After about a month offline, NBA Sim is back and (hopefully) better than ever!

The cause of the downtime was switching to a new hosting plan. The old host was inconsistent – sometimes the site would be down for days at a time with no rhyme or reason. I asked several times why this was happening but never got a satisfactory answer. So I’ve moved over to the same host that currently serves my personal site and so far, so good!

A lot has happened in the NBA while I was gone so I’ve got a lot of catching up to do. First up I’ll hit the end of the year awards. However, I’d like to preface these next couple of posts by saying I am undergoing a MASSIVE database refresh. I’ll talk about that in a future blog, but going forward know that there are going to be some huge shakeups.

As you can tell I haven’t been totally punctual with the Top 10 posts. In fact, I’ve downright missed the past 2 weeks. I was gearing up to get this week’s post ready but just realized I don’t have the time.

I’m in total crunch mode at work and with extracurricular activities sapping most of my after-work hours (while guests take chunks out of my weekend), I am just totally overwhelmed at the moment. I’ll get back into the swing of things here … and even have some great, new ideas for this site. It’s going to be awesome, just have some patience!

Sorry about the disappearence of Week 20 (and the shortening of Week 19, for that matter)! I’ve suddenly got sucked up into some crazy day-job nuttiness – it’s seriously the crunch time from hell. I will survive, however, and so will NBA-Sim, so take a deep breath.

The Big Three (and, no, I don’t mean those fossils in Boston) are finally making their presence known around the league. Ok, sure, Chris Paul and LeBron are the elite in this sport, but Wade is finally coming on strong at the end of the season. Will it be enough to knock out Mr. Underrated, David Lee?

For the past week-and-a-half, Wade has been stellar, with a line of 27.6 PPG / 5.0 RPG / 6.0 APG while shooting 45% from the floor and 73% from the line (ok so he’s been stellar but not all that efficient). He’s also managed to lead his lowly Heat to a 3-2 record in that span including a critical victory against the Bobcats who are biting at his 6th seed heels.

Biggest Jump: Dwyane Wade, Gerald Wallace (2)
Biggest Fall: Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, Deron Williams, Carmelo Anthony (1)
Hello: Carlos Boozer
Goodbye: Steve Nash
Ineligible: Chris Paul

NBA Top 10 (by APP+)
Rank	Prev	Player	Team(s)	Pos.	GP	APP	APP+
1	1	LeBron James		F	69	↑ 37.95	↑ 28.70
-	2	Chris Paul (Injured) (Ineligible)		G	38	↑ 32.11	↑ 22.64
2	2	David Lee		F	69	↑ 28.36	↑ 19.11
3	5	Dwyane Wade		G	66	↑ 28.48	↑ 19.01
4	3	Kevin Durant		G-F	68	↑ 28.55	↑ 18.57
5	4	Chris Bosh		F-C	61	↑ 28.66	↓ 18.02
6	6	Dwight Howard		C-F	70	↑ 27.69	↑ 17.94
7	8	Pau Gasol		F	53	↑ 26.67	↑ 17.42
8	7	Dirk Nowitzki		F	68	↑ 26.54	↑ 17.29
9	11	Gerald Wallace		F	64	↑ 25.75	↑ 16.50
10	9	Zach Randolph		F	69	↑ 25.42	↑ 16.17

Just Outside
Rank	Prev	Player	Team(s)	Pos.	GP	APP	APP+
11	10	Deron Williams		G	64	↑ 25.39	↑ 15.92
12	12	Tim Duncan		F-C	65	↑ 26.27	↑ 15.63
13	14	Kobe Bryant		G-F	65	↑ 25.58	↑ 15.60
14	13	Carmelo Anthony		F	57	↑ 24.85	↑ 15.60
15	-	Carlos Boozer		F-C	57	26.11	15.47

APP – Adjusted Pace Performance
A weighted formula for combining everything a player does on the basketball court into one number. This number is then adjusted based upon the players’ team pace to provide a balanced way to compare players’ performance.
APP+ – APP Above Positional Average APP
Player’s weighted performance minus the performance of an average player at his same position.

Players are considered ineligible if they fail to play in 60% of their team’s games.

