Larry Brown Sports

In terms of statistics, Brooklyn Nets point guard Deron Williams is having one of his worst years as a pro. He has openly admitted that he has struggled to learn a new offense since leaving the Utah Jazz, and as a result he is averaging only 16.8 points and 7.7 assists per game. Despite all that, Williams was second in the Eastern Conference All-Star voting earlier this month, trailing Rajon Rondo by about 325,000 votes.

Williams is still one of the better guards in the game, but his performance this season certainly hasn’t been All-Star worthy. He knows that.

“I just think there’s people playing better than me,” Williams said Tuesday when asked if he was deserving of an All-Star spot, via ESPNNewYork.com.

The worst part of Williams’ game this season has been his shooting. He’s shooting just 40.9% from the field overall and 32.8% from three-point range. However, he has definitely improved since P.J. Carlesimo took over for Avery Johnson as Brooklyn’s head coach. The Nets are on a six-game winning streak, during which Deron has shot 46.8% from the field and 48.3% from beyond the arc. He’s averaging 19.5 points and 8.3 assists during that stretch.

Chances are, Williams will be left off the All-Star roster. The fans select the starters, and it appears as though Rondo will be the starting point guard for the East. The coaches pick the reserves and Kyrie Irving is more deserving than Williams. That being said, he has shown signs that he is turning his season around. That’s good news for the Nets as they look to assert themselves as one of the better teams in the East down the stretch.

Chest bump to Pro Basketball Talk

Fan voting for the 2013 NBA All-Star Game is underway, and Charles Barkley is disgusted with some of the results thus far. Because of the way things are going, Barkley believes the fans should no longer decide who the starters for the All-Star game will be in the future. In particular, he’s baffled that Dwight Howard and Kevin Garnett are receiving so many votes.

“I don’t think the fans should ever vote because they just vote for their favorite players,” Barkley told WMSF-FM in South Florida earlier this week, via FOX Sports’ Chris Tomasson. “I’m a big Kevin Garnett fan. But there’s no way in the world he should be starting the All-Star game right now. And the same way with Dwight Howard. Those fans who have penciled those two guys in (to) start… that’s a travesty to be honest. I like Dwight Howard but he ain’t played like no All-Star this year and Kevin Garnett (the same).”

K.G. and Dwight are having rough seasons. Garnett, who is 36 years old and at the tail end of his career, is showing his age. He is averaging 14.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, which certainly aren’t All-Star numbers. Howard has yet to find his groove with the Lakers, as he’s averaging 17.3 points and 11.9 rebounds — his lowest totals in seven years.

While you could still argue that Howard is one of the best centers in the league and doesn’t have much competition (an argument Shaq lives off of), the All-Star format has changed this season. Fans can now vote for three forwards and two guards and omit a center if they so choose, meaning they don’t have to vote for Howard at all.

At the end of the day, the outcome of the All-Star Game is meaningless. Like the MLB, the NBA cares more about keeping fans involved and making them a part of the process than it does about whether or not the best players are chosen. That’s part of the business end of professional sports.

H/T SI Tracking Blog
Photo Credit: Cary Edmondson-US PRESSWIRE

There was nothing dirty about the way Dwyane Wade fouled Kobe Bryant on Sunday night, but was it too hard a foul for the All-Star Game? Typically we’re used to seeing guys clear the way for their opponents so they can put on a show for the fans. With the East trailing by 12 early in the third quarter, it appeared D-Wade had enough of that no defense nonsense and wanted to make Kobe earn his points at the foul line. He came over the top and delivered a hard foul — one that apparently had some lasting effects.

According to Adrian Wojnarowkski of Yahoo! Sports, Kobe suffered a broken nose and a mild concussion on the play. Bryant still went on to break Michael Jordan’s record and become the All-Star Game’s all-time leading scorer, but the Lakers are hoping it didn’t come at a significant cost.

With NBA All-Star Weekend comes plenty of parties that are loaded with athletes, celebrities, and top-notch musical entertainment. Since we know many LBS Nuts are from the Los Angeles-area, we figured we’d show you the flyers for some of the top party spots for this weekend in case you’re interested in going to a banger. At least do it for me while I’m stuck out here on the East Coast where everyone’s acting like today’s 52-degree high was a regular day in Tahiti.

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I’m well aware of how wacky fan voting for All-Star games can get. We had Giants fans using online programs to vote Barry Bonds into the All-Star Game. There was a movement to get scrub Rory Fitzpatrick into the NHL game a few years ago. The Canadiens got four players into this year’s All-Star Game, possibly because of fervent hometown fans. Usually this stuff doesn’t really surprise me. Until now. Spurs fans (and Rockets fans for that matter), came pretty hard in the All-Star voting this year. Fans of Bruce Bowen managed to vote him third of all forwards in the Western Conference. That’s behind Tim Duncan who led all forwards far and away, and Amare Stoudemire who only beat Bowen by 70,000.

Bruce Bowen and his nearly 1.4 million votes, finished higher in the final ballot than the following players in this order: Ron Artest, Carmelo Anthony, Dirk Nowitzki, and Pau Gasol. Artest and Melo both have been injured (though they’re still better than Bowen), but Dirk and Pau are the ones that really bother me. Dirk is a former MVP who is playing good basketball again this year. Pau never won an MVP, but he’s an All-Star and a big reason why the Lakers are as good as they are. For him to be under a million votes is a joke. I’m not going to bother going position by position here, but I just want an answer: how did Bruce Bowen get voted third of all Western Conference forwards??

