Stein's Dime: Dirk will start allstar game at center!

[Mavs Rule]

This is the breakdown every coach in the league will be looking at this weekend now that they know who's been selected by the fans to start in the Feb. 18 All-Star Game.

Coaches in both conferences received a memo from the league office Friday with voting instructions on All-Star reserves, with their secret ballots due back to the league office Tuesday and the seven-man East and West benches to be publicly revealed Thursday.

ALL-STAR STARTERS
EASTERN CONFERENCE
G Gilbert Arenas, Wizards
G Dwyane Wade, Heat
C Shaquille O'Neal, Heat
F LeBron James, Cavs
F Chris Bosh, Raptors
WESTERN CONFERENCE
G Kobe Bryant, Lakers
G Tracy McGrady, Rockets
C Yao Ming, Rockets
F Kevin Garnett, Wolves
F Tim Duncan, Spurs

Yet you had to know that we weren't going to wait another week to dig into the meatiest part of the All-Star debate. These are the benches as selected at Stein Line HQ, based on the same guidelines that the coaches are required to follow.

Those guidelines require the selection of two forwards, two guards, one center and two wild cards … but the coaches cannot vote for their own players and are not locked into voting for players based on the positions at which they're listed on the All-Star ballot. The exact wording from the league: "If the head coach feels a player can play more than one position, he should vote for that player at the position that he thinks is most advantageous for the All-Star team, not necessarily the one he plays most often during the season."

<SKIP EAST PICKS>

WEST RESERVES

Forwards

Carlos Boozer, Utah
Josh Howard, Dallas
The Jazz have tailed off, but Boozer hasn't. He's the first name on the list after the Dirk Nowitzki/Steve Nash no-brainers. And Josh Howard wouldn't be far behind him if I were a West coach. The Mavs -- and Howard -- have been too good to have only one All-Star, especially after winning 58 and 60 games in the previous two seasons with only one All-Star selection. That finally must change this February, with the Mavs and Suns having separated themselves from the rest of the league.

Guards

Steve Nash, Phoenix
Allen Iverson, Denver
Nash, as we all know, should be starting ahead of Tracy McGrady, but T-Mac has easily earned his reserve spot, so it's all good. As for Iverson, I realize he just got to Denver … but he's a lot like Shaq. You just can't have an All-Star Game without him. Apologies, then, to San Antonio's Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, Utah's Deron Williams, Golden State's Baron Davis, New Orleans' still-sidelined Chris Paul and Seattle's Ray Allen.

Center

Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas
The coaches, as explained above, aren't obligated to pick someone who's listed as a center on the ballot. And putting Nowitzki here opens an extra roster spot where the West coaches need it most … at forward. And he's going to start in place of Yao if my hunch (Box 3) is right. It's the natural compromise.

Wild cards

Carmelo Anthony, Denver
Shawn Marion, Phoenix
I arrived at my final twosome by banking on David Stern to select Amare Stoudemire as Yao's injury replacement. (Don't you love, incidentally, how all the Amare doubters disappeared without a peep?) I'm also probably letting emotion sway me some by going for Melo (a personal favorite) after the MSG brawl and picking another fave in Marion, even though that would give Phoenix three participants if Amare is indeed the commissioner's pick over Denver's Marcus Camby.

I expect the coaches to make the same choices irrespective of my biases, with Melo leading the league in scoring in spite of his 15-game suspension and Marion (UNLV's Matrix, don't forget) not far off his usual 20-and-10 excellence. The toughest omissions are Camby (have to make room for Iverson and Melo first), Portland's Zach Randolph (team wasn't good enough) and a Stein Line all-timer in Elton Brand (ditto).

<SKIP DOWN TO DIRK SECTION>

I'll concede that it might actually make more sense lineup-wise for Suns coach Mike D'Antoni to move Steve Nash into the West's first five for the All-Star Game in place of injured center Yao Ming. That would give the West a starting five of Nash, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, Garnett and Tim Duncan.

Yet I still say D'Antoni will choose Dirk Nowitzki as the fifth starter, since the 7-foot German is a more natural choice to replace Yao.

Knowing Nash, I'm guessing he'll even suggest to D'Antoni that Nowitzki move into the starting lineup. It's also generally easier for coaches to pick a player from a different team in these situations; I remember then-Mavs coach Don Nelson starting then-King Chris Webber over Nowitzki in the 2002 game when fans choice Shaquille O'Neal (then of the Lakers) had to withdraw because of injury.

My disclaimer: If the Suns' record is distinctly better than Dallas' by the time we all get to Las Vegas, there might be a clamor -- inside D'Antoni's own locker room, even -- to start a Sun.