NBA All-Star Rosters Announced

The NBA All-Star reserves have been announced, and once again the coaches have screwed it all up. This further proves that the NBA All-Star game is a popularity contest and not any indication of who the best players in the league are.
Here are the rosters -

* denotes Starter.

EAST

Derrick Rose* G
Dwyane Wade* G
Lebron James* F
Amar'e Stoudemire* F
Dwight Howard* C
Ray Allen G
Paul Pierce F
Kevin Garnett F
Rajon Rondo G
Al Horford F
Joe Johnson F
Chris Bosh F


WEST

Chris Paul* G
Kobe Bryant* G
Carmelo Anthony* F
Kevin Durant* F
Yao Ming* (WTF?!) C
Tim Duncan F
Manu Ginobili G
Pau Gasol C
Blake Griffin F
Dirk Nowitzki F
Russell Westbrook G
Deron Williams G


Well...I need to vent about this a little bit. For the most part, you can look at these rosters and think, not too bad. But, if you take a deeper look around the league you'll notice some serious issues. I have 3 major gripes with these rosters.
1) Yao Ming - This is really about the fans, and fans I'm assuming reside in China, that voted for him. He really shouldn't have been on the ballot which would have forced all those fans to write in his name and hopefully deterred a majority of them. I'm just not sure what is going on here. I mean is there some widespread propaganda making its way around the far east that says, "you must vote for Yao Ming?" What is the deal? You already make every fucking item we sell in Wal-mart, China! Isn't that enough? Now you need to export bogus All-Star players to the NBA? Quit rubbing our face in it already.
2) Chris Bosh - Are you kidding me? If this guy hasn't proved he is an overrated puss of a power forward this season then I don't know what he needs to do. KD35 already called him out as one of the "fake tough guys" in the league. Every time he opens his mouth it's "media this" "coach that" "we just wanna chill". Give me a break. His numbers aren't even great, but we'll get to that in a minute.
3) WEST Coaches - How can you leave off Kevin Love and put Tim Duncan on the roster? And why are these votes not made public? Also, how does Steve Nash get left off if we're going for the whole lifetime achievement award? Voting Duncan on but leaving off Nash doesn't make sense, especially when you consider how much Duncan has fallen off and how little Nash has. Just infuriating. Which leads us to my All Snubs team.

WEST SNUBS

Kevin Love - Definitely Captain of the snub team. I mean, how does this guy not make it? And before you get your panties in a bunch - yes, I realize that Yao will not be playing and Love will likely get that spot from the commissioner. Stern, would be smart to put him in there, as it is a great chance for more fans to get to know Kevin Love. But, all that aside he should have been on this team from the jump. His numbers are in historical territory and rival any of Duncan's best seasons. He has over 100 more rebounds than Duncan this season. I just don't get it.

LaMarcus Aldridge - Another big man left off the roster in favor of Duncan. I would like to have seen the NBA throw Yao off the roster, put this guy on and give Duncan's spot to Love. That would make the most sense. Aldridge has made a transformation this season into a powerful low post presence who can also step outside and nail a 15 foot J. Previously, the latter was the foremost part of his game and he didn't bring much to the low post. He's averaging 20+ and is also getting more than a block a game.

Lamar Odom - I'll throw him on the roster mostly because the game is in LA and I think he should be there. Did you know he is 8th in the league in rebounding? Me neither, but he is, with 9.5 per contest. He is also averaging over 15 points in just over 33 minutes and usually comes off the bench for the Lakers. He is also shooting a tremendous 56% from the floor.

Monta Ellis - The Mississippi Missile has been among the very best guards in the Western Conference this season. He is 6th in the league in scoring but has also become a great playmaker for the Warriors putting up 5.6 assists per game. Not sure where he finds his way on, because PG is so deep in the west, but he is certainly deserving of a nod.

Steve Nash - Again, with Paul and Williams and Westbrook all on the roster I'm not sure where you find a spot for the aging Nash. Surely, the NBA is ready to spotlight some of the great young point guards and move away from the era of Kidd, Nash and Billups. But why do that for the point guards and not the forwards? Should we not be spotlighting Griffin, Love and Aldridge in the same way? Why does Duncan get the bid but Nash gets left out? Because he's on a bad team? Yea, it is his fault that Robert Sarver got rid of Steve Kerr and then let Amar'e walk and took all that money he saved and signed Josh Childress, Hedo Turkoglu, Channing Frye and Hakim Warrick. Yea, that's Steve's fault. What the fuck?


EAST

Danny Granger - He's putting up over 20 points a night in Indiana, and I don't think anyone but the hardest core NBA fans really know much about him. I'd much rather see him than Bosh in this game. I'd rather see him than Joe Johnson even. Johnson I guess is more of a SG where Granger is a SF for the most part. But I think both guys can change between positions, especially in an All-Star game.


Josh Smith - This guy is in some ways Lebron light. He puts up very good numbers across the board, but unlike Lebron, none of those numbers are elite. He's not an elite scorer but he does average 16+ to go along with 8.9 boards and a very nice 3.4 assists from a power forward. His one elite stat would be blocked shots, of which he gets 1.8 per game. If anything, Smith would be a better representation in the All-Star game than his two teammates, Johnson and Horford, because he is great in the up-and-down up-tempo game that the All-Star game usually becomes. Smith is among the best dunkers in the league, and would surely provide some great action.


Raymond Felton - Felton hasn't gotten nearly as much love for the turn around in NY as Amar'e, but he is equally deserving. He runs the D'Antoni offense as well as anyone not named Steve Nash and has been putting up great numbers all season. He puts up 17 points and dishes out about 9 assists per game which puts him at 3rd in the East in assists behind Rajon Rondo and John Wall (huh? wow). I don't know that you can push any of the East guards out, but Felton, like Nash in the West is pretty deserving of a spot.

It's a shame that the NBA won't get to show off some of these talents in LA at the All-Star game, as they are certainly deserving. I'd like to see them expand the rosters by 2 or 3 so that we get to see some of these guys, even if only for a few minutes of playing time. After all, it is an exhibition.

One last note. As a Celtics fan I don't mind the big 4 being on the roster, but I can see where people who are not C's fans might have an issue with that. Hard to argue with their play though. I think they are all deserving.