APP for an average NBA player for the 2010 season: 9.79
APP+ for an average NBA player for the 2010 season: 0.40
Stats through 3/21/2010

Remember when Zach Randolph was the new incarnation of Shareef Abdur-Rahim – the best player on bad teams? Well, the impossible has occurred: one of the bottom 3 franchises in the league merged with the “best-on-a-bad” Randolph and formed … a surprisingly decent 2010 Memphis Grizzlies squad. What the?

I don’t claim to understand it, either, so I’ll just hit the facts. 20.8 PPG / 10.6 RPG / 0.2 APG, shooting 49.3% from the floor and 85.7% from the free throw line. Ok, so he’s a black hole, but Z-Bo (where does the “Bo” in that nickname come from, anyway?) is still a 20-10 beast and lead his Grizzlies to 4-1 in the 5 games he’s played this month.

Biggest Jump: Zach Randolph, Deron Williams (3)
Biggest Fall: Tim Duncan (2)
Hello: Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash
Goodbye: Rajon Rondo, Carlos Boozer
Ineligible: Chris Paul

NBA Top 10 (by APP+)
Rank	Prev	Player	Team(s)	Pos.	GP	APP	APP+
1	1	LeBron James (Injured)		F	63	↓ 34.70	↓ 25.49
-	2	Chris Paul (Injured) (Ineligible)		G	38	↑ 29.80	↓ 20.36
2	5	David Lee		F	64	↓ 26.34	↓ 17.13
3	4	Kevin Durant		G-F	63	↓ 26.66	↓ 16.70
4	3	Chris Bosh		F-C	56	↓ 27.06	↓ 16.43
5	6	Dwyane Wade		G	61	↓ 25.71	↓ 16.27
6	7	Dwight Howard		C-F	65	↓ 25.78	↓ 16.04
7	8	Dirk Nowitzki		F	65	↓ 24.35	↓ 15.14
8	9	Pau Gasol		F	48	↓ 24.16	↓ 14.95
9	12	Zach Randolph		F	64	↓ 23.70	↓ 14.49
10	13	Deron Williams		G	58	↓ 23.81	↓ 14.37

Just Outside
Rank	Prev	Player	Team(s)	Pos.	GP	APP	APP+
11	11	Gerald Wallace		F	61	↓ 23.33	↓ 14.12
12	10	Tim Duncan		F-C	59	↓ 24.73	↓ 14.10
13	-	Carmelo Anthony		F	51	23.27	14.06
14	-	Kobe Bryant		G-F	60	23.95	13.99
15	-	Steve Nash		G	64	23.34	13.90

APP – Adjusted Pace Performance
A weighted formula for combining everything a player does on the basketball court into one number. This number is then adjusted based upon the players’ team pace to provide a balanced way to compare players’ performance.
APP+ – APP Above Positional Average APP
Player’s weighted performance minus the performance of an average player at his same position.

Players are considered ineligible if they fail to play in 60% of their team’s games.

APP for an average NBA player for the 2010 season: 9.02
APP+ for an average NBA player for the 2010 season: 0.00
Stats through 3/11/2010

Who do you like? Dwyane Wade? Dwight Howard? Tim Duncan? Carmelo Anthony? KOBE BRYANT?

Guess what, David Lee is having a better 2010 season than any of those also-rans!

Ok, so the Knicks aren’t going to be mistaken for a championship contending – or even playoff bound – team anytime soon, but the stats don’t lie: Lee is performing at a higher level than these marquee players this year. I’ve still yet to tie performance to wins (unlike Berri’s Win Shares, for example) and I’m not even sure if it’s a direct correlation, anyway.This is a team sport, afterall, so a ball hog may end up hurting his team even if he’s very good.

Still, here was the line from Lee’s week: 21.5 PPG / 12.8 RPG / 3.5 APG while shooting 55% from the floor and and 73% from the free throw line. Surely nothing to sneeze at! Yes, the Knicks went 1-3 last week, but, again, there’s still no direct correlation between performance and wins here at NBA Sim.

Yet.

