Bosh, Love the big All-Star starter snubs

Posted by Royce Young

Despite leading the West in rebounds and sitting third in points, Kevin Love wasn't named a starter. (Getty Images)

The starting fives for the Eastern and Western Conference were announced Thursday night and while there weren't any surprises from the fan vote, the question is, should there have been?

By default this season, the fans weren't afforded the opportunity to really mess this up as Yao Ming retired and wasn't on the ballot. But I'm sure he's still somehow going to be named the Western reserves anyway. It wouldn't be a proper All-Star Game without him.

But let's figure it out: Did the fans get it right?

EAST

Obviously Derrick Rose is the right choice at point guard. The alternative option would be Deron Williams I suppose. Or Rajon Rondo, who finished second. Or if you wanted to get clever, maybe Jrue Holiday or Kyrie Irving. But Rose is the obvious correct choice despite him missing a handful of games with an injury. You don't snub the reigning MVP.

But at shooting guard, there's a case to be made for someone else here. Wade is the obvious top 2 in the East, but he's only played in 13 of Miami's 22 games this season. His numbers are good and he's as much a superstar as you can be, but if you want to give it to a deserving player, you could point to Joe Johnson who is leading the Hawks to the top of the East despite Atlanta having lost Al Horford. Still, Wade's the choice. Just the way it is.

Dwight Howard, check. Moving on.

The two forward spots is where I'd point to a mistake by the fans. LeBron James is obviously the right pick, but Carmelo Anthony is not. Not only has he missed a good chunk of New York's season, but he's not even playing that well. His team stinks and Melo's putting up near career-low numbers. You know who deserves that spot? Chris Bosh, believe it or not. Bosh has quietly had a terrific season for Miami. A 21.0 PER, 20.4 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. Bosh deserves to start. Melo absolutely does not. Quite honestly, I'm not even sure if he's a reserve at this point.

WEST

If I wanted to have things thrown at me, I'd say Russell Westbrook deserves to start ahead of Chris Paul. CP3 missed a number of the Clippers' games and Westbrook has followed up last season's breakout with another terrific start. But I won't go there. CP3 showed Wednesday in Utah why he's not just the best point guard in the West, but the entire league.

Kobe Bryant, not going to argue with that. Honestly the only player that you could even recommend right now with Manu Ginobili being hurt is James Harden. And that's not at all reasonable.

Kevin Durant, check. He's not just scoring the ball well again this year while averaging career-highs in rebounding and assists, but his team sits atop the West and he's a solid MVP candidate.

Andrew Bynum gets the starters nod almost by default of being the best center in the West, but you could try and make something for Marc Gasol or Nene. Clipper fans want to point out DeAndre Jordan's defense, but come on. Bynum is averaging career-highs with 16.5 points and 12.1 rebounds per game. Bynum is the right selection, but not by too much.

Where the fans whiffed was at the 4 again. Yes, that means I'm going to tell you why Blake Griffin, even with his detonation of the Internet by posterizing Kendrick Perkins, is not the choice. Griffin's had a terrific season thus far, but I don't see how you deny Kevin Love. He doesn't have the highlight resume and doesn't have an arena oohing over a good offensive rebound, but Love leads the West in rebounding, is actually third in the West in scoring and has a PER of 25.87.

Griffin's numbers are great and you could even try and say LaMarcus Aldridge or Pau Gasol are deserving of mentions. So there they are. But that spot is owed to Love. His numbers are just too good to deny and there's not the excuse that his team is terrible anymore. The Wolves are nipping at that eight spot and are playing good basketball.

Plus, Love did this to Griffin, which should count for something, right?

