No Matter How Many People Pac-Man Kills the Attention Would Still be Focused on THIS Game

It has been over a decade since Kevin Garnett started the High School movement.  This was around the same time that non-Americans like Zydrunas Llgauskas started finding their way onto NBA rosters.  With all of these movements finally entrenched into the landscape of basketball, it’s interesting to see how much the league has improved because of the influx of college early entries, high school phenoms, and unknown foreign players to go along with the four year college players who used to be the norm in the NBA. 

It got me thinking about a great alternative to the “Pac Man Jones Misdemeanor Tour” known in other circles as the NBA All-Star Weekend.  Shockingly, the Eastern Conference/ Western Conference rivalry doesn’t seem to strike a chord with either side.  As a result, fans’ interest in the event as a whole peaked years ago.  

My alternative, which has almost zero chance of actually being considered by the NBA but is still fun to talk about, is to hold a mini tournament on the Friday and Sunday of All Star Weekend.  The teams?  All Star teams from four different categories: High School Draft Picks, Foreign Draft picks, Early Entry Draft Picks, and four Year College Draft Picks.  I have to imagine Lebron and Dwight Howard are more proud of the fact that they went straight from high school to the league then they are of belonging to the Eastern Conference.  You could play the semifinals on Friday and the finals on Sunday, and I guarantee the ratings would double.

When I created the teams, I did have a few rules:
1.  Foreigners who went to college were put on the college roster instead of the foreign team (Steve Nash, a Canadian, went to Santa Clara for 4 years, so he is put on the 4 year college team.)
2.  Each team was limited to 12 players, and I tried to make them as balanced by position as possible.  This is why the Early Entry NBA Team is without Jason Kidd and Paul Pierce, but has Marcus Camby and Brad Miller.

Here are the four teams I came up with.  Feel free to add what changes you would make by leaving a comment.

NBA ALL-FOREIGN TEAM

C Yao Ming (China)
PF Pau Gasol (Spain)
SF Dirk Nowitzki (Germany)
SG Leandro Barbosa (Brazil)
PG  Tony Parker (France)

PG Jose Calderon (Spain)
SG Peja Stojakovic (Yugoslavia)
C Zydrunas Llgauskas (Lithuania)
SF Andrei Kirilenko (Russia)
SG Manu Ginobili (Argentina)
SF Hedo Turkoglu (Turkey)
PF Mehmet Okur (Turkey)
 
Last Cuts
Andris Biedrins (Latvia)
Anderson Varejao (Brazil)
Andrea Bargnani (Italy)
Yi Jianlian (China)

NBA ALL HIGH SCHOOL TEAM

C Dwight Howard
PF Amare Stoudemire
SF Kevin Garnett
SG Kobe Bryant
PG LeBron James

Bench
PF Jermaine O’Neal
SG Tracy McGrady
SG/SF Rashard Lewis
C Tyson Chandler
PF Al Jefferson
SG Josh Smith
C Andrew Bynum

Last Cuts
Stephen Jackson
Monta Ellis

NBA ALL SENIOR TEAM

C David West
PF Tim Duncan
SF Tayshaun Prince
SG Josh Howard
PG Steve Nash

PF/C Emeka Okafor
SG Jason Terry
SF Danny Granger
PG Andre Miller
SG Brandon Roy  
C Brad Miller  
F David Lee

Last Cuts
Grant Hill
Jason Maxiell
Jason Kapono

NBA EARLY ENTRY TEAM

C Marcus Camby  
PF Carlos Boozer
SF Shawn Marion
SG Dwyane Wade  
PG Baron Davis

Bench
C/ PF Rasheed Wallace
PG Chris Paul
SF Ron Artest
PF Chris Bosh
PG/SG Gilbert Arenas
SG Allen Iverson
SF Carmelo Anthony

Last Cuts
Paul Pierce
Jason Kidd
Chauncey Billups
Chris Kaman
Michael Redd

I think the NBA High School Team would probably win the tournament, but none of these teams are slouches.  There are obvious reasons why the NBA would hate this idea, and obvious ideas why it wouldn’t work.  However, if the NBA continues to think that the annual “Missed Dunk Competition” and the “Watch Dwayne Wade!!!!……Throw a ball through a tire competition” will hold anyone’s interest for much longer, then their ratings will continue to drop, and the Pac Man Jones’ All Star Weekend Reality TV Show will be the only hit during the NBA Midseason Break.

Violent J

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