Biggest Jump: Dirk Nowitzki (2)
Biggest Fall: Pau Gasol, Tim Duncan (1)
Hello: Rajon Rondo, Carlos Boozer
Goodbye: Carmelo Anthony, Al Horford
Ineligible: N/A

NBA Top 10 (by APP+)
Rank	Prev	Player	Team(s)	Pos.	GP	APP	APP+
1	1	LeBron James		F	60	↑ 37.86	↑ 28.62
2	2	Chris Paul (Injured)		G	38	↑ 32.22	↓ 22.75
3	3	Chris Bosh (Injured)		F-C	53	↑ 29.86	↑ 19.22
4	4	Kevin Durant		G-F	58	↑ 28.76	↓ 18.78
5	5	David Lee		F	58	↑ 27.86	↑ 18.62
6	6	Dwyane Wade		G	56	↓ 27.78	↓ 18.31
7	7	Dwight Howard		C-F	60	↑ 27.90	↑ 18.15
8	10	Dirk Nowitzki		F	59	↑ 26.64	↓ 17.39
9	8	Pau Gasol		F	43	↓ 26.47	↓ 17.23
10	9	Tim Duncan		F-C	54	↑ 27.74	↑ 17.10

Just Outside
Rank	Prev	Player	Team(s)	Pos.	GP	APP	APP+
11	11	Gerald Wallace		F	55	↑ 26.29	↑ 17.05
12	13	Zach Randolph		F	59	↑ 25.62	↑ 16.38
13	14	Deron Williams		G	53	↑ 25.29	↑ 15.82
14	-	Rajon Rondo		G	56	25.27	15.80
15	-	Carlos Boozer		F-C	56	26.32	15.68

APP – Adjusted Pace Performance
A weighted formula for combining everything a player does on the basketball court into one number. This number is then adjusted based upon the players’ team pace to provide a balanced way to compare players’ performance.
APP+ – APP Above Positional Average APP
Player’s weighted performance minus the performance of an average player at his same position.

Players are considered ineligible if they fail to play in 60% of their team’s games.

APP for an average NBA player for the 2010 season: 9.71
APP+ for an average NBA player for the 2010 season: 0.32
Stats through 2/28/2010

I’m still sticking with the manual calculations to determine this list so these posts are taking me a lot longer. However, I’m confident of their results so here’s the truth for this week:

Not a lot of movement this week with Dwight Howards 2-spot hop being the most notable. Superman led his Orlando Magic to a 2-1 week putting up a crazy line: 28.0 PPG / 16.3 RPG / 2.0 APG, shooting 58% from the floor and 72% from the line (this coming from a career 57% free throw shooter)! Perhaps the most impressive stat is the win again Eastern Conference rivals, Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday.

Biggest Jump: Dwight Howard (2)
Biggest Fall: Dwyane Wade (1)
Hello: Al Horford
Goodbye: Steve Nash
Ineligible: N/A

NBA Top 10 (by APP+)
Rank	Prev	Player	Team(s)	Pos.	GP	APP	APP+
1	1	LeBron James		F	57	↑ 37.54	↑ 28.30
2	2	Chris Paul (Injured)		G	38	↓ 32.18	↓ 22.71
3	3	Chris Bosh		F-C	53	↑ 29.82	↑ 19.18
4	4	Kevin Durant		G-F	54	↓ 28.62	↓ 18.64
5	6	David Lee		F	54	↑ 27.78	↑ 18.54
6	5	Dwyane Wade (Injured)		G	55	↓ 27.96	↓ 18.49
7	9	Dwight Howard		C-F	57	↑ 27.86	↑ 18.11
8	7	Pau Gasol		F	39	↓ 26.70	↓ 17.46
9	8	Tim Duncan		F-C	51	↓ 27.65	↓ 17.01
10	10	Dirk Nowitzki		F	55	↓ 26.00	↓ 16.76

Just Outside
Rank	Prev	Player	Team(s)	Pos.	GP	APP	APP+
11	11	Gerald Wallace		F	52	↓ 25.91	↓ 16.67
12	13	Carmelo Anthony		F	43	25.20	↑ 15.96
13	14	Zach Randolph		F	55	↓ 24.98	↓ 15.74
14	15	Deron Williams		G	50	↓ 25.04	↓ 15.57
15	-	Al Horford		C	54	24.10	15.53

APP – Adjusted Pace Performance
A weighted formula for combining everything a player does on the basketball court into one number. This number is then adjusted based upon the players’ team pace to provide a balanced way to compare players’ performance.
APP+ – APP Above Positional Average APP
Player’s weighted performance minus the performance of an average player at his same position.

