WESTERN CONFERENCE:

Starting five:

C – Amar’e Stoudemire

 
Even though in his NBA.com player’s profile page he’s listed as a forward in the All-Star balloting he’s a center. While I think he’s a power forward that’s definitely a smart move by the NBA because the competition among West centers is really weak.

Stoudemire continues to be one of the league’s premier big men and his impact on the game is huge. Of course, Amar’e deserves to be an All-Star. He’s great!

 

 

 

 

F – Dirk Nowitzki

 
Somehow I feel that Dirk is still a bit underrated. His Mavericks are at the high end of the Western Conference playoff pack and he has been their MVP as always. He’s averaging more than 25 points and just recently entered the 20 000 point club.

 
Nowitzki is probably the best power forward in the Western Conference this year. Yeah, he wasn’t voted in by the fans but I think that he deserved this starting spot more than Tim.

 

 

 

F – Carmelo Anthony

 
This is really a no-brainer. Carmelo is having a career year so far and leads the league in scoring by dropping 30 points per game. He works on his game a lot and it pays off – this is by far his best season in terms of free throw shooting (87%)
 
His team is doing very good as expected and Carmelo helps the Nuggets not just by scoring points – he also rebounds well and gets a lot of steals.

G – Kobe Bryant

 
If you are arguably the best player in the league then you are definitely a deserving starter in the All-Star game. His Lakers as many expected have the best record in the league and Kobe averages more than 28 points per game.

G – Steve Nash

 
Nash proves that if you have excellent basketball IQ than it doesn’t matter how old are you. At age 35 (turns 36 this February) Steve is having a stellar season. He averages more points than he did the last two years and is second in the league in assists (11.1 APG). Steve has never shot better from the field and from the free throw line than he’s doing it this season.

Phoenix got of to a very hot start but has slowed down since then and the Suns can’t afford to play bad if they want to make the playoffs in the ultra-competitive Western Conference.

 

 
F – Kevin Durant

Durant deserves to play in the All-Star game. He already is one of the elite scorers in the league.

 
F – Tim Duncan

Tim will start the All-Star game and while I think that Nowitzki deserved the starting spot a bit more, Duncan still was the second best choice. It’s close.

 
G – Brandon Roy

He’s the main reason why Portland Trail Blazers are the team that they are.

 
G – Chris Paul

He leads the league in assists and besides that he has improved his 3-point shot.

 
G – Deron Williams

Deron has been snubbed from the All-Star Game too many times now.

 
F – Carlos Boozer

I believe that both members of this terrific tandem deserve to be All-Stars.

 
F – Zach Randolph

Memphis deserve to have one representative in Dallas. Randolph has been playing out of his mind.

 
The potential injury replacements would be Chris Kaman (just missed the roster), Monta Ellis (I’m sorry Monta, I see that you’re averaging 26 ppg but don’t forget that you’re also leading the league in turnovers and your team is one of the worst in the league) and Pau Gasol (Pau has missed a lot of games this season)

You might also like

• Top 10 power forwards of the decade.
• Who won the most NBA Player of the Week Awards in the last decade
• 4 fun and interesting things during the lockout

 
Unfortunately LeBron James didn’t keep his promise and he wont be dunking at American Airlines Center on February 13th. Many already expected that and I guess that last year he just got too excited while watching the contest.

 

 
But still this contest is going to be a lot of fun.

 
The 2010 NBA All-Star game dunk contest participants are:

Shannon Brown, Gerald Wallace, Nate Robinson and DeMar DeRozan or Eric Gordon.

 
I hope that the winner of the Dunk-In will keep the best dunks for the real contest. Not really sure about Eric Gordon but DeMar DeRozan is surely one of the best dunkers in the league. We’ll see what they both have to offer.

 
I don’t think that Nate  Robinson should participate. Don’t get me wrong I loved many of his dunks but I don’t know if he can come up with anything we haven’t seen from him yet.

 
I guess Shannon Brown is an obvious choice – guy has some serious hops.

 

 

 
I also like Gerald Wallace but he could be more of an ingame-dunker, like Rudy Gay. Also he probably doesn’t jump as high as he used to.

 
In my opinion this is one of the most impressive dunks of all time. I wonder if he can still throw it down like that.

 

You might also like

• Early East All-Star predictions
• Miami big 3 – the complete list of opinions
• Who won the most NBA Player of the Week Awards in the last decade

Starting five:

C – Dwight Howard: One of the easy choices. The guy is averaging 18 and 12 (also 2 bpg) not to mention that his team’s record is 17-4.

F – Chris Bosh: Bosh has been putting up great numbers for years now but he rarely enjoys any team success and at this point his raptors are below 0.500. Although his team isn’t winning it’s just too hard to ignore his great statistical numbers 24.3 ppg and 12.3 ppg.

F – LeBron James: He will probably start every all star game during the next 7 years or so. LeBron’s stats are amazing as always and Cleveland has a very nice 15-6 record. He’s shooting 51% from the field and that is his career high.

G – Dwyane Wade: Miami heat is above 0.500 as of now and Wade is averaging 27-5-6. That’s what makes him an All-star starting guard, no question about it.

G – Joe Johnson: His numbers are in fact very similar to Wade’s (ok, maybe except ppg) just a bit worse. You could say that he’s the “poor man’s Dwyane Wade”. Joe is averaging 21.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists per contest. His Hawks have been surprisingly good too and that also boosts his chances.

Reserves:

G – Vince Carter: While averaging almost 20 points per game he has been a key element for one of the leading championship contenders this year.

G – Andre Igoudala: Andre is in top 6 in every of the 3 major statistical categories (ppg, apg and rpg) among eastern conference guards. That includes leading eastern conference guards in rebounding with 6.8 rpg.

F – Paul Pierce: He is playing great as usual. His numbers aren’t staggering (they’re very good though) but his team is doing great and is currently on an eight game winning streak.

F – Danny Granger: When you’re in the top 10 in scoring you should make the All-Star team. Indiana is playing poorly though.

G – Rajon Rondo: He’s averaging 9.2 assists per game and is by far the leader in this category among the Eastern conference players. That alone should earn him a spot not to mention that he’s an important part of one of the best teams in the league.

G – Brandon Jennings: 21.2 ppg, 5.7 apg and 3.9 rpg. These are the kind of numbers that no rookie guard should be ashamed of. He probably was the main reason why Milwaukee got off to a hot start this season.

F – Gerald Wallace: This is a bit of a surprise. I considered to spend my last pick on guys like Arenas, Jamison, Garnett and even Brook Lopez (Nets are just too bad) but in the end I picked Gerald. It’s mainly because he leads the league in rebounding and he’s only 6-7. He’s averaging 12.3 rpg and that is just unbelievable considering that his career average is only 5.7 RPG. Charlotte is only slightly below 0.500 so his team isn’t playing very bad too. I don’t think that he will get picked but he has to at least get some respect.

You might also like

• Miami big 3 – the complete list of opinions
• Who won the most NBA Player of the Week Awards in the last decade
• 2010 slam dunk contest participants announced.