Haier Shooting Stars:

Bradley: Team Orlando

I want to go with Team New York but I just don’t know how much I trust Landry Fields and his line drives.  Team Orlando has the home court advantage.

 Jaron: Team Orlando

This one is the toughest to make a prediction on considering it’s hard to predict a “half-court shot” but I’m going to choose Team Florida. Jameer is a fairly good shooter from beyond the 3-point line, as was Dennis “3D” Scott during his career. I don’t know much about Marie Ferdinand-Harris but the 3P% of both Nelson and Scott is enough for me to choose Team Florida over Team Atlanta, Team New York (I definitely would have chosen them if Fields didn’t regress drastically in terms of 3P%), and Team Texas.

Scott: Team New York

I’m gonna go with the homer pick here: Team New York has two good shooters in Alan Houston and Landry Fields and a WNBA player I’m not even going to pretend I know anything about.  It really doesn’t matter who wins this contest, as I am sure this is probably the event most glossed over by its viewers, yet for some reason I find it strangely compelling—mostly because there is something enjoyable about watching old, big dudes shoot half-court shots.

 Taco Bell Skills Challenge: 

 Bradley: Kyrie Irving

 Especially after watching him in the Rising Stars game I have to say that this kid can do it all.  I expect him to ride the wave from Friday night.

 Jaron: Kyrie Irving

You can’t go wrong with Rajon Rondo, Kyrie Irving, Tony Parker, John Wall, Russell Westbrook, and Deron Williams. All of these guys are the top Point Guards and excel in a multitude of categories. However, speed and accuracy plays a large role in this contest so that eliminates turnover-prone PGs for me (That includes the 3 W’s: Wall, Williams, and Westbrook). Yes, I know Deron has usually excelled in this event for years but this is the most turnovers he’s had in his career. So now we are left with Rondo, Irving, and Parker. Rondo has come back from injury and has been out two games due to suspension so it’s quite possible Rondo may not be in “true” form for this event unfortunately. That leaves just Irving and Parker. Irving is a very young, athletic, and speedy Point Guard. And it’s his year frankly as he led, what many deemed to be a sub-ten win team, to 13 wins at the All-Star break. Irving beats Parker by 4 seconds max.

Scott: Kyrie Irving    

Kyrie Irving was amazing last night, and it would be a nice story to see take the skills comp tonight. Granted, it won’t be easy with competition like Parker, Westbrook, Williams and Rondo but his speed and jump shooting ability should be an asset.

 Foot Locker Three-Point Contest: 

 Bradley: Kevin Durant

I just don’t believe this guy can miss with no one guarding him.

 Jaron: STEVE. NOVAK.

Wait he’s not in this? What gives? No, the guy shooting 46% from three-point land is somehow absent for this (Great decision there Stern), but James Jones, Kevin Love, Ryan Anderson, Anthony Morrow, Mario Chalmers, and Kevin Durant are participating in this year’s event. To me, this one comes down to two players from Florida teams: Ryan Anderson and Mario Chalmers. Both are shooting very well from beyond the three-point line but to me, it comes down to attempts. Chalmers has 149 attempts from beyond the line, while Anderson has 228 attempts. I’m going to have to take Anderson because he has the higher amount of attempts, which shows that he is used to shooting a large number of three pointers a game, which is something important to keep in mind regarding this event considering it’s more about stamina than 3P% due to the fact you have to chuck three after three with little time to spare. So for that reason, plus the fact he’ll be in front of a home crowd somewhat, I’m going to take Ryan Anderson.

Scott: Kevin Love

Why not, it’s about time somebody from the TimberWolves won something.

Sprite Slam Dunk Contest:

 Bradley: Chase Budinger

 Hate to play the race card on this one but, I mean, how often do you see a white dude get up that high?  Case in point: Brent Barry did something we all saw before but everyone went nuts anyway

 Jaron: Paul George

It pains me to write about this. It really does. I have always loved the Dunk Contest. That is, until Nate Robinson pretty much destroyed the entire thing in Dallas along with DeMar DeRozan, Gerald Wallace, and Shannon Brown. That was terrible and I thought it couldn’t get any worse than that. Nate’s schtick became incredibly stale and the other competitors weren’t impressive. And of course, there wasn’t any star power. The star power returned the next year though in Blake Griffin and frankly, it was great. It was a thrill watching it as I saw some of the best dunks in a while. But before I discuss this year’s dunk contest and how much of a joke it is let me just say one thing: Blake Griffin’s car dunk was not impressive. He jumped over the hood of a car. That’s not that long in terms of height. In fact, Nate Robinson dunking over Dwight Howard is much more impressive considering Dwight is 6′ 11″ and the hood of a car is much, MUCH shorter than that. Anyway, regarding this year’s contest, it’s a joke. It’s a laugher. It’s an embarrassment. PAUL GEORGE? DERRICK WILLIAMS? JEREMY EVANS? CHASE BUDINGER? Where’s the star power? Where? I’m sure the casual NBA fan hasn’t heard of any of these guys. Just put an end to this event if you can’t even get one star. Anyway, I’ll pick Paul George to win because I recall him having a sick in-game dunk the week LeBron and Griffin had spectacular dunks