Players are considered ineligible if they fail to play in 60% of their team’s games.

APP for an average NBA player for the 2010 season: 8.72
APP+ for an average NBA player for the 2010 season: -0.65
Stats through 2/21/2010

I’m going to keep this short: for some reason, my automatic process that I set up to do all of my Top 10 calculations got gummed up and started pumping out odd results. So, I’ve rebooted and did this one by hand to make sure it was correct. And, what do you know? LeBron jumps back to the top spot … yeah, that sounds about right.

Biggest Jump: N/A
Biggest Fall: N/A
Hello: N/A
Goodbye: N/A
Ineligible: N/A

NBA Top 10 (by APP+)
Rank	Prev	Player	Team(s)	Pos.	GP	APP	APP+
1	-	LeBron James		F	54	37.25	28.00
2	-	Chris Paul (Injured)		G	38	32.32	22.85
3	-	Chris Bosh		F-C	52	29.59	18.95
4	-	Kevin Durant		G-F	51	28.77	18.80
5	-	Dwyane Wade (Injured)		G	53	28.20	18.73
6	-	David Lee		F	51	27.47	18.22
7	-	Pau Gasol		F	37	27.07	17.82
8	-	Tim Duncan		F-C	48	27.91	17.27
9	-	Dwight Howard		C-F	54	26.90	17.15
10	-	Dirk Nowitzki		F	51	26.02	16.77

Just Outside
Rank	Prev	Player	Team(s)	Pos.	GP	APP	APP+
11	-	Gerald Wallace		F	49	26.00	16.75
12	-	Steve Nash		G	53	25.46	15.99
13	-	Carmelo Anthony		F	40	25.20	15.95
14	-	Zach Randolph		F	51	25.14	15.89
15	-	Deron Williams		G	46	25.25	15.78

APP – Adjusted Pace Performance
A weighted formula for combining everything a player does on the basketball court into one number. This number is then adjusted based upon the players’ team pace to provide a balanced way to compare players’ performance.
APP+ – APP Above Positional Average APP
Player’s weighted performance minus the performance of an average player at his same position.

Players are considered ineligible if they fail to play in 60% of their team’s games.

APP for an average NBA player for the 2010 season: 9.32
APP+ for an average NBA player for the 2010 season: 0.00
Stats through 2/14/2010

I found a great debate article on ESPN dealing with putting together the best team of all time.

Early this morning, a debate broke out among the SportsCenter staff in the show pod. The question was, “If you had to choose 5 players to start on an all-time NBA team, who would it be?” After about 15 minutes, we decided to do a draft. Four teams, and each picked a starting 5. The Team names are based on the order of the draft (Team A had the 1st pick, but in this “snake-style draft”, team A did not select again until pick number 8). For the record, Michel Jordan did NOT go with the first pick – here’s how the 1st round went: 1) Chamberlain, 2) Jordan, 3) Magic, 4) LeBron.

Well, this is right up my alley, so I had to put my own 2 cents into the argument. I went with each player’s highest APP+ value and then found which team had the highest average. Of course, I’d love to do a 10k sim (simulate the games 10,000 times), but I don’t have a system to do that … yet! Here’s the breakdown:

Chamberlain and Duncan would create perhaps the most fearsome offensive-defensive low post punch, but Oscar Robertson as a small forward? I wonder how effective he would be off the ball. Team A would lose size with Jerry West at the shooting guard position but Chamberlain’s production seems to more than make up for everyone else’s lapses.

Obviously this team won’t be lacking in terms of scoring with Barkley, Baylor, Maravich and especially Jordan. Also, they’re anchored by the winningest baller in the history of the sport. However, I’m concerned about ESPN’s selection of Pistol Pete. Sure, he was an electrifying player in both the NBA and college as well as a deeply interesting man, but he’s one of the league’s most famously overrated guys. As a result, Team B is dragged down a bit in terms of average APP+.

