NBA All Star Weekend 2012 isn't really necessary if you ask me
February 20th 2012 08:15
I don't mean to sound like a grouchy and frustrated basketball fan, but this shortened season has soured me on the idea a real All Star weekend in Orlando is worthwhile in 2012. The NBA would never pass on an opportunity to soak up more corporate dollars and television air time, who can blame them?
But does it really reflect what it means to be an All Star anymore? Similar to the Pro Bowl, I'm of the mind simply picking the rosters and labeling them as deserving of the title to be called an "All Star" or "Pro Bowler" is good enough for me now. I don't need to see a pointless exhibition where the players are half invested and just toying around. I'd hate to be at the game too, since the price of those tickets are in the thousands, unless you are sitting up where you need binoculars.
Gone forever are the days when Larry Bird actually told his opponents he was going to beat them in the 3 Point Contest. Or the fierce battles between Dominique Wilkins and Michael Jordan in the Dunk Contest. Now it's who can jump over a car or hold the audiences attention the longest is the winner. As for the 3 Point Shootout (my favorite event by far), some of the best standstill shooters in the league have yet to partake. Remember when Kevin Durant won the fabled H-O-R-S-E competition twice held outside the hosting city's arena? No you don't. How about any of the Skills Competition winners or the Haier Shooting Stars battles?
Look, those are all fun to watch but the act has gotten tired. And with a season like this, as short as it is, it makes no sense. For cryin out loud, fans were asked to vote for All Stars two weeks into the season. Joel Anthony was on the ballot! With all due respect to Jeremy Lin, seven games lets you in the Rookie-Sophomore game as guys like Klay Thompson, Ekpe Udoh, and Jordan Crawford are not invited? Then you have your customary foreigner drafted years ago, 2007 to be precise, and Tiago Splitter is considered eligible as a sophomore. So he is on the roster. Now I do find it entertaining they allowed Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal to draft a mixture of rookies and sophomores so that is a new twist. Kudos to that.
Yes, it's no secret Lin's success and his popularity amongst the Asian people is something the NBA would be stupid to not include, especially since it has become the best story in the lockout-shortened season. An undrafted player making the rounds on various teams last year and working hard in the NBDL to eventually get his chance in the biggest, most popular city in the country and do well up to this point. Naturally, it makes sense to have him in the Rookie-Sophomore game, but it makes a mockery of the whole eligibility system with regards to this All Star weekend stuff too. Lin shouldn't be there, but the NBA would be throwing money and ratings down the toilet if he wasn't. So he is.
Look at your dunkers for the Dunk Contest. Paul George is a high flyer so no real problems there aside the fact many people watching won't know him because he's no household name. Iman Shumpert is a rookie playing with Lin in New York so he may win on popularity alone through association with his Asian teammate. Rookie Derrick Williams of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Chase Buddinger round out the four contestants. Williams is a fierce dunker and showed it at Arizona, but the Caucasian Buddinger was a shooter at Arizona as well. While the two share same college roots, Buddinger has a total of seven dunks all season thus far. I would laugh hard if the Great White Hope in Chase Buddinger won this.
I will watch all the All Star stuff because I love basketball and the NBA, but if it weren't on I could care less, even about the All Star game itself on Sunday. I'd be fine with picking up the paper or reading the rosters of those who were elected All Stars at the end of the season or something like that. The days of All Star games being true battles like they were four decades ago are over and they aren't going to return. There are guys out there who will play to win more often than not (LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Kevin Durant, Kevin Garnett, and Chris Paul come to mind), but the whole All Star thing no longer holds the cache it used to for me.
The last All Star game I truly enjoyed was the overtime thriller with Michael Jordan in 2003 with Kevin Garnett winning the MVP. It was good to see a forward win the award for once and Jordan hit a big shot to almost give the East the win. But it went to overtime. Regardless you could even argue my idol Michael wasn't an All Star that season, but Vince Carter showed the utmost class by giving Jordan his starting spot. Moments like that you don't forget. Maybe it's truly what lies in the eye of the beholder. But I can definitely live without the All Star festivities from now on, 66 or 82 game schedule non withstanding.
