Nada Equipo de Estrellas por Jose

Why no mention from Bosh!? I thought that Calderon was supposed to be his boy.

Can anyone shed some light on the Bosh-Calderon relationship? Is it possible that there is some vicarious jealousy there on Bosh's part, as Bosh is very close to TJ, and Calderon has understandably eclipsed TJ recently, due to TJs injury, and mainly due to his impressive play?

Franchise... you are definitely correct in your assessment. JC got robbed! Is our team in the same position without him? Calderon can now be compared to the League elites- D-Williams, CP3, and Kid Canada. All I have to say is 51-43-92!!! 51% from the field… 43% from beyond the arc, and 92% from the charity stripe (only Nash can compare)… while leading the L in assist- to-turnover ratio. You would think the NBA would have finally taken notice of numero Ocho. As usual coaches south of the border need to take in more Raptor games. Also D-Will and Marcus Camby got robbed, but I feel worst for the latter- almost 4 blocks a game, and 2nd in the L in boards... the NBA’s got to give respect to defensive BIGS… I mean common… ‘The Body’ Ben Wallace was a 4-time all-star. But with 12 spots available, the beat goes on. Definitely happy for C-Booze… it’s been a long time coming. BIGGUPS to Moon, Bosh, Bargs and J-Kapo… representing the RAPS 4 deep… really should have been 5...

Based on the season he's having, you're right it's a travesty picking JJ, but they obviously spread the all-start love around, look at bosh's first appearance. He was on the bubble, like JC is now. If he keeps it up, I'll be upset next year if he gets snubbed.

But yeah, JJ over RJ and JC makes no sense on paper.

Kobe is an equalizer in more than one way. Sure, he has 30 points against Detroit(took almost 40% of the shots), but the guy has 11 turnovers with 5 assists. Equalizes opportunities for the opposing teams.

He is electrifying, but also %$'()ing frustrating for fans. If he passed the ball out of pressure, he might reduce the turnovers. But his ego is too big.

To me that is why he could be an allstar, but never an MVP.

Biggest Jose backer their is but he was borderline. Coming off the bench first part of season might have had an effect.
Bosh was being honest when asked about omissions. Think he and Jose get along fine(they better cause Jose coming into his prime years and will be a huge part of our growth).

How's this for a conspiracy theory? Colangelo tells them at the NBA office to not pick Jose because his price will go up and it will make the point guard controversy even worse, what with TJ, never an all-star, starting ahead of an all-star?

Okay, try this controversy! If Bosh is a European, he's not on the team either. His participation with the USA team gets him more love. Explains Johnson making it. Johnson!

Hey Marcia,

Tony Parker is French.
Kobe grew up in Italy.
AK47 is a freak of nature (bet you don't even know who that is)

One way or another, these guys have European influences developing their basketball games.

And they're better than a lot of these Americans that you admire so much.

Look guys, the writing was on the wall on this. Let's not act all surprised. I posted about it in the previous blog thread hours before the reserves were announced. It's sad, but almost no one outside Toronto who doesn't play fantasy basketball knows who Calderon is. I watch games on NBA League Pass and usually get the announcers of the opposing team and one of my favorite things is to hear them freak out over how great Jose is as he orchestrates the offense so masterfully because they had no idea. It's a sad fact. We all know he belongs there. But is this really news?

Look, next year people will (or at least should) know a little better and he'll likely get in. Until then, let's focus on what's more important and greedily enjoy what everyone else who's not paying attention is unfortunately missing every time JC takes the court.

Besides, if it's any consolation, making the all-star team probably would have bumped up his asking price at the end of the season by a couple mill. =P (Note: please don't flame me about that last sentence, it was just a joke to lighten the mood.)

I don't know bout you guys, but I'm glad Jose isn't going to New Orleans. He's playing 40+ mins almost every night for the last month. The weekend off will be great for JC.

Jose will become an allstar for many years. This is only His 3rd year in league and only a starter for a handful of games. He imo will become one of the best in the league for a long time.

I think it would be a nice touch if the crowd at the ACC tonight give Jose a standing O .....because he is our All Star.I just got a visual...a la Bosh u tube,can you imagine Jose with the cowboy hat....Lets come out flying out of the gate tonight...