This is my favorite team. How can you beat these five in their prime? Still, I’m not so sure how Hakeem at the four would work. I would probably switch Kareem with him as Kareem was more of the finesse player while Hakeem was the better defender. Julius would be a big shooting guard, but at this early a stage in his career, he’s probably quick enough to keep up with even Jordan. With Hakeem and Kareem in the low post, Julius slashing, Bird shotting and Magic dishing, this is a solid, solid team.

Though comprised of unquestionably great players, I have the msot reservations about this team playing together. Look at who is playing each position … and then realize there’s only one ball to share between them!

Anyway, the APP+ has spoken and predicts Team A to be the winner. However, I’d still love to 10k sim this because I get the feeling Team C might edge everyone out.

Is it All-Star break, yet, because so many teams could sure use the time off. Three of the Top 5 players are recuperating on the bench and for many of the other top players, they wish they had that excuse. So many big names (Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James) are seeing their performance head south.

Marc Gasol cracks into the Top 10 for the first time this week, bringing the total amount of Grizzlies in the top 15 to a staggering 2! He put up a Gasolian line of 19.3 PPG / 10.5 RPG / 3.8 APG, shooting 58% from the floor and 81% from the line. Oh, and this team that was predicted to be in the basement of the Western Conference went 2-2 and edged closer towards that 8th seed. Heal up, Melo! You don’t want to see this Grizzly man in the playoffs.

Biggest Jump: Deron Williams, Rajon Rondo, Brook Lopez (6)
Biggest Fall: Tim Duncan, Dwyane Wade (6)
Hello: Marc Gasol
Goodbye: Dwight Howard
Ineligible: Kevin Love

NBA Top 10 (by APP+)
Rank	Prev	Player	Team(s)	Pos.	GP	APP	APP+
1	1	Chris Paul (Injured)		G	38	↓ 28.63	↓ 19.71
2	2	Pau Gasol		F	31	↑ 26.73	↑ 18.04
3	5	Carmelo Anthony (Injured)		F	38	↑ 25.67	↑ 16.98
4	9	Brandon Roy (Injured)		G	40	↓ 25.13	↓ 16.21
5	11	Deron Williams		G	41	↑ 25.07	↑ 16.15
6	4	Gerald Wallace		F	45	↓ 24.42	↓ 15.73
7	13	Rajon Rondo		G	44	↑ 24.63	↑ 15.71
8	14	Brook Lopez		C	46	↓ 23.55	↓ 15.42
9	3	Tim Duncan		F-C	43	↓ 25.47	↓ 15.20
10	-	Marc Gasol		C	46	23.30	15.17

Just Outside
Rank	Prev	Player	Team(s)	Pos.	GP	APP	APP+
11	6	Dirk Nowitzki		F	46	↓ 23.68	↓ 14.99
12	8	Zach Randolph		F	46	↑ 23.30	↑ 14.61
13	7	Dwyane Wade		G	47	↓ 23.46	↓ 14.54
14	10	David Lee		F	47	↓ 22.63	↓ 13.94
-	-	Kevin Love (Ineligible)		F	29	22.61	13.92
15	12	LeBron James		F	49	↓ 22.40	↓ 13.71

APP – Adjusted Pace Performance
A weighted formula for combining everything a player does on the basketball court into one number. This number is then adjusted based upon the players’ team pace to provide a balanced way to compare players’ performance.
APP+ – APP Above Positional Average APP
Player’s weighted performance minus the performance of an average player at his same position.

Players are considered ineligible if they fail to play in 60% of their team’s games.

APP for an average NBA player for the 2010 season: ↓ 9.25
APP+ for an average NBA player for the 2010 season: ↓ 0.39
Stats through 2/1/2010

There’s nothing like the naming of the NBA All-Stars to get me all good and pissed off. Well, nothing except for the Grammy winners each year, but still, this annual debacle is a close second. But I digress …

Anyway, as usual, here’s the NBA Sim rebutal to the less-than-stellar voter/coaches selections this year. My selections are based on APP+ which is APP above positional average APP. In case that didn’t make any sense, let’s say Chris Paul and LeBron James have the same APP. APP+ would show Chris Paul as actually having the better season since the point guard average APP is lower than a small forward’s average APP. Or, in a quick visual demonstration (with completely made-up data):

The following data use 2010 NBA stats through 1/18/2010. Thanks, as usual, Basketball-Reference.com!

