2010 All Star Let-Down - Can the NBA fix this?

Each year there is a growing notion that the NBA All-Star weekend is all about the money and all about flash over substance. How else can you explain some of the useless babble that is added in to the scheduled events? But usually there are some great moments and genuine electricity sparked from the event that seems to justify the pomp and vanity. Dwight Howard coming out of the phone booth, Nate Robinson in Kryptonite green, Tracy McGrady throwing an alley-oop to himself off the backboard.

So far no such luck with the 2010 All-Star Weekend. Let's start with the 2nd year of HORSE. HORSE, really? How did this make it to a 2nd year? They wasted an hour of TV time and still had to shoot it out the old fashioned way due to time constraints. Kevin Durant won mainly because he can shoot the lights out, not because he could do any real tricks. Rajon Rondo gave him a run for his money but just couldn't pull it out in the end. And poor Omri Caspi. He didn't make many shots at all. And the shots he did make were the ones he came up with...for example, banking a free throw (sounds really hard doesn't it).

Next came the Shooting Stars competition. This year's representatives were the LA team, Sacramento team, Texas team and the Atlanta team. I won't bore you with the play by play on this but the two finalists were the Texas team and the LA team. The LA team posted a very respectful time of 55.2sec...but the Texas team, on the back of a half-court shot by Kenny Smith, posted a relatively amazing time of 34.3sec. Relatively in the sense that in the grand scheme of things, the Shooting Stars competition is not a main draw. Its a nice little event but no one would miss it if it was gone.

Next came the Skills challenge. Russel Westbrook was out early. Brandon Jennings was flying around the court but came up just short. The finalists were Steve Nash, last year's winner, and Deron Williams. If you were watching the competition without looking at the clock you would swear that Deron Williams was in the lead. Nash just doesn't look as fast in real time, and his overall time was about 5 seconds slower than last year, but he won convincingly, mainly because of his passing accuracy.

Then the 3 point competition. To be honest, this wasn't too bad, and in retrospect was probably the best competition of the night. Don't get me wrong, no one was shooting the lights out. But rookie, and former Davidson stand out, Stephon Curry led everyone after one round and looked like the favorite to win. In the second round it looked like either the pressure got to him or he was tired, or maybe he simply was not stroking well but in any event, Paul Pierce beat him with a score of 20 to Curry's 17.

And finally, the crown jewel of the All-Star weekend, the dunk contest. Here were your contestants: DeMar Derozan, Shannon Brown, Gerald Wallace and Nate Robinson. It didn't seem like anyone wanted to win the first round. Shannon Brown missed what looked like what was intended to be a 360 Statue of Liberty dunk and then settled for an ordinary dunk where he switched hands in the air...and took off from the opposite baseline...still not sure why he needed so much space for that kind of dunk. Gerald Wallace posted a couple of ordinary looking reverse dunks. Nate Robinson posted some solid dunks (one self pass Windmill and one alley-oop reverse) Nothing to write home about, believe me. The best dunk of the first round by far belonged to DeMar Derozan who had a teammate throw an alley-oop off the side of the backboard and then ended in a Windmill.

The final round was boring and non-descript. Derozan and Robinson were the finalists. Derozan had an alley-oop dunk over a teammate (sounds cool but he actually used his hands to push off the guys shoulder) and running double-clutch dunk. Nate followed with self bounce pass dunk and a self pass off the backboard reverse slam. To watch this contest was to realize that there is an apathy among the league's best dunkers and David Stern needs to fix this somehow. DeMar Derozan had the best dunk of the night, but Nate Robinson had the best overall performance. Who won? Nate Robinson barely pulled off the 3 peat with fan voting in his favor 51%.

Overall this has been a pretty lame All-Star weekend. We'll see what happens tomorrow night with the All-Star game. If the NBA insists on keeping this Friday, Saturday, Sunday schedule then Mr. Stern needs to make sure that its crown jewel is worth the anticipation. Without the dunk contest the whole weekend seems pointless. And so far this weekend has seemed pointless.

Lakers vs Celtics in 2010 Finals?

The Lakers sign Ron Artest, the Celtics sign Rasheed Wallace - chess anyone? Its far too early in the season, considering that the season hasn't started yet, to anoint an NBA Champion for 2010. But is there anyone that doesn't see these two meeting in next year's finals as a foregone conclusion? (Other than Cleveland fans who hope that Shaq will be enough to help LeBron or Orlando fans who for some reason think that they're better with Vince Carter than they were with Turkoglu)

Look at the landscape in the Western Conference. San Antonio's probably the biggest threat after signing Richard Jefferson. But they gave up some key defenders/role players and I still don't think they're better than the lakers. Next up the Denver Nuggets, a great team but other than a little increased chemistry with Chauncey Billups, they probably won't be much better than last year. Houston is pretty much out of the picture seeing that Yao is out for the season and no guarantees with the oft-injured McGrady. Who's left? Portland? They are a good team and, make no mistake, in another 3 years they will probably own the Western Conference. But they're still too young.

Now look at the landscape of the Eastern Conference. Cleveland is probably the biggest threat to Boston with the addition of the mighty Shaq-Diesel. I predict that Cleveland will be very scary early in the season with this combination, but in the playoffs I don't think they could take Boston in 7 (assuming all the Celtics are healthy). By default, next up is Orlando. They had a great season and they will be tough but I don't think that pick and roll will work as well with Carter as it did with the extremely versatile Turkoglu. I actually think Detroit will make some noise in the East this year having added Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva and Chris Wilcox. But still...they won't touch the Celtics.

Of the two, it looks like the Lakers would have the easiest march to the Finals. 2 years ago the Celtics embarrassed the Lakers in the Finals. (I can say this because I'm actually a Lakers fan) But there is every reason to believe that if the Celtics and Lakers do meet again, the outcome will be quite different.

First of all, the Lakers lost because they were not tough on the interior. That has changed with Bynum being healthy again. Also, Odom disappeared during the playoffs and Gasol disappeared during the finals that year. In last year's playoffs both Odom and Gasol were great in almost every game. Even though the Lakers lost Ariza, they gained one of the best enigmas in the game. Ron Artest is tough mentally and physically, he defends, he rebounds and he scores. Imagine this line-up: Fish, Kobe, Artest, Gasol, Bynum. Perhaps the greatest move off season was the re-signing of Odom. A 6-10 forward who can play the 3 or the 4 and handle the ball. And with him coming off the bench (his best role if you ask me...which I will probably discuss in a later post) it creates a nightmare for the opposing coach. Have I mentioned Kobe yet, who is playing like a man possessed?

Granted, the signing of Sheed is huge. I could hear all the Celtics fans spilling their clam chowder as they shouted in triumph when the signing was announced...one of them actually called me. Rasheed, similar to Odom, is a versatile big man who can shoot. But when it comes down to it, an old team just got older. And what about their young guys? Leon Powe, Glen "Big Baby" Davis, even the swirl of trade rumors around Rajon Rondo. A lot of questions out there. Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Perce, Sheed and Garnett are definitely a formidable five, although I don't necessarily think that Rasheed will start. But what's happening with their depth?

I will stick by my Lakers vs Celtics prediction and I'll make another one. The Lakers in 7. How bold is that? I'm sure I will hear from some Celtics fans so let me end with this rarely mentioned stat; Phil usually wins titles in 3's.