HoopWatch

Houston’s Yao Ming and Utah’s Carlos Boozer could have easily made it to my roster but both are injured and will be out till this month ends. In lieu of Yao, I will start Denver’s Allen Iverson. Iverson got so many votes and could have easily started for the East, but with the trade to Denver, he has been relegated to a reserve role in the West.

Hence, my starters are San Antonio’s Tim Duncan, Minnesota’s Kevin Garnett, L.A. Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, Houston’s Tracy McGrady and Iverson. All five are proven superstars, and I will start them any day. Although, I would like to start two-time MVP Steve Nash, but I think he’ll be better off the bench with fellow Phoenix teammates Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire.

Yao has been impressive this season, and he deserves that starting center role more than the past All-Star games. He is averaging 25.9 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 86.7% from the foul line (being a center at that!!!), and 2.2 blocks. Boozer, on the other hand, norms 22.1 points, 11.8 caroms, 3 dimes and 56.9% from the field, his best numbers since he joined the Jazz.

Garnett and Duncan have their usual double-doubles. Garnett has averages of 22.6 points, 12.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.8 blocks and 1.4 steals. Now, that’s a complete player! Duncan, meanwhile, norms 20.5 points, 10.8 boards, 3.5 dimes, 2.4 blocks and 53.1% from the field. Bryant and McGrady are leading their respective teams back in the playoffs. The Lakers and the Rockets may both end up being fifth and sixth in the West. Bryant leads the Lakers with 28.8 points, 5.5 caroms, 5.5 assists and 1.1 steals. McGrady produces 23.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 6.2 assists (a career-high) and 1.2 steals for the Rockets. Iverson is the second leading scorer in the NBA with 28.9 points, 2.7 boards, 7.5 dishes and two steals.

My seven reserves are Denver’s Carmelo Anthony (c’mon coaches, the guy leads the league in scoring and he won’t be part of the All-Stars, that’s ridiculous. I would choose Melo over Tony Parker any day!), the Suns troika of Nash, Marion and Stoudemire, Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard and Utah’s Mehmet Okur.

I was deeply contemplating in choosing Boozer’s replacement. I had a choice between the Clippers’ Elton Brand and Okur. Brand has better numbers, but Okur has hit big time shots for Utah, and that just cannot be ignored. At center, Okur averages 1.8 threes per game, and they are huge threes which either tied or won the game for the Jazz. He adds 17.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.9 dishes to his stats.

Anthony, as I mentioned, leads the league in scoring with 31 per game. He adds 5.8 caroms, 4.1 dimes and 1.2 steals to his numbers. Two-time MVP Nash has the best numbers among all the stars. He deserves another MVP award this season more than the last two. He averages 19.3 points (a career-best), 3.3 rebounds, 11.8 assists (leads the NBA for the third straight year), 89.5% from the free-throw line, 2.5 threes a game at a high 49% shooting clip and 53.6% from the field (for a guard!).
Phoenix won’t be the dominant Phoenix of today if not for Marion and Amare. Marion has all-around averages of 18.5 points at 51.8% shooting from the field, 10.1 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 1.5 blocks. Stoudemire norms 19.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 60.7% field-goal percentage. These numbers from a guy who missed the whole of last season except for four games.

Nowitzki and Howard are leading the Mavericks to the league-best record. Nowitzki contributes 24.9 points, 9.4 rebounds, 3.1 dimes, shoots 90.5% from the stripe and 41.5% from the three-point arc (from a seven-footer!). Howard is an emerging star, and the former ACC Player of the year (2003) norms 19.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.2 steals and a block.