Eastern Conference All-Stars
Voter/Coach Selections					Who Should Be Playing
	Player	Team(s)	APP+	Pos.	Player	Team(s)	APP+	Diff.
Start	LeBron James		17.48	F	LeBron James		17.48	0.00
	Kevin Garnett		12.32	F	David Lee		17.29	↓ 4.97
	Dwyane Wade		19.21	G	Dwyane Wade		19.21	0.00
	Allen Iverson		6.08	G	Rajon Rondo		15.33	↓ 9.25
	Dwight Howard		16.63	C	Dwight Howard		16.63	0.00
Starters Difference								↓ 14.22
Bench	Gerald Wallace		17.12	F	Gerald Wallace		17.12	0.00
	Chris Bosh		15.98	F	Chris Bosh		15.98	0.00
	Rajon Rondo		15.33	G	Joe Johnson		12.46	↑ 2.87
	Joe Johnson		12.46	G	Derrick Rose		9.87	↓ 0.85
	Al Horford		14.56	C	Brook Lopez		15.41	↓ 0.85
Wild Card	Paul Pierce		11.83	WC	Antawn Jamison		14.64	↓ 2.81
	Derrick Rose		9.87	WC	Al Horford		14.56	↓ 4.69
Reserves Difference								↑ 4.61
Total Difference								↓ 17.11

Whew … something really smells and it’s coming from the East! Let’s take a look at the starters, first. Remember, these positions were voted on by the fans and had to come from this crop of players. When making my picks (according to APP+), I went by this player pool, as well.

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Dwight Howard are easy locks. All three are the best at their respective positions and should be starting in this game for the East. However, Kevin Garnett and Allen Iverson seem to have been chosen on sentimental value as they are just not performing at All-Star level this year. You’ll notice neither one makes my list! Rajon Rondo and David Lee should be their replacements. Rondo is a fairly obvious choice but, yes, I said David Lee!

Though usually playing “center” in Mike D’Antoni’s mish-mash, fastbreaking, 3-point shooting Knicks, he’s listed as a forward on the All-Star ballot. Yes, the Knicks playing at the 6th fastest pace in the game will inflate Lee’s stats a bit, but APP accounts for this and he still is leading Chris Bosh by a nose in performance. Remember, these selections are based off of stats from right around the time All-Star voting ended because since then, Bosh has made his move and is now doing better than Lee.

Anyway, the amount of performance that the Eastern All-Stars are losing because of fan selection is about what Andre Iguodala brings to the court each night. That is an incredible amount! Thanks, casual NBA fans!

Ok, onto the reserves who are selected by the coaches. Where voters overvalue name recognition and scoring, coaches respond mainly to team wins which irks me almost as much. All-Star status is a recognition for individual acheivement and yet coaches base many of their selections on a stat dependent upon multiple people! And – when you think about it – team wins are also a stat that is attributed to coaching! Perhaps this really is a way to pat each other on the back for a job well done rather than picking out the best players. Who knows?

It’s unanimous: both the coaches and I feel Chris Bosh and Gerald Wallace are the 3rd and 4th best Eastern Conference forwards (at the All-Star break). We also agree on Rajon Rondo and Joe Johnson’s inclusion, however their selection of Rajon has been pushed down because of the Iverson fiasco. Since my selections don’t suffer from the same mistake, I get to bring in another deserving guard: Gilbert Arenas with an APP+ of 11.96. Oops. Actually, it sounds like Gilbert won’t be able to attend the party in Dallas, so I’ll go with the next best guard: Derrick Rose.

While I agree Al Horford deserves to be an All-Star, he’s certainly not the second best center in the conference – that would be Brook Lopez of the lowly New Jersey Nets. Finally, the coaches feel a burning desire to let Paul Pierce show up to another of these games even though Antawn Jamison deserves it so much more.

