Last night the All-Star reserves were announced for each conference. With only seven roster spots to fill, there were naturally some deserving players who did not make the cut. This was more the case this season in the Western Conference. There were four players left off the final Western Conference roster that deserve to be on the team just as much as any player who made the cut. Kevin Love, Lamar Odom, LaMarcus Aldridge and David West were the most notable snubs.
However, there is a great chance one of these gifted forwards will be selected to the team as Yao Ming’s injury replacement. Commissioner Stern will announce Yao’s replacement sometime before All-Star weekend. Assuming Stern’s selection will be between these four players (I don’t see how it couldn’t be) he has a very tough decision on his hands.
With that being said, I think the final spot should be between Kevin Love and Lamar Odom. Odom has been playing the best basketball of his twelve year career this season. Not to mention, he has been the most consistent player on the Lakers up to this point. In short, it is realistically Odom’s only shot to make an All-Star team. With the game being played in Odom’s hometown of Los Angeles, the commissioner may throw the twelve year veteran a bone.
The argument that Kevin Love should or should not be an All-Star has seemingly been going on since Halloween. Everyone knows the Wolves stink, but I personally think it would be a travesty if he was left off the team. Love is not only leading the league in rebounding and double doubles, but it is the manner in which he is rebounding the ball. The league has not seen someone clean the glass the way Love is this season since rebounders were dying their hair funky colors and wearing dresses to book signings.
On that note, David Stern has a lot of thinking to do. Whichever player he selects will be deserving of the roster spot. However, some players may deserve a little more “love” than others.
Joshua Sexton is a lifelong basketball fanatic, who watches as many games as possible. In addition, He has played and coached the game at the high school level. He has recently started writing about the game of basketball.