MarciasBust.. Kerlinko is a very good player, Parker is a good player and his father is an American who played BB in France, I don't debate a subject if I don't know about it. Kobe did not play in Italy his father played in Italy therefore he lived there with his parents

Who cares if Calderon makes the team?

Will the Raps win more games because of it? Will it make him a better player? Will it make him more likely to re-sign in Toronto? Will it lower ticket prices? So . . . what's the difference???

I know that recognition is important, but the best way for the Raptors to get respect is to make it to the 2nd round of the playoffs. It took a while for the US media to catch on even when we had the most exciting player in basketball and his more talented cousin.

Relax. The all-star game in basketball is dreadfully boring and Calderon would probably prefer to relax for a few days anyway.

caron butler was selected but isn't he still injured? does that mean sterno will pick somebody else from the east?

benjibopper,

Not likely. Stern is notoriously protective of keeping originally announced all-star rosters as in tact as possible. As such, unless Caron Butler misses every single game leading up to the All-Star break, which the reports I hear say his injury is not severe enough to do, he'll play.

Calderon no getting into the All Star game sucks....BUT...I don't mind, I would rather he gets a few days off and rests his body for the second half of the season. Which would you all rather have? A healthy Calderon for the playoffs or a gimpy Calderon who went to some useless event which most memebers of the public don't even get to attend.

And as long as we're ranting:
There are neighborhoods in New Orleans that are still suffering from the after effects of Hurricane Katrina. Why? Becuase they are poor and they just don't matter. Meanwhile just down the street, the corporate sponsors involved in the NBA and their families are having a massive party, and oh, by the way, the poor aren't invited.

This is sounding a little like Portland fans with ROY not getting a complete sweep of ROY. Who cares of JC doesn't get the recognition, I'm sure he doesn't. He'll get recognized by the dolla-dolla billz.

Many of you guys are getting to know me as a numbers guy, so related to this topic, I've got some more for you =)

David Berri, basketball fan and economics professor of Wages of Wins fame, wrote a piece that details why Joe Johnson should definitely not be an all-star and suggests a certain someone as the best choice to replace him.

http://dberri.wordpress.com/2008/02/01/joe-johnson-is-an-all-star/

Just a quick primer in case you've never been acquainted with Dave Berri's numbers... WP48 == Wins Produced per 48 minutes played. 0.100 WP48 == average player, 0.200 WP48 == elite player.

Costa, thanks for the link to the David Berri article...

Speaking of Berri and Wages of Wins, did anyone else catch his article about the Wins Produced of every player in the league after 41 team games?

http://www.wagesofwins.com/AllPlayersMid0708.html

I'm not a Bargnani hater - I'm still on the side of "give him time, don't jump down his throat" - but there's a pretty significant margin between Bargs and Jason Collins, the second-worst player in the league measured by Wins Produced.

I think more than anything else it goes to show that when Bargs is bad, he's very very bad.

Tinman I have to agree with you. The All-Star game usually recognizes exceptional play from the previous season (at least the second half of the previous season) and the first half of the current season. While Jose has been unbelievable, he has been unbelievable for roughly 2 months. He started the season coming off the bench and even though he played great as a back-up, he was still a back-up. I have been extremely impressed with Jose’s play this season. I’m a HUGE Jose fan, but I can understand the argument that this year he should not be an all-star.

That being said, there is no justification for Joe Johnson being on this team. None. He is barely shooting 40% for a loosing team. I can see the argument for Ray Allen. His team is 36 and 8! I know that KG and Pierce made the team but, when Detroit had a similar record a few years back they had FOUR players represent the team. Most importantly, Allen has not gotten the credit he has deserved for increasing his value on the defensive end. He’s playing the best team defence of his career and is at least part of the reason the C’s are one of the best defensive teams in the league. To add to that, one more than one occasion (as Raps fans have witnessed), he’s often called on to make big shots down the stretch and has often delivered.

Indeed Mattk, rough times for Bargs according to WoW. The main factor though that explains the harsh difference between him and Collins is the fact that despite his struggles, the Raps have given Andrea over 200 minutes more playing time than him (825 minutes vs 616 minutes). If you look at their actual performance on a per-minute basis, Bargnani's -.204, while very very bad, is still a little better than Collins' -.224. Others, like Malik Rose and Nenad Krstic (yeesh, talk about bad New Jersey role players!) have also been worse than Bargs while on the floor, only their teams haven't given them as much playing time, so the damage they caused is thus dampened.

