All Star Gripes

Hey Gang, can we talk about the All Star selection process for a moment? Not the fan vote, which is admittedly broken with Iverson starting and McGrady nearly joining him, but I don't see a lot of options to change that. The fans should vote on the starters, it's a fans league, but sometimes there are just idiots and we have to live with that. It's then up to the coaches to yank the horrid fan vote-ins really early and not give them much time.

The larger issue, I think, that occurs around this time of year as prognosticators start to talk about their picks for the All Star game are:

• Players from bad teams can't make the All Star game
• Teams with great records deserve representation commensurate on that  record.

Let me discuss those points briefly and I'll see if you agree with me.

Players from bad teams can't make the All Star game. Why? Basketball is not a sport where one player can completely turn around the fortunes of a club (Lebron James excepted), so if a GM can't manage the roster well enough to put talent around an otherwise deserving player, why shouldn't they go? Sure, sometimes players can have statistics boosted by playing on a bad team, but the coaches pick the reserves and should bloody well know better than to pick a me-first gunner who is benefiting from playing on a bad team. I'm not suggesting Brook Lopez or Andrew Bogut absolutely deserves to be in the All Star game, but no one is even talking about them and they are both having an incredible year. They deserve to be in the conversation, team record be damned.

No wonder Williams looks depressed, despite amazing numbers and keeping his team afloat in the tough Western Conference, he's likely to be snubbed again.

Then the other major issue I have with All Star weekend. Teams with great records apparently deserve representation commensurate with their dominance. We saw Detroit send four players a few years back, and only two of them really deserved to go. This year it's the Lakers Pau Gasol, who has played well when he has played, but has played all too few games to warrant inclusion over the players who will likely miss out. That's Deron Williams if you believe Marc Stein. Disappointing. Yet the Lakers 'deserve' two players in the All Star game due to being the champs and having the best record. Bah!

So in conclusion, the All Star voting system isn't really broken, even if it results in a blip like Allen Iverson starting every now and then. The major issue is with the people who are supposed to know better. The coaches and media need to pull their socks up and get real.