It wasn't a surprise that Kevin Garnett was going to have to bail out of his All-Star appearance. Leading vote-getter or not, if he had to be held out of his homecoming in Minnesota and that showdown against the Spurs, you knew he wasn't going to suit up in New Orleans. Doc Rivers hinted that K.G. would be held out and campaigned for Ray Allen, the only snub on my version of the Eastern Conference All-Star squad.
It made sense -- one Celtic for another, the team with the league's best record represented by the third member that helped restore one of the league's most recognizable franchises. The only drawback was that it would've replaced the tallest member of an already out-sized team with a shooting guard. Rivers said he'd make do.
Instead, less than two hours after Rivers went on record that Garnett would indeed be held out following Boston's win over San Antonio, David Stern appointed Rasheed Wallace, who had gone on record as saying he didn't want to go.
I'd like to be up in arms over Wallace's inclusion on the Eastern Conference squad like a lot of you are. One of my boys, the self-appointed Bishop, rang me as soon as he heard the news, sounding all emotional. "They could've gone with Hedo Turkoglu," he whimpered. "He's tall enough."
I disagreed. For my money, Allen or Wallace, who I understand got a lot of support from Eastern Conference coaches, could be the only choices. Rivers himself told me the Sunday before the votes were due in that he hadn't paid Wallace's bravado much mind because he knew Sheed didn't mean it. In fact, Rivers kidded that he'd play Wallace about 40 minutes if he was selected to try and tire him for the second half of the season.
That won't happen, either, but I'll take the NBA's decision with a grain of salt in this instance. There's been no great injustice. Wallace has been the second-best center in the East, just ahead of Cleveland's Zydrunas Ilgauskas, for most of the season. If Charlotte's Emeka Okafor or Milwaukee's Andrew Bogut would've turned it on a little earlier than they did, they might have some beef over not being the commissioner's choice for size reinforcements. Instead, Stern's choice was Wallace, the best big man on a Detroit team that is 37-13, the second-best mark in the conference. To a man, every player who has made it to New Orleans would agree he's an All-Star talent.
Credit Rivers for saying he'd bend over backwards to work with a smaller lineup in order to get his guy the recognition he deserves, but the league wanted to ensure the Eastern Conference wasn't at a competitive disadvantage. I can respect that. This situation doesn't merit outrage. If Caron Butler's hip keeps him out of the festivities, then I'd be upset if Allen didn't get the call. Orlando's Turkoglu would be next in line after that.
