREN'T GOOD ENOUGH TO BE INVITED. Will we ever see anything approaching this again? I say no."

Ok, just looking at these lineups, here is my assessment:

East starters :

Dwayne Wade - great scorer, only 25, doesn't shoot the 3 well, ok on FT% (should be better for all the attempts he creates), overall will likely have a career similar to Allen Iverson.

Gilbert Arenas - also 25, good scorer, has played with marginal talent so far in Golden State and Washington. Might be a very good player you never need to pay attention to.

Lebron James - man child at 22, good scorer that should be better, FT% in the 60's, geesh. Forward version of Shaq. Not a great rebounder, especially on the offensive boards (1.0 per game?), decent on the assists. Over hyped? Not yet, but if he doesn't take it to the next level soon, yes.

Chris Bosh - another 22 year old, while young, Bosh has shown a nice big man's game, he is very active on the boards, nice scoring capabilities. Nice player.

Shaq - nearing the end, fan vote in obviously. All time great no doubt, too bad never had desire to be better at the line. 53% over a long career takes you down a notch in my book. I don't care what his body was like, don't care how awesome he was against contemporaries. He averaged 10 foul shots per game in his career, making around 5. Crunch time strategies changed because of his inability. Think of Barry Bonds late in his career...devastating at the plate but cannot run or field at all. Incomplete player. All time great, sure, somewhere in the top 10 all time at the position. Quick list ahead of Shaq- Russell, Chaimberlain, Olajuwan, Kareem, Moses.

Backups include :
Caron Butler 26 yrs old, nice player
Dwight Howard 21 yr old, very nice start, jury still out
Chauncey Billups - 30 yr old, nice last couple of years. Was a #3 pick (thanks Pitino) overall that never has lived up to that spot. Other than the last 2 years, career was a yawner. MVP talk last couple of years is only relative if you take the MVP to mean most valuable, not best player.

Richard Hamilton - 29 yr old, ok scorer over his career, nothing else shows up in the stats, weak rebounder, ok assists, no steals to speak of. All-star because he is 21pts per game.

Jason Kidd* (out with injury) - 33 yrs old. My take - nice player, nowhere near the top of all time point guards, nowhere. Doesn't score many points, partly because he can't shoot well. Doesn't get top point guard assists other than a few years in Phoenix. Stat that does show up big is his rebounding for a point guard.

Joe Johnson** (injury replacement) - 25 yr old, traded twice by teams, emerging as a player. Splits time between point and 2 guard. Nice player, time will tell.

Vince Carter - 30 yrs old, scorer and highlight film player, 'nuff said.

Jermaine O'Neal - 28 yr old, last couple of years has scored more (on bad shooting for a big guy), very nice rebounding stats. Nice player.

wow, exhausting but here is the west:

Kobe Bryant - image suffered the blow but will be considered a great player. Selfish scorer that never figured out how to truly make team better ala Jordan.

Tracy McGrady - scorer all the way (not a shooter), 27 yrs old now, nice player

Kevin Garnett - 30 now, in the end will be remembered as a great player, scorer, rebounder, assists, good shooting %, all good. Never elevated teammates though.

Tim Duncan - 30 also. Great player, scoring, rebounding, shooting %, but oddly, never gets criticised for FT% - 68% career. Will be thought of as an all timer, never truly dominant though.

Yao Ming* - only 26, still evolving, scoring and rebounding continue to climb each year. If healthy, could become dominant over career against current competition.

West Reserves
Steve Nash* - Reigning two time MVP, 33 yrs old. Rich man's Jason Kidd. His points, shooting and leadership is superior to Kidd's. Many people argue that he should not have been MVP, but look at how the talented Phoenix team plays while he is hurt. They suck, which is really amazing considering the talent they still have in the lineup. Is he Isiah good at the point, no, as Bill Simmons said, Isiah was one of or possibly the best pure point guard ever (uggh, need to go wash my hands for typing that). Nash is best of the bunch this era.

Shawn Marion - see notes in Nash description above about Phoenix talent. 28 yr old, good scorer and rebounder. Without Nash leading the way, would be lesser player.

Amaré Stoudemire - 24 yrs old, missed year last year, see impact of Nash in above. Q- should Marion and Stoudemire give Nash some of whatever All Star bonus they get in their contracts to Nash, lol? Time will tell on Amare, potential is way high, slasher, runner type though, not necessarily a complete player.

Carlos Boozer* - 25 yr old having break out year, nice story, time will tell

Allen Iverson* - 31 yr old, dominant scorer that had to overcome weak teammates for many years. Did make many better with play, good playmaker. Poor career shooting percentage, too much of a burden offensively though. Will be interesting when healthy how mix with Anthony works. Has opportunity to change career perception.

Dirk Nowitzki - 28 yr old, very good scorer, rebounder. All around clutch player. In prime, could likely end up as one of top 10 at position.

Tony Parker - 24 yrs old, nice improvement last couple of years, not great assist stats yet but nice player.

Carmelo Anthony** - 22 yrs old, great scorer, starting to show good signs of complementing that with assists. Such incredible upside if he keeps extending beyond scoring. Plays smaller than 6-8

Josh Howard** - 26 yrs old, stats continue to climb each year, nice player.

Ray Allen** - 31 yrs old. Considered deadly shooter, but at 45% career hard to swallow. Nice scorer and makes good amount of FT attemts (and made) for a shooting guard. Good player, not sure where he will rank all time though?

Mehmet Okur** - who?, sorry, 18 pts per game is nice but nothing stands out here.

Would love to see challenges to these observations. I will admit I am not currently a big NBA fan. It is a shame but my feelings about the NBA are similar to what I hear EVERYBODY saying. The demographic of the fan has changed in the last 10 years, the NBA doesn't appeal to the average American anymore and I don't think David Stern realizes it.