Last night, the names of the reserve players of the Eastern Conference All Stars were named and they came with a few raised eyebrows. For starters, despite having another splendid season, the Atlanta Hawks' Josh Smith still got snubbed yet again becoming the Susan Lucci of the NBA--always a nominee, but never an award winner. Two of the usual suspects have also returned to the All Star team, although many can question whether one of them deserves it or not along with five new faces. Lets take a look at who made it along with some video highlights that convinced coaches to select these guys starting with the two incumbents: the Miami Heat's Chris Bosh and the Chicago Bulls' Loul Deng.
Although Chris Bosh has played in his usual exceptional manner, can he really be considered as worthy of yet another All Star nod--especially since there were players that probably performed better than he did? The Brooklyn Nets' Brook Lopez comes to mind as he has come back from injuries to lead his team in scoring and has become a dominant force in the paint in the NBA. Check out some of the season highlights from Heat forward Chris Bosh who was selected to his 8th All-Star team this year and you be the judge!
Although Chris Bosh has played in his usual exceptional manner, can he really be considered as worthy of yet another All Star nod--especially since there were players that probably performed better than he did? The Brooklyn Nets' Brook Lopez comes to mind as he has come back from injuries to lead his team in scoring and has become a dominant force in the paint in the NBA. Check out some of the season highlights from Heat forward Chris Bosh who was selected to his 8th All-Star team this year and you be the judge!
Loul Deng can be considered another dubious name because many consider him quite overrated as he plays the most minutes in the league, yet is not nearly as efficient as he should be. Granted his play has improved from last season and he leads the Bulls in scoring; however, considering the fact there could have been more deserving players selected such as, again, Josh Smith, make Deng's selection less notable. Check out some of the highlights from the first half of Luol Deng's season with the Chicago Bulls, averaging more than 17 PPG, playing well enough to earn the second All-Star selection of his career!
One of the new faces that will appear in the All Star game will be Deng's teammate, Joakim Noah who has had a splendid season posting career highs in scoring (12.2ppg), averaging a double double in points and rebounds while leading his team in blocked shots and steals per game; however can he really be considered deserving an All Star nod? Noah is more of a over-glorified role player who really does not separate himself apart from other centers in the league pointing out once again how the Nets' Lopez was snubbed by a lesser player. Check out some highlights from Bulls center Joakim Noah's season who earned the first All-Star selection of this career, bringing exceptional defensive play to the court along with 12 points & 11 rebounds per game!
Another big man, Tyson Chandler of the New York Knicks also earned his first selection to the All Star team; however, his selection can be considered rather dubious as well. Despite showing that he is a good rebounder and post defender, he has been completely absent on the offensive end. Sure he averages about 12ppg and leads the league in field goal percentage, but most of that is due to having a point guard that can find him for lobs in Jason Kidd. In his more than 10 years playing in the league, Chandler has never developed a post game and for the bulk of his career has been a non-factor on the offensive end. Again, he is certainly not more deserving than the Nets' Brook Lopez, who was actually a dominant presence on both sides of the floor. Check out some of the season highlights from the reigning Defensive Player of the Year Tyson Chandler, who earned his first All-Star selection of this career with the Knicks this season, averaging a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds per game!
Indiana's Paul George also earned his first selection to the Eastern All Star team, but can he really be considered worthy of such an honor? Sure he has led the Indiana Pacers in scoring and to the top of the Central Division; however considering that fact that the Central Division is not that strong and the Pacers have been less than stellar during the season with their poor shooting, George's star is not as shiny as it is portrayed to be--especially considering a much better player was snubbed over him in Atlanta's Josh Smith. Check out some of the highlights from Paul George's season so far with the Indiana Pacers as the up and coming superstar averaged 17 PPG and just under 8 RPG to go along with sensational defensive play, earning him his first All-Star selection!
Fortunately, there are two selections who are players truly deserving of the honor even though their teams are currently under .500, but still have stepped up their games nonetheless giving them the notoriety that they deserved. Philly's Jrue Holiday went from a role player hiding in the shadow to become the leader in scoring, assists and first and last option on offense while the Cavs' Kyrie Irving has picked up where he left off from last season's Rookie of the Year campaign as he leads all point guards in scoring while providing Cleveland with the leadership that was so cruelly taken from their fans two years ago. See for yourself why these guys are possibly the most deserving candidates to represent the Eastern Conference in the 2013 NBA All Star Games starting with Holiday who has had a spectacular season thus far averaging 19 PPG and over 9 APG, earning him his first All-Star selection!
And last but certainly not the least, Check out some highlights from the Cleveland Cavaliers' second-year point guard Kyrie Irving who will be making his first All-Star appearance and is enjoying a breakout season this year, averaging almost 24 PPG and over 5 APG!
So there you have it: all of the supposed Eastern Conference's best as chosen by the fans and coaches. One can certainly see by these selection that they more had to do with bias than the actually performances of the players, themselves. Anyways, what can you do? Due to the subject matter and the adjoining media relation, this post is unusually long than the regular length. Hopefully it will not be considered a turnoff of viewing this pice. As always, you can view full game by game recaps, highlights and post game interviews on www.nba.com/video and be sure to stay tuned in the coming days as SDH recaps, reviews, reminisces, and ranks all 30 teams for the month of December in SDH's Worst to First for December.
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