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.

[Drbio]

Totally well deserved if it happens. JHo as well.

[huashengdou]

OMG！But I do not want so .
Have much rest is also good . .

[Chicken Diavlo]

Who is the DN in your sig?

Don't worry... he's playing in the game, whether he starts or not, and trust me. It won't be anything that wears him out for the playoffs.

[DarenG]

He is playing as well as anybody in the NBA. Dirk deserves to start.

[huashengdou]

Originally Posted by Chicken Diavlo

Who is the DN in your sig?

Don't worry... he's playing in the game, whether he starts or not, and trust me. It won't be anything that wears him out for the playoffs.

DN ==dirk

[nashtymavsfan13]

That would be awesome, Dirk would finally get to start an All-Star game and deservedly so.

[mqywaaah]

Righteous! So Dirk is starting and JHo is appearing? For real? Righteous!

[rabbitproof]

It read to me like those were Stein's suggestions, rather then reporting.

[rabbitproof]

Isn't there some cash or vacation prize when you hit post #801? I'd like to redeem.

[nashtymavsfan13]

Originally Posted by mqywaaah

Righteous! So Dirk is starting and JHo is appearing? For real? Righteous!

Not yet, but it has a good chance of happening according to Stein.

[mqywaaah]

Well, lets keep our fingers crossed..

[G-Man]

The best thingh about this article is that people in the NBA read Stein, so he has now planted the seed in many a coach's mind to vote for Dirk as their center. That, more than anything, makes it easier to add Josh.

As far as Marion being a shoo-in over Howard, I disagree. Marion shoots a higher percentage, but credit for that goes more to Nash for the alley oop pases than to Marion for converting them. Howard, on the other hand, makes more of his points on his own, is shooting better from the 3, and is on an upwards trajectory. Josh doesn't have a Nash and an Amare drawing double teams to leave him wide open.

Phx may have a better record than the Mavs, but their 16 game winning streak ought to come with an asterick. 10 wins are in the East, including Miami with no Shaq or Wade. They beat Houston with no McGrady or Yao. The best team they beat in this streak is Indiana. Who the Mavs beat twice, along with the Lakers Suns, Spurs, Houston with T-Maq, Miami with Wade, Denver with Iverson.

[FINtastic]

Howard is playing great, but I have a hard time believing that Marion isn't the better all-around player right now.

[dude1394]

Right now Josh is a more impactful player. Players who can get their own shot are really special, no matter marion's stats, he's dependent on someone else to get them.

[StackAttack]

Dude, kind of off-topic, but when did Josh make that quote in your sig?

Anyway. Yeah, it looks to me like it's just Stein's suggestion, though starting an ASG is something Dirk definitely deserves. The media in general seems high on JHo getting in; Bill Walton picked him to START, alongside Dirk, over Duncan and Garnett. Then again, he's a bumbling idiot who also picked JHo as an Eastern Conference reserve.

[Dirkadirkastan]

Originally Posted by StackAttack

Dude, kind of off-topic, but when did Josh make that quote in your sig?

I think he said it just before Game 6 of last year's WCF.

[dude1394]

Originally Posted by Dirkadirkastan

I think he said it just before Game 6 of last year's WCF.

Yeah that sounds about right. He was responding to someone in the suns organization.

[kriD]

Mavs' Howard modest; Avery isn't

Coach feels strongly that forward should be named to All-Star team

11:40 PM CST on Saturday, January 27, 2007
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News
esefko@dallasnews.com

Josh Howard rolls with the punches about as well as any NBA player. Not much ruffles him off the court. And if something does on the court, he usually lets the offending party know about it.

But when it comes to All-Star voting, he's not about to lobby Western Conference coaches, who must submit their ballots by Tuesday for the All-Star reserves that will be announced Thursday.

That doesn't mean Avery Johnson won't do some campaigning.

"I don't know how much it helps, but if somebody tells me it helps, I'm going to do it," Johnson said of soliciting some votes among the West coaches. "We got a lot of stuff we do behind the scenes, and we'll do everything in our power to try to make sure he's on the team."