Scott: Jeremy Evans

Let’s face it; the dunk contest has become a shadow of its former self. The once great exhibition of athleticism and creativity has now become a circus. This is something that has been slowly developing through the years; it started with the “dunk wheel”, was brought to a new level with Dwight Howard, and came to a ridiculous head last season after Surge Ibaka’s stuffed animal dunk and Blake Griffin’s car commercial.

In response to this, the NBA has pretty much given up on the dunk contest this year, changing the rules to limit the amount of dunks (now 3 apiece) and rounds (down to 1) and eliminated the judges all together—the winner will be determined by fan vote.  However, the good news is that we have some contestants that can actually dunk, and there won’t be one player that wins based on their star power like Blake last year, who shouldn’t even have made it out of the first round.  But that doesn’t necessarily mean we have seen the end of the ridiculous props.

Anyway, getting to the point; Jeremy Evans will win this contest. He is an incredible dunker and if you haven’t seen him dunk check it out on YouTube because you’re missing out. Oh ya, and the runner up will probably be Paul George.

While it will be a little disappointing that the Knicks will not have a representative in the contest, Jeremy Evans is a very worthy replacement, and in my opinion, is now the early favorite to win.

Need proof? check out some of Evans’  more noteworthy dunks below:

Feb. 15, 2012; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin (17) dribbles the ball during the second half against the Sacramento Kings at Madison Square Garden. Knicks won 100-85. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE

Rising Stars Challenge.

In past years the Rising Stars Challenge has been known as the Rookie Challenge, an even in which the league’s top rookies face off against the best 2^nd year players in the NBA.  This year, however the league has decided to take a page out the NHL’s All-Star game book by combining both the rookie and sophomore teams into one big pool and having a draft to decide who will be on which team.  With this new concept in mind, the NBA opted to have two teams drafted by none other than Charles Barkley and Shaq.

In the end Jeremy Lin ended up on team Shaq and was actually selected fairly high considering he was such a late edition.  Lin will now be a full-fledged part of all star weekend, participating in the Rising Stars challenge as well as possibly having a small role in helping Iman Shumpert out at the Dunk Contest.

Full teams for the Rising Stars challenge are as follows:

Charles Barkley’s team: DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento Kings), Derrick Williams (Minnesota Timberwolves), Paul George (Indiana Pacers), Kyrie Irving (Cleveland Cavaliers), MarShon Brooks (New Jersey Nets), John Wall (Washington Wizards), Gordon Hayward (Utah Jazz), Tiago Splitter (San Antonio Spurs), Evan Turner (Philadelphia 76ers) and Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio Spurs). (more…)

Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-US PRESSWIRE

This morning the NBA announced their participants of the Sprite rising stars slam dunk contest. Among those participating will be Knicks rookie point guard Iman Shumpert.  Shumpert will be joined by Minnesota rookie Derrick Williams, Chase Budinger of the Houston Rockets and Pacers guard/forward Paul George.

We haven’t seen much in the way of explosive dunks this season from Shumpert, but at 6’5 he has the size and athleticism to pull some crazy ones off. You can visit the NBA’s Rising Star Dunk Contest website to check out all of the relevant info and dunk videos for each of the contestants. (more…)

The Dark Knight and the Charisma-less Wonder could take All-Star Weekend to new heights.

The NBA has been trying to learn from pro wrestling for years with little success.  Letting players duke it out on the floor with little or no repercussions conveyed the animosity between teams, which was good, but eventually got a few fans punched in the face – which wasn’t so good.  Corrupt and incompetent officiating worked for a while but has since turned some fans against the league.  Pretty much the only thing that did work was co-opting the ideas of entrance music, smoke and lights during pregame introductions.

I think basketball has a little bit left to learn. What happened Monday night provided the most convenient example imaginable of why people keep coming back to wrestling – because at any time, something can happen that turns everything on its ear, something that from a storytelling perspective is totally logical yet utterly unexpected.  It’s the feeling that, as a fan, you can’t afford to miss this because anything can happen.  Obviously, in basketball we can’t have a team simply steal the Larry O’Brien trophy – the Heat tried that in 2006 (the “corrupt refereeing angle” again) but it didn’t take, and only five years later would take their rightful place as the most hated villains in basketball.  Luckily, there’s an event coming up this weekend that’s ripe for an “anything can happen” makeover.  All-Star Saturday Night, come get your facelift.