In essence, the Raps have given up some wins so far this year for what they believe to be the greater good of developing Andrea for the future, similarly to how the Sonics are working with Kevin Durant and Jeff Green. I don't think that's a surprise to anyone here, and I'm sure some people here would agree with it.

Related to the note I posted above about the sacrifice the Raps made this season for Bargnani, I decided out of pure interest to crunch the numbers a little further to see how much of a difference it would have made had the Raps said "Screw it" to his development and just tried to win now with Nesterovic or Humphries getting more minutes. (Note that these are using David Berri's stats, which are purely theoretical. Also note that these are after 41 games, when the Raptors were 22-19):

Actual scenario:
Bargnani @ 825 mins / Nesterovic @ 500 mins / Humphries @ 570 mins
=> Expected record: 23.4-17.6 (in reality, they were 22-19. This difference makes sense since the Raps were unlucky so far this season. By point differential, they should have had a couple more wins)

Imaginary Rasho/Hump scenario:
Bargs @ 425 / Rasho @ 700 / Hump @ 770
=> Expected record: 25.9-15.1 (assuming they would have been equally unlucky as they actually turned out to be, this would have made them between 24-17 and 25-16)

As such, according to Berri's numbers, the Raps have given up 2.5 expected wins in order to continue developing Bargs at the expense of using Rasho and Humphries. Make your own opinions on whether or not it's worth it. One can certainly argue that his improved play since the Boston game may very not have happened if not for the extra PT though, and that an effective Andrea for the second half of the season could make up a nice chunk of those lost wins in the first half.

Anyway, enough #'s for today =P Let's get ready to watch the Raps-Lakers game tonight. =D

Thoughts:

1. "Lies, damn lies and statistics." -- Mark Twain. This goes for both gerry (on a simple level) and Costa. Gerry, Kobe was playing the Pistons; Kobe averages 3.4 TOs per game. I don't think Kobe would average 11 TOs against a non-Pistons defence. And Costa, you are making a HUGE assumption that Hump and Rasho, given an uptick in minutes, would not accordingly be more exposed. I'm not saying they'd play as bad as Bargs has often been, but I watched Tuesday's game and Hump was pretty clueless on the DEFENSIVE end with extended minutes, missing assignments all over the place.

2. Disappointing about Jose, but I totally agree with OneandDone that the rest will do him good. Fact is, Deron and Bamby were way more egregious omissions on the West team, but it's a numbers game and the Jazz already had Boozer in and the Nuggets had Melo and Iverson. I think Bamby should give a middle finger to all of Melo's fans, because Camby is 2nd IN THE LEAGUE in rebounds and 1st IN THE LEAGUE in blocks, but to have 3 Nuggs on the team in such a strong Western Conference makes no sense. As opposed to the 4 Pistons in a very weak East a couple seasons back, no team had 3 this year, so Ray Ray was out in favour of Pierce (a better season than Ray; amazing assist totals and solid %s for a SF), and the Hawks and Nets are still de facto "playoff" teams so only one of JoeJ and Kidd (and not RJeff) makes some sense, except that....

3. I would argue, like Barkley and CB4 did, that Turkoglu really deserves it -- even over Jose. He has been playing at a very high level as a starter ALL year (his FG% and TOs notwithstanding), the Magic have more wins, and Jose, as Tinman mentions, was not even a starter all year. The Pistons, Celtics and Magic are the top 3 teams in the East and only the first two teams have 2 players selected. Well, hopefully Turk will win most improved player (he is certainly the most best value pick on my Fantasy squad).

Of course I'm making an assumption. There's a very good reason to think that under different circumstances, the play of any of those three players would be vastly different, and it's a given this caveat should be considered when looking at purely theoretical data.

That doesn't mean there's no fun or point in simply trying it out and seeing what you get. For instance, we don't know for sure what killed the dinosaurs, but we study the data we have and discuss what we think it means. It may be wrong, but that doesn't mean it's useless to at least talk about it, does it? =)