If you’re a really dedicated LBS squire, you might remember that exactly a year ago I linked to and reproduced Peter Schrager’s idea for how to improve the NBA All-Star game. I thought it was brilliant; his suggestion was to have a four-team tournament — one squad would be Team Europe, Team World, Team High School babies, and Team College Bred. That would be a fantastic idea and certainly liven up the weekend. Another great idea was passed along to me from a friend on Tuesday night. He said Michael Wilbon posted the idea that day in his column for how to improve/fix the All-Star game. Ironically the column has come over scrutiny at The Sporting Blog because Chris Mottram says it’s possible Wilbon bit the idea from Shoals at TSB. Anyway, here’s the gist of the idea (from Wilbon):

The fans would vote for a total of 30 all-stars, and the two biggest vote-getters would pick their own teams. Garnett, the No. 1 vote-getter, would get the first pick. James, the No. 2 vote-getter, would get the second pick … And back and forth they’d go, like on the playground. So if KG picked a guy to get him the ball, say Nash, Kobe might pick a big man, say Howard. Think about the buzz that would create, about the alliance and what we’d find out about what players really think about the other all-stars and who they really valued?

I’m all about this idea. Problem is it would all be downhill after the teams were picked. If I had my choice, I’d go with Schrager’s idea. Unfortunately it’s not exactly realistic. No matter how you look at it, and no matter what your suggestion is, the idea is clear — the NBA needs to revamp its All-Star game. Until then it’s all about the three-point competition, and races run by Charles Barkley against Dick Bavetta.

In case you haven’t already heard of him or read his stuff, Peter Schrager of Foxsports.com is quickly becoming one of my favorites, if not my absolute favorite sports writer. Like watching Monday Night Football and UCLA basketball on Thursdays, reading his Wednesday Buffet has become a near institution for me. Today’s topic was a huge hit. Schrager has a Revolutionary All-Star idea to generate more interest in the NBA game, and I think it’s genius. Here it is

Saturday ” play two “semifinal” All-Star games, and on Sunday” a finals. The teams?

1. Team Europe
2. Team World (all international players not from Europe)
3. Team “Straight from High School”
4. Team “College Bred”

I think that’s a great idea. Best part is, he’s already selected the rosters:

1. Team Europe

Coaching staff: Avery Johnson and the Dallas Mavericks staff

Starters:
Forward — Dirk Nowitzki (Germany), Dallas Mavericks
Forward — Andrea Bargnani (Italy), Toronto Raptors
Center — Pau Gasol (Spain), Memphis Grizzlies
Guard — Tony Parker (France), San Antonio Spurs
Guard — Boris Diaw (France), Phoenix Suns

Bench:
Guard — Jose Calderon (Spain), Toronto Raptors
Center — Mehmet Okur (Turkey), Utah Jazz
Guard — Mickael Pietrus (France), Golden State Warriors
Guard — Sarunas Jasikevicius (Lithuania), Golden State Warriors
Forward — Andrei Kirilenko (Russia), Utah Jazz

2. Team World

Coaching staff: Mike D’Antoni and the Phoenix Suns staff

Starters:
Forward — Andres Nocioni (Argentina), Chicago Bulls
Forward — Luol Deng (representing the Sudan, and not the UK), Chicago Bulls
Center — Yao Ming (China), Houston Rockets
Guard — Steve Nash (Canada), Phoenix Suns
Guard — Manu Ginoboli (Argentina), San Antonio Spurs

Bench:
Guard — Carlos Arroyo (Puerto Rico), Orlando Magic
Forward — Anderson Varejao (Brazil), Cleveland Cavaliers
Center — Andrew Bogut (Australia), Milwaukee Bucks
Forward — Leandro Barbosa (Brazil), Phoenix Suns
Center — Samuel Dalembert (Haiti), Philadelphia 76ers

3. Team “Straight from high school”

Coaching staff: Jerry Sloan and the Utah Jazz staff

Starters:
Forward — Kevin Garnett, Minnesota Timberwolves
Forward — Lebron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
Center — Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix Suns
Guard — Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers
Guard — Tracy McGrady, Houston Rockets

Bench:
Forward — Rashard Lewis, Seattle Sonics
Center — Jermaine O’Neal, Indiana Pacers
Guard — Monta Ellis, Golden State Warriors
Forward — Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic
Forward — Eddy Curry, New York Knicks

4. Team “College bred”

Coaching staff: Flip Saunders and the Detroit Pistons staff

Starters:
Forward — Shawn Marion, Phoenix Suns
Forward — Chris Bosh, Toronto Raptors
Center — Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs
Guard — Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat
Guard — Gilbert Arenas, Washington Wizards

Bench:
Guard — Jason Kidd, New Jersey Nets
Guard — Allen Iverson, Denver Nuggets
Forward — Vince Carter, New Jersey Nets
Forward — Carlos Boozer, Utah Jazz
Guard — Richard Hamilton, Detroit Pistons

I don’t know about you, but I can definitely get with that and I’d much rather see that game than East vs. West. And my money would probably be on the College Bred squad.

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