The first thing we’re going to do is get rid of the Shooting Stars and the Skills Challenge.  It doesn’t matter if the show is wrestling, comedy, music, whatever – your worst acts don’t ever go on first.  It kills the crowd for the good parts of the show, and then you don’t get the kind of live reaction you want in the main event.  So they’re gone.

Replacing them is easy: people have been calling this event the “Black Super Bowl” for years, so why not make it a showcase for hip-hop’s best and brightest?  There’s already a half-assed, one-song deal – my memories include Destiny’s Child getting booed and a nearly career-ending performance from Kevin Rudolph – so let’s blow it out with an ensemble concert and make it one of hip-hop’s more prestigious stages.

(Aside: if you want something basketball-related as a warmup, well, I’ve always been partial to a one-on-one tournament.  Eight guys, three rounds, first to 5 and win by two, threes count for two, shoot for ball, winner’s possession, sponsorship money to the winner’s charity.  And maybe a height limit, to keep things evenly matched.  The winner is out of there barely breaking a sweat.  Stars wouldn’t do it, but don’t you think someone like Aaron Brooks would like to remind the rest of the league how good he is?)

Now that we actually have a crowd that’s awake, let’s get to the meat and potatoes.  This year’s dunk contest figures to be the official coming-out party for Blake Griffin.  He’s going to show the world what a genetic freak by making JaVale McGee, DeMar DeRozan and Serge Ibaka.  At least, that’s the public perception.  The buzz around Griffin is electric, and many people will watch just for that, but this dunk contest in wrestling and storytelling terms is the Undertaker vs. the Brooklyn Brawler: the outcome is not in question, and I can see the dunks every day on YouTube for the rest of my life, so why stay in on a Saturday night to watch this?

Imagine, if you will: in the weeks leading up to the event, ESPN and TNT promote a “special appearance from LeBron James during the dunk contest that you won’t want to miss,” or some such.  Maybe they even run a teaser video similar to the one WWE recently ran for the Undertaker.  It’s not a journalistic conflict of interest; the network simply says, “This is all the NBA has told us, and they’ve released only this video.”

The event begins with LeBron in his ostensible role as the contest’s “emcee;” he gives a little speech, wishes everyone luck, and leaves. The contest goes however it goes – Griffin (or whoever) wins, accepts the trophy, does his interview, and holds up the trophy to the applause of the fans.  Suddenly, lights out.  Smoke.  Pyro.  Music.  And, wearing his all-black Heat uniform (because villains wear black, you see), out comes the man who promised he’d be in the 2010 contest and then welched, the man who guaranteed Cleveland a title and then welched, the most hated man in sports, LeBron James.  And of course, because this is wrestling basketball, he has a live microphone.  “You think you’re the best dunker in the game?  Well, I got one more challenge for you.”  Dunk-off.  The champ vs. LeBron.

And America’s collective basketball face melts.  Look, there are a million ways you could do this: tease the LeBron appearance to build some hype, make it a surprise so everyone is absolutely staggered when LeBron walks out, change it to Dwight Howard and have him challenge Griffin to a “high-dunk” (an event Bill Simmons proposed in a column some years back).  Whatever.  The point is, this is one of the events outside of pro wrestling where the term “sports entertainment” actually applies; we should be making the most of it with rule-bending, outside-the box notions like this one.  And if it happened, All-Star Saturday Night becomes appointment viewing nationwide for the next decade, simply because you never know when something like that might happen again.

The one leftover question, of course: would LeBron do it?  I think for a price, he just might; he seems to be accepting his role as a villain in our national conscience, and if anything people might like him more after a stunt like this.

That leaves one part of the evening we haven’t covered: the Three-Point Contest.  And since this is a Knicks blog, after all, I think we can give this a little New York flavor.  This idea is best done at an All-Star weekend in Indiana or at MSG – the latter of which appears somewhat likely in 2013 or 2014 – but indulge me once again and dig this scenario:

The field has been narrowed to just four competitors – honestly, do we really need eight anyway?  The camera focuses just a little too long on TNT analyst Reggie Miller as the PA announcer introduces the four competitors, all whom have some relation to Reggie: Kyle Korver and Danilo Gallinari of the rival Bulls and Knicks, Danny Granger of the Pacers, and Ray Allen, who recently passed Miller as the league’s all-time three-point marksman.  The contest ends, the winner accepts his trophy, and Miller interviews him, and just as you think he’s about to wrap it up, well, no one would expect Reggie to be wearing his old number 31 under his suit…and you know he can still shoot the rock…

Like I said, there are a million ways you could do this.

