2011 NBA: Quick Quips

Landry Fields:  Raymond Felton was quoted saying "He's been doing a great job for us and in my opinion, he's got to be up in the running for the Rookie of the Year with Blake Griffin and John Wall too."  If being in the running means finishing a distant (as in leap years away) second place to Griffin, then he has a point since Fields has a legitimate shot at being the 2nd best rookie.  But if he meant in the running to WIN the ROY, they better test him for drug use.  As shown by his being the only rookie in the All-Star game, there isn't anyone even close to being his caliber.  Wall may eventually have a career that matches or surpasses Griffin, but that has to happen next year onwards. This year's a wrap.

All-Star Game:  Speaking of the All-Star game, it's disappointing how popularity is now the sole basis for determining starters.  It's gotten to the point that the reserves, having been selected by the coaches, may actually be more legitimate than the starters who make it on pure popularity.  Don't get me wrong...I believe that LeBron, D-Wade, Kobe, etc deserve to be in the All-Star game, and most of them deserve to be starters.  But when a Yao Ming continues to be voted as a starter despite his injury prone status and lack of productivity, then that makes the All-Star votes nothing more than a popularity contest.  Heck, with the power of China's votes, Yi Jianlian would probably have been voted a starter if he was on the ballot.

Winning Matters:  If there's anything we can see in the selection of All-Star reserves, its that winning matters, and matters a lot.  In the East, for example, there were 4 Celtics chosen for 7 reserve slots. And in fairness, I think the success of Boston this year is due to all four of them.  You can't choose one over the other 3, or choose 3 out of 4.  It's really an all or nothing deal.  In the West, you have Tim Duncan with, for him, pedestrian numbers at career low levels.  But he's arguably the best all time player for a team that has won 4 titles and is way ahead as the top team in the league so far this year record wise.  Teammate Manu Ginobilli, while putting up good numbers, is not significantly better than the other candidates.  What gave him the edge was the team's record.  Blake Griffin was chosen over Kevin Love as a reserve despite similar, if not better numbers by Love.  I believe the choice between the two boiled down to the Clippers winning more than the Timberwolves, particularly as the season approached the midway point.  Love was initially left off the team until his appointment as Yao Ming's injury replacement.  In fairness to Love, Yao didn't deserve a slot on the team anyway, and is definitely not one of the 12 best players in the West.  It could be said that Love did still make it to the Top 12 by not counting Yao.