It has come to my attention that Washington’s Antawn Jamison may not make it to the All-Star game as he has been tagged injured, and might be out for the next eight weeks due to a sprained left knee. And so I had to choose a suitable replacement.
If both Jamison and Milwaukee’s Michael Redd will not be able to suit up for the Las Vegas biggest event, who then would I select so as not to compromise the team’s composition? What kind of team should I send to battle the West heavyweights? I had a difficult time on this one as I narrowed my choices down to three. I had Charlotte’s Emeka Okafor, Detroit’s Richard Hamilton and New Jersey’s Jason Kidd in my list, not exactly in that particular order.
Okafor has been a monster for the Bobcats. In his third year, he is currently posting 15 points, 11.4 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 3 blocks per game. Now those numbers cannot be ignored, especially the rebounds and blocks outputs. Then there’s Rip. He averages 22.7 points, 4 rebounds, 3.7 assists and shoots 91.4% from the foul line. He is just heavy on the points though. He was the easiest choice for elimination.
And now we have Kidd. Silly me! How can I forget the 34-year-old magician, who is the only active player with the most number of career triple-doubles, and his production averages are near that triple-double barrier. Kidd norms 14.9 points, 8.3 rebounds, 9 assists and 1.7 steals an outing. Wow! Those are real All-Star numbers.
I had a real hard time choosing between Okafor and Kidd. The East needs a big man to replace Jamison since they are thin in the front line or so I thought. They already have the two O’Neal’s, Shaq and Jermaine, man-child Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh. Now that’s a heavy front line. With Kidd, they can go small, and fast. Caron Butler, Lebron James and Vince Carter can slide to the 4-spot. Isn’t it lovely to see Dwyane Wade, Kidd, Carter, James and Howard running the floor at the same time. Now that’s a real scary five.