Uncle Fun Since: Nov 11, 2006	Posted on: February 5, 2012 1:24 pm Bosh, Love the big All-Star starter snubs When I saw the words 'Bosh' and 'All-Star snub' in the same sentence, I assumed the article was referring to the WNBA all-star game. I think that Bosh should start for the WNBA all-stars. Although, Cheryl Miller would add the toughness that Bosh doesnt bring. Regardless, I think Bosh will go on to be one of the greatest female players of all time! [ Reply to Comment ]
NOTnamedNEIL Since: Jul 4, 2011	Posted on: February 4, 2012 8:13 pm Bosh, Love the big All-Star starter snubs Whats the point of picking an all star team at all? Most the teams have only played about 20 games. Not a great sample size. At least Bosh has his championship ring to validate his professional worth. And he's getting nine more! [ Reply to Comment ]
Jitpring Since: May 9, 2010	Posted on: February 4, 2012 3:43 pm Bosh, Love the big All-Star starter snubs There's obviously much reverse racism going on against Love, Gasol, and other fair-skinned players. This is an untouchable subject, of course, thus no sports journalists have the courage to touch it head-on. [ Reply to Comment ]
TD's R not us Since: Oct 24, 2009	Posted on: February 4, 2012 2:25 pm Bosh, Love the big All-Star starter snubs Well bosh not making it makes up for the joke that he made it last season. [ Reply to Comment ]
drogers44 Since: May 29, 2010	Posted on: February 4, 2012 9:42 am Bosh, Love the big All-Star starter snubs These guys should start? Maybe , maybe not, but all will be all-stars this season. This is a weak article to post until the reserves are announced. Besides. the all-star game has been lame for at least 10-15 years. No Mike, No Magic, nobody plays hard and everyone thinks they're a guard makes for a stupid game. [ Reply to Comment ]
truthtellr Since: Feb 4, 2012	Posted on: February 4, 2012 7:36 am Bosh, Love the big All-Star starter snubs Great response....He did step up against the bulls while Wade was MIA, and Im not a Bosh fan, I like to see him rebound more,and go into the paint. he needs to stop throwing up jumpers like he Jeff Hornacek. [ Reply to Comment ]
redwings1969 Since: Jun 25, 2009	Posted on: February 4, 2012 12:14 am Bosh, Love the big All-Star starter snubs Chris Bosh numbers look good, but they don't tell you the true story of what he brings to the Heat which is nothing. Bosh like LeBron throws up nasty bricks in the fourth quarter and some games he is just god awful if he is not getting down in the post. His FG% is up this year, because people are doubling up Wade Wow. And you pretend to understand the NBA? LOL That's the dumbest post on this thread. Chris Bosh put up some nice numbers in the games Wade wasn't even playing in, so I don't understand exactly how opposing teams were doubling Wade. Finally, since you missed the NBA playoffs last year let me fill you in on something. The reason the Heat disposed of the Bulls fairly quickly last season in the playoffs was because Bosh led the way, made some big shots and took over a couple games. While he was doing that Wade was throwing up brick after brick. That Bulls series could easily have gone 7 if not for Bosh..... and this year without Bosh the Heat probably have at least 4 or 5 less wins then they do right now. Stay off NBA threads, you know less then nothing about this league. Go away...... [ Reply to Comment ]
gator863 Since: Dec 20, 2006	Posted on: February 3, 2012 10:00 pm Bosh, Love the big All-Star starter snubs Chris Bosh numbers look good, but they don't tell you the true story of what he brings to the Heat which is nothing. Bosh like LeBron throws up nasty bricks in the fourth quarter and some games he is just god awful if he is not getting down in the post. His FG% is up this year, because people are doubling up Wade. Bosh is getting a lot of easy shots down low, but he is still allergic to hitting a jump shot beyond 10 feet. You list that you are a Heat fan, but I can't imagine you watch Heat games with these comments. Bosh's best games have been while Wade was injured. So unless opposing teams were doubling Wade on the bench, Wade has not been a factor in Bosh increased shooting percentage. Amazing that with Wade out that the Heat were able to win so often with Lebron and Bosh throwing up so many "bricks" in the 4th quarter. I would agree that they both have had some bad 4th quarters, but they also have had some very good ones. In fact of the three, it is Wade that has struggled more often - most likely because of his injuries. Bosh should be starting and Wade should not. [ Reply to Comment ]
Bears4ever Since: Sep 6, 2007	Posted on: February 3, 2012 8:17 pm Bosh, Love the big All-Star starter snubs But Rose is the obvious correct choice despite him missing a handful of games with an injury. You don't snub the reigning MVP. Ummm no, despite missing some games his numbers are better than last years and the Bulls are still great with him playing. He deserves to start, easy call. Fans get something right at least. I would of had Bosh over Melo though. [ Reply to Comment ]
tabico Since: Jan 16, 2012	Posted on: February 3, 2012 5:24 pm Bosh, Love the big All-Star starter snubs Get serious, Bosh and Love snubbed? It's the fan vote for the starters. The discussion of snubbing comes into play when the rosters are rounded out with reserves. [ Reply to Comment ]

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