But does it really reflect what it means to be an All Star anymore? Similar to the Pro Bowl, I'm of the mind simply picking the rosters and labeling them as deserving of the title to be called an "All Star" or "Pro Bowler" is good enough for me now. I don't need to see a pointless exhibition where the players are half invested and just toying around. I'd hate to be at the game too, since the price of those tickets are in the thousands, unless you are sitting up where you need binoculars.
Gone forever are the days when Larry Bird actually told his opponents he was going to beat them in the 3 Point Contest. Or the fierce battles between Dominique Wilkins and Michael Jordan in the Dunk Contest. Now it's who can jump over a car or hold the audiences attention the longest is the winner. As for the 3 Point Shootout (my favorite event by far), some of the best standstill shooters in the league have yet to partake. Remember when Kevin Durant won the fabled H-O-R-S-E competition twice held outside the hosting city's arena? No you don't. How about any of the Skills Competition winners or the Haier Shooting Stars battles?
Look, those are all fun to watch but the act has gotten tired. And with a season like this, as short as it is, it makes no sense. For cryin out loud, fans were asked to vote for All Stars two weeks into the season. Joel Anthony was on the ballot! With all due respect to Jeremy Lin, seven games lets you in the Rookie-Sophomore game as guys like Klay Thompson, Ekpe Udoh, and Jordan Crawford are not invited? Then you have your customary foreigner drafted years ago, 2007 to be precise, and Tiago Splitter is considered eligible as a sophomore. So he is on the roster. Now I do find it entertaining they allowed Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal to draft a mixture of rookies and sophomores so that is a new twist. Kudos to that.
Yes, it's no secret Lin's success and his popularity amongst the Asian people is something the NBA would be stupid to not include, especially since it has become the best story in the lockout-shortened season. An undrafted player making the rounds on various teams last year and working hard in the NBDL to eventually get his chance in the biggest, most popular city in the country and do well up to this point. Naturally, it makes sense to have him in the Rookie-Sophomore game, but it makes a mockery of the whole eligibility system with regards to this All Star weekend stuff too. Lin shouldn't be there, but the NBA would be throwing money and ratings down the toilet if he wasn't. So he is.
Look at your dunkers for the Dunk Contest. Paul George is a high flyer so no real problems there aside the fact many people watching won't know him because he's no household name. Iman Shumpert is a rookie playing with Lin in New York so he may win on popularity alone through association with his Asian teammate. Rookie Derrick Williams of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Chase Buddinger round out the four contestants. Williams is a fierce dunker and showed it at Arizona, but the Caucasian Buddinger was a shooter at Arizona as well. While the two share same college roots, Buddinger has a total of seven dunks all season thus far. I would laugh hard if the Great White Hope in Chase Buddinger won this.
I will watch all the All Star stuff because I love basketball and the NBA, but if it weren't on I could care less, even about the All Star game itself on Sunday. I'd be fine with picking up the paper or reading the rosters of those who were elected All Stars at the end of the season or something like that. The days of All Star games being true battles like they were four decades ago are over and they aren't going to return. There are guys out there who will play to win more often than not (LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Kevin Durant, Kevin Garnett, and Chris Paul come to mind), but the whole All Star thing no longer holds the cache it used to for me.
The last All Star game I truly enjoyed was the overtime thriller with Michael Jordan in 2003 with Kevin Garnett winning the MVP. It was good to see a forward win the award for once and Jordan hit a big shot to almost give the East the win. But it went to overtime. Regardless you could even argue my idol Michael wasn't an All Star that season, but Vince Carter showed the utmost class by giving Jordan his starting spot. Moments like that you don't forget. Maybe it's truly what lies in the eye of the beholder. But I can definitely live without the All Star festivities from now on, 66 or 82 game schedule non withstanding.
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