Howard appreciates the help, but he's willing to let the chips fall where they may.

"It would be exciting to make it again," Howard said. "I played in the rookie and sophomore game, so that was a cool experience. But to play with the big boys, that would be even better.

"Earned or not, I've played hard. I've helped my team get to the [second-] best record in the league. If they want to give it to me, it's cool. If not, I still have chances."

Johnson, of course, believes Howard has earned a spot on the 12-man roster. And even if the 6-7 forward isn't selected, Johnson is not a fan of enlarging the roster.

"I think that would take some of the drama out of it – who's going to make it, who's not going to make it," Johnson said. "I'd like to see it stay at 12."

High scoring, but ...: Mavs guard J.J. Barea had 43 points in a game for the NBADL's Fort Worth Flyers, hitting 18 of 24 shots from the field.

Johnson was asked if he was going to watch the film of that game, which the Flyers lost.

"Yeah," he said. "I want to see if he played any defense."

Blackman honor coming: Mavericks director of basketball development Rolando Blackman will have his number retired for a second time on Feb. 10.

Blackman already has his No. 22 hanging from the rafters at American Airlines Center. He will have his No. 25 retired by Kansas State University in a halftime ceremony of the Wildcats' game against Colorado.

What if? Johnson said he is glad fans are involved with naming All-Star starters, but added that the starting unit would look significantly different if coaches were in charge of the ballot.

"If we as coaches would vote for starters, I would think Dirk would be a No. 1 pick or a No. 2 pick on the team," Johnson said.

Nowitzki could still be a starter for the West. Phoenix's Mike D'Antoni will coach the West, and a close confidant of Suns guard Steve Nash believes Nowitzki may get a helping hand from his former teammate.

"I'll bet Steve goes to D'Antoni and asks him to start Dirk," said Al Whitley, the Mavs equipment manager and one of Nash's closest friends since the two were kids. "That's the kind of guy he is."

[mqywaaah]

Any updates? Is Dirk Starting and by that happening would howard make it to the All Star reserves?

[Dirkadirkastan]

Officially the lineup would have Duncan at PF and Dirk at C. Hmm...

[mqywaaah]

What about the open roster spot? What are JHo's chances of obtaining it?

[sike]

who cares if Dirk starts?

[Male30Dan]

I think a great deal of the people here care Sike!

[DubOverdose]

Originally Posted by sike

who cares if Dirk starts?

I do. I think when its all said in done at the end of career, if he didn't have an ASG that he started, it would be a shame. That's not to say I care about the ASG, but it would just seem wrong.

[dude1394]

Originally Posted by sike

who cares if Dirk starts?

me

[Dirkenstien]

If dirk starts then Howardd has a better chance of getting in as well. So I definitely care.

[mqywaaah]

Originally Posted by sike

who cares if Dirk starts?

Im not embarrased to admit that I do too.

[Dim499]

Originally Posted by Dirkenstien

If dirk starts then Howardd has a better chance of getting in as well. So I definitely care.

That has nothing to do with it. The coaches voted this weekend on the Allstar reserves. It will be unveiled this Thursday. I hope Al Whitley from Punk'd fame is right about Nash.

[fluid.forty.one]

I hope Dirk starts.

[Flacolaco]

If Dirk cares, then fine. I hope he has a good time.

but

playoff success > popularity contest

[mqywaaah]

Dirk will defend his crown and he will come out succesful! What do you guys think?


Talking about the 3pt contest.

[shaw-xx]

D'Antoni said he would play Dirk and TD for 48 mins. Then I care...

[Dirkadirkastan]

Originally Posted by shaw-xx

D'Antoni said he would play Dirk and TD for 48 mins. Then I care...

Because he wants to win or because he wants to be an ass to his rival teams?

[The Crippler]

i'm guessing ass. Just because he is one.

[Locked_Up_Tonight]

Why would yall not want Dirk to start? Starting in all-star games breeds respect. Getting exposure breeds respect.

If you want the Mavs to earn some respect from the leaguer... then you have to have your superstar "showcased."