Your NBA All-stars

[literally exaggerated]

So David Stern has decided that this year instead of operating off fan votes and coaches, you will be given the sole responsibility of choosing the all-star team for each conference. Remember, thats 2 centers, 4 guards, 4 forwards and 2 players of any kind. Who do you take?

[literally exaggerated]

My picks:

West

Centers: Dirk Nowitzki (starter, yes I'm aware he normally plays forward, but it was either line him at center, thus making room at the forward position for one of the many deserving candidates, or plug in an inferior or injured player here)
Marcus Camby

Forward: Kevin Garnett (starter)
Tracy McGrady (starter)
Tim Duncan
Elton Brand
Carmelo Anthony
Shawn Marion

Guard: Steve Nash (starter)
Kobe Bryant (starter)
Chris Paul (I know he's a rookie, but he's already better than current Bibby or Tony Parker, and is doing more with less than Baron Davis)
Ray Allen

East

Centers: Ben Wallace (starter, yes, im having him start ahead of Shaq. He plays on a much better team, is a much better defender, played many more games and is much closer to his prime)
Shaquille O'Neal

Forwards: Lebron James (starter)
Chris Bosh (starter)
Paul Pierce
Dwight Howard

Guards: Allen Iverson (starter)
Chauncey Billups (starter)
Dwyane Wade
Jason Kidd
Vince Carter
Gilbert Arenas

So the West have 6 forwards, the East 6 guards. If I was trying to make the best possible team this probably wouldn't be the case, but the fact is the West just has a ton of all-star calibre forwards, and the east has a ton of all-star calibre guards, and the all-star teams should be about choosing the best players, not creating the best team.

interestingly, despite having far fewer of them, I think the West has a stronger set of starting guards than the East, as both Nash and Bryant are playing stunningly good ball.

who I left out:

Yao Ming - I'd like to say this is only due to injuries, but even when he's been back he's been far from dominant, and seems unable to carry his team to victory, which is something a great center should be more than capable of doing at least some of the time

Amare Stoudamire - Injuries

Tony Parker - He's playing tremendously well, no doubt. But he's not scoring better than Allen or Bryant, and he's not passing better than Paul or Nash. Sucks to be a tweener.

Baron Davis - Tossup between he and Paul, but Paul's team is doing better despite lesser/more inexperienced talent

Mike Bibby - Seems to be deteriorating, too much upper body strength has messed with his once sweet shooting touch and he's being out-generalled by Paul on a consistent basis

Chris Webber - the only possibility here was to take Howard out and put Webber in, but Howard rebounds better, is more efficient, better defensively, and scores nearly as much. Granted, C-webb is on the better team and cedes a fair bit of the scoring load to Iverson, but I still like Howard here

Jermaine O'Neal - Injured

Manu Ginobli - Injuries weaken his otherwise strong case

Michael Redd - Blame the incredibly strong cast of guards in the East. Redd is playing great ball though, and I'd consider switching him with either Kidd or Carter

Pau Gasol - See Redd. Too many great Forwards in the West, someone had to miss out

Rasheed Wallace - Part of the problem with playing on a team as balanced as the Pistons is individually stellar players are forced to cede individual achievement to team success. Not to say 'Sheed isn't playing great ball, but his individual numbers just don't stack up. Oh well, I'm sure the Championship trophy will make him feel better.

Rip Hamilton - see: Rasheed Wallace

Antawn Jamison - Good, just not good enough

[Smarty Jones]

"So David Stern has decided that this year instead of operating off fan votes and coaches, you will be given the sole responsibility of choosing the all-star team for each conference. Remember, thats 2 centers, 4 guards, 4 forwards and 2 players of any kind. Who do you take?"

EASTERN CONFERENCE:

POWER FORWARDS: Chris Bosh (starter) and Dwight Howard.

SMALL FORWARDS: LeBron James (starter) and Paul Pierce.

CENTERS: Ben Wallace (starter) and Shaquille O'Neal.

SHOOTING GUARDS: Dwyane Wade (starter), Vince Carter and Michael Redd.

POINT GUARDS: Allen Iverson (starter), Chauncey Billups and Gilbert Arenas.

I personally would like to have Jermaine O'Neal and leave Shaquille O'Neal off the team, but Jermaine O'Neal's injury make it necessary to pick Shaq. As it is, Wallace deserves to start over The Diesel.

WESTERN CONFERENCE:

POWER FORWARDS: Elton Brand (starter), Kevin Garnett and Pau Gasol.

SMALL FORWARDS: Shawn Marion (starter), Dirk Nowitzki and Carmelo Anthony.

CENTERS: Tim Duncan (starter) and Mehmet Okur.

SHOOTING GUARDS: Kobe Bryant (starter).

POINT GUARDS: Steve Nash (starter), Chris Paul and Tony Parker.

I really only have one shooting guard, but this is also an exhibition game. With three point guards and an abundance of forwards who can shoot, rebound and defend there is a lot of flexibility.

As remarkable as Tracy McGrady is (and he's my favorite player in the NBA), I feel that several other players are having equally remarkable seasons.

[Brian Cronin]

For my All-Star team, you have to have played at least 40 games (sorry Jermaine and Tracy!).

Damn, I just saw Smarty's squad.

I would just take the same team, only:

Swapping Big Ben and Shaq

Swapping Dirk and The Matrix.

Swapping 'Melo with Ray Allen.

Everything else I absolutely concur with, and the Big Ben choice is REAL close.

-Brian

[Evil Sneak]

Eastern Coference
-C - Shaquille O'Neal (starter), Ben Wallace
PF - Chris Bosh (starter), Dwight Howard
SF - LeBron James (starter), Paul Pierce
SG - Dwayne Wade (starter), Michael Redd
PG - Chauncey Billups (starter), Allen Iverson, Gilbert Arenas
Wildcard - Vince Carter

I love Jason Kidd, but Billups, Iverson & Arenas are all having a better season. I wanted to add Rasheed Wallace, but I couldn't justify removing anyone else.

Other then the aforementioned, the only other players in the East who might be considered All-Stars are Joe Johnson, ANtwan Jamison & Rip Hamilton.

Rip doesn't do enough of the non-scoring things to warrant a selection, Johnson's numbers aren't helping the Hawks win games and Jamison just got caught in a numbers game. Though I gave heavy consideration to adding him, and removing Arenas.

There are some really bad teams in the East.

Western Conference
-C - Tim Duncan
PF - Dirk Nowitzki (starter), Elton Brand, Pau Gasol, Kevin Garnett
SF - Shawn Marion (starter), Carmelo Anthony
SG - Kobe Bryant (starter), Ray Allen
PG - Steve Nash (starter), Tony Parker
Wildcard - Chris Paul

Duncan is the only designated center, but all my PFs at some point have played the pivot so I'm comfortable with that choice, and there wasn't a center in the West who played enough games to warrant an All-Star nod.

Jason Richardson lost the coin flip with Ray Allen. If he had a true point guard instead of the black hole named Baron Davis at the one, he'd be an All-Star for sure.

Davis and Sam Cassell simply aren't playing as well as Chris Paul. The NOK point guard is doing more with considerably less talent.

Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming, Marcus Camby simply haven't played enough to warrant removing on of the PFs.

And Andrei Kirilenko, semmes to want to be Marcus Camby: The Early Years. Poor guy just can't stay healthy.