The votes are in and I have issues. No, I'm not talking presidential primaries. I'm referring to the naming of the NBA All-Star Game starters. The fans, for the most part, got it right but with one glaring omission. Chris Paul should be a starting guard on the Western Conference team when all-star weekend hits New Orleans on Feb. 17.
Fans of the association could have injected some much-needed buzz to the city of New Orleans by voting in the Hornets' stud point guard. Instead, the Denver Nuggets will take up two slots in the starting lineup: Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson. Nothing against Melo or AI but....we've got two Nuggets as starters? Come on! I'm OK with Timmy Duncan as a starter, Yao Ming will be one for the rest of his career and Kobe is...well....Kobe. I'm not a Melo fan by any means but I can accept the reality of his popularity over someone like Dirk Nowitzki or Carlos Boozer. But AI over Chris Paul? Not this year.
CP3 has been heads and shoulders above all point guards in 07-08. The King Bee leads the league in steals (2.6), is second to Nash in assists (10.5) and is the only reason why Byron Scott still has a coaching gig today. As of Jan. 28, New Orleans owns the best record in the West and winners of nine in a row. You can even argue that Chris Paul is the league's MVP through the first half of the season! I hope the coaches have enough sense in them to name CP3 as a reserve because he deserves to be a part of all-star weekend.
As for the East all-stars, what is Dwyane Wade doing in the starting lineup? Are people paying attention to what's going on in Miami. They are 8-32! The Heat lost 15 games in a row before finally winning their first game of 2008 last week. Shaq gets blamed for the fall of Heat basketball, as well as Pat Riley, but nobody is pointing the finger at D-Wade. Why? He's not in shape, he plays out of control and plays very little defense. I guess fans are blinded by the whole D-Wade hype. It's not 2006 anymore. The Heat is off. If I can change the voting process, I would say Chauncey Billups is in and D-Wade out.
Keywords: AI, Chris Paul, NBA, Wade