As usual, the coaches do a much better job at picking All-Stars than voters (though that’s not saying much), as the amount of performance they’re leaving out is only 4.61 APP+ – or about what Anthony Randolph has done this year. Remeber, this production would be ADDED to the reserve group’s performance, not substituted for any reserve, so it’s still like leaving free money on the table.

Alright, let’s head to warmer (and hopefully better selected All-Stars) parts of the NBA …

Western Conference All-Stars
Voter/Coach Selections					Who Should Be Playing
	Player	Team(s)	APP+	Pos.	Player	Team(s)	APP+	Diff.
Start	Tim Duncan		18.53	F	Tim Duncan		18.53	0.00
	Carmelo Anthony		17.23	F	Dirk Nowitzki		18.51	↓ 1.28
	Steve Nash		15.82	G	Chris Paul		22.77	↓ 6.95
					Brandon Roy		16.47	↓ 0.67
	Kobe Bryant		15.80	G	Deron Williams		16.02	↑ 6.75
	Amare Stoudemire		11.01	C	Marc Gasol		14.47	↓ 3.46
Starters Difference								↓ 12.36
Bench	Dirk Nowitzki		18.51	F	Carmelo Anthony		17.23	↑ 1.28
	Kevin Durant		16.71	F	Kevin Durant		16.71	0.00
	Chris Paul		22.77	G	Steve Nash		15.82	↑ 0.65
	Brandon Roy		16.47	G	Jason Kidd*		13.11	↑ 0.65
	Pau Gasol		18.51	C	Pau Gasol		18.51	0.00
Wild Card	Deron Williams		16.02	WC	Zach Randolph		16.37	↓ 0.35
	Zach Randolph		16.37	WC	Kobe Bryant		15.80	↑ 0.57
Reserves Difference								↑ 8.68
Total Difference								↓ 3.46

I don’t know what is more surprising to me: the fact that the voters and I only agree on one player who should be starting for the Western Conference All-Stars, or the fact that the person we agree upon is 33-year old Tim Duncan! Listen, I’m fairly confident that the gentleman is the best power forward the sport has seen and I’m willing to show my math (someday), but who would guess he’s still outperforming an entire conference at his ripe old age?

Carmelo Anthony. Kobe Bryant. Blah, blah, blah. Yes, fans, I realize both guys put up a lot of points, are super recognizable, and Kobe is the leader of the defending champions, but Dirk Nowitzki and Brandon Roy are outperforming them this season. Steve Nash is still impressive even though he’s older than everyone (even Duncan) but it is a crime that Chris Paul’s dominance at the point guard position is not being rewarded by the NBA audience. And Amare? An All-Star? A CENTER? There are several players in the West who are playing better than Marc Gasol and could’ve filled out the “center” position better than Amare, but I stuck to those listed as such on the ballot and he came out tops.

The Western starters were screwed – but not as badly as the East. Still, the combined loss of performance (12.36 APP+) is roughly what Kevin Garnett is putting out for the Boston Celtics in 2010. Wouldn’t you like that amount of production in your team?

The coaches did their best to right the ship – everyone they selected made my list as well. In fact, the only person that didn’t make my cut is Amare so the sum difference being denied to this team is what he lacks in comparison to Marc Gasol (3.46 APP+). That’s about the amount of performance the worst starter on a team (Mehmet Okur, Mike Bibby) is delivering each night. As a result, I predict the West should decisively defeat the East.

If anyone actually played like they cared in the All-Star contest, that is.

Anyway, being a fan, I voted every day that I had access to a computer (baring weekends). I remained disciplined and only voted based on APP+, though I did exclude any injured player. Here were my voting results:

* I didn’t realize Richard Hamilton was injured after his first game and accidentally voted him in twice when I should’ve probably sent those votes to Rajon Rondo.

Finally, each day, I wrote in the most deserving player who wasn’t listed on the ballot. Well, except for the first day in which I sent in my homer vote for Erick Dampier. The other (real) votes were: Zach Randolph (20 votes), Joakim Noah (15 votes) and Chris Kaman (3 votes).