(more…)

———-

Speaking of awards, New Yorkers should be ashamed because the second round of All-Star votes have been tallied, and other cities are clearly voting more for their players than we’ve been doing. We may be chanting MVP every time Amar’e Stoudmire shoots free throws, but not enough of us have been voting to make him an All-Star starter.  He’s currently third in Eastern Conference Forwards, with only the top two getting the nod.  He has 637,486 votes, behind understandably LeBron James (969,459) but unforgivably also about 75,000 behind Boston’s Kevin Garnett (712,555).

Perhaps even more disappointing is the showing for Raymond Felton, who while he may not be one of the two best guards in the East, he definitely should be far higher than his current 8th place.  Sure, fine, let Dwayne Wade, Rajon Rondo and Derrick Rose be head and shoulders above the rest up top.  However, it’s shameful that he’s behind Ray Allen (having only an average year), John Wall (injured for large chunks of the season already), Gilbert Arenas (having a mediocre season as a bench player for both Washington and now Orlando) and Brandon Jennings (also injured, but shooting an awful percentage and his team the Milwaukee Bucks has a worse record than the Knicks).

So get out there and vote!  Yes, it ain’t as important as voting in our governmental elections, but the good thing is that you can vote again every day!  Let’s get Amar’e starting and give Felty a great showing.

(more…)

Out of all the dunk contests I’ve seen over the years this was by far the worst. The crowd was never into it, and Nate looked like the only one out there who even slightly cared. It was easily the worst event of the weekend so far.

Nonetheless, congrats to Nate on being the first 3 time slam dunk champ!

There Was None Of This

Lee is averaging 20 points and 11.4 rebounds and becomes the Knicks’ first All-Star since Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell in 2001. Stern chose Lee over Milwaukee center Andrew Bogut, who is averaging 16.0 points and 10.2 rebounds and has helped lead the Bucks to within a game of a playoff spot in the East.

Many do think that Bogut could be the second best official “center” in the East (I use quotes ‘cuz like Chris Bosh wants to be called a power forward, much like Tim Duncan always has, but he should be considered a center).  However, Bogut started off the season slow and injured and has only come on recently.  Surely, David Lee’s consistent excellence (particularly in the face of such adversity as the Knicks have gone through) makes him a much easier choice.

I’m actually shocked that Atlanta’s Josh Smith wasn’t chosen (or even mentioned in that article).  The growth in Smith’s game (along with the addition of former Knick Jamal Crawford) has been widely heralded as the reason why the Hawks have made the jump from slightly above average to potential contender.  My guess is that since there are already two Hawks on the All-Star Team (which wrongly includes their center Al Horford), that’s part of the reason Smoove got the shaft.  Plus, Stern loves the major market of New York, so the potential of getting all those fans interested seems like a pretty strong pull too.  And again, that major market is another huge plus in Lee’s favor over Milwaukee’s Bogut.  Anyway, one thing’s for certain: initial reports that Stern only chose Lee because they have the same first name have proven to be false.

Congrats, big guy.

For the Knicks I don’t usually examine teams in a position-by-position analysis since the team does a lot of switching, swarming and zoning, very rarely leaving one guy isolated to play D against another one.  So for instance, we don’t have any good low-post defenders, meaning Big Al should kill us, but in the last game we double-teamed him whenever he got it.  That said, I think the Wolves’ weakest spot is SF where they’ve rotated Gomes and Damien Wilkins and haven’t gotten the consistency they’d like.  Earlier in the year I would’ve said SG ‘cuz Corey Brewer was defending great but was an offensive liability.  Now he’s huge on both sides of the court.

As I mentioned, in single-coverage, we can’t contain Al Jefferson.  Jonny Flynn also would be too much for Duhon to handle, but for the most part we’ll probably have Jared Jeffries on him instead.  He kept backing off Flynn, daring him to shoot a jump shot.  If Flynn doesn’t take at least a few of those to keep Jeffries honest, he’ll have a tough night again.

Positions are almost irrelevant for the Knicks since they switch so much and use such unusual matches, like having Jeffries often cover the point guard.  We tend to not post up normal sized SGs, so we don’t gain any advantage there, but if a team does choose to play like 2 PGs then we will post-up.  Defensively, when going up against a Kobe-type, we just double, so again it don’t really matter that whoever is considered SG doesn’t have the lateral speed.  The big general disadvantage is that besides Jeffries, we don’t have great individual defenders, which is why we have to resort to such a chaotic D (which can kill us if the other team has good outside shooters).

The Knicks have played so poorly of late (except for that game), that if anything I’m less confident.  Teams sometimes get more pumped for better teams, so if the Knicks even slightly think they can take the Wolves for granted…  well, we ain’t playing well enough to do that and we’ll get shellacked.

See above.