That’s an easy pick.

Monta Ellis and Aaron Brooks got snubbed again. No need to replace Pierce. He will be back playing next week.

@ IG – Hard to make a case that Ellis and Brooks got snubbed AGAIN. Sure, Brooks has had an amazing season, but isn’t all the hype around Houston because they’re doing it with a bunch of role players? Ellis is putting up great numbers but he seems more like a product of Nellie ball, rather than a star. Plus, I don’t think either of them are better than Nash, Williams, Roy or Paul/Billups. I guess if Roy has to miss with because of his hammie, you could consider one of them, but Boozer and Kaman are having all star caliber years as well, and deserve some consideration.

Now if only gasol, horford, iverson, and garnett could conveniently get hurt so that the real all stars can take their place, then the world would be a better place.

I hate it when people say: “oh he’s just the product of the system, or a teammate” cheap way to dismiss someone with no basis. Monta Ellis, awesome offense, 3rd in the league in steals” Watch his hilight reel on you tube. He should be in the all star game, hands down.

Everybody is a “product of a system” in some way unless they’re completely un-coachable. Besides, nobody is a complete player by the time they make the NBA. At the start of their careers, it’s all about potential.

Duncan is great, but can you say that Pop’s system never maximized his talent? Can you say Kobe never benefitted at all from Phil’s triangle that gets Kobe isolations mid-range? What if a young Shaq was stuck in Nellie-ball and never got the rock on the block? Or if Phoenix never had the 7-seconds-or-less philisophy, would Nash have had as many assists and transition opportunities? If Melo never bought in to Karl’s “easy lay-ups and close-in buckets” philosophy, would he score as much as he does if he had to do everything from the outside?

Monta has been a monster scorer since high school. That was the hype on him, that he could score against anybody. It was just a knee injury that dropped him to the 2nd round of the draft, but everyone still knew he had enough God-given talent in his 6-2 frame to draft him straight out of high school. Now that he’s doing exactly what is expected of him, why is it such a bad thing?

Monta is a gunner. That was always his role. Scoring is his job. He will still score if he was on any other team; if anything Nellie-ball has just unleashed his game, maximized his abilities.

Not saying that he’s an all-star, but he is spectacularly talented. Just like everybody else, he has his own style, and just like everybody else, he benefits from being in a coaching system that suits his style of play.

Billups belongs in there. He has played like
a champ all season. Good choice.