ALSO SEE
By Jason Yellin and Phil Green
ESPNET SportsZone
CLEVELAND -- First, the All-Star starters are announced. Then, the reserves are picked. Then comes the inevitable second-guessing of who has been snubbed and who shouldn't have made the team. With many injuries this year, a list of All-Star replacements has been added.
For the West, Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal have been replaced by Detlef Schrempf, Kevin Garnett and Chris Gatling. The Eastern Conference had two of its three centers go down -- Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning -- who were replaced by Chris Webber and Joe Dumars.
 |
|
Mason
|
"I think it's absurd," Cowens said. "I just feel he's been insulted.
"I have the highest respect for Joe Dumars as a professional, as an athlete, as a person. To me, he was the guts of the Detroit teams (that won the '89 and '90 NBA titles). He was the guy who basically held them all together.
He's having a good year, but he's not having the impact on his team that Anthony Mason is. And I think that's why you choose All-Stars. That's why you have an All-Star Game. Especially with the fact that a big man goes down and they put a point guard or two-man to replace him."
Who knows, though, at the rate the All-Stars are dropping, Mason might find a spot in the lineup by Sunday anyway.
Feeling snubbed
Mason isn't the only player feeling left out this weekend. Other players noticeable by their absence include Golden State's Joe Smith, Toronto's Damon Stoudamire and Denver's Mark Jackson. But 76ers rookie sensation Allen Iverson feels his name should be first and foremost on that list."I was really looking forward to playing in the All-Star Game," said Iverson, who will only be playing in the Rookie Game on Saturday. "I thought I should be there."
Iverson is eighth in the league and leads all rookies in scoring at 23.0 points per game. He also tops the rookie charts in assists at 7.1, which is 12th overall. However, he's shooting just 40.3 percent from the floor, has committed a league-high 4.8 turnovers per game, and his team has the NBA's fourth worst record.
"Hopefully, next year I'll be able to impress the coaches a little bit more," he said.
A new staff for Bernie?
Almost as soon as the Bullets fired coach Jim Lynam, Nuggets GM Bernie Bickerstaff's name circulated as a potential replacement for the Washington coaching job. Bickerstaff, who has previously coached the Nuggets as well as the Sonics, hasn't given any indication to his players that he's planning to leave. Although if he does, he will be missed by his team."I don't think the guys will want to see him go," said Denver swingman Dale Ellis, who will compete in the 3-point shootout. "It's still like he's part of the group. He comes to practice. He watches practice. He even attends some of the games on the road. It's just nice to see him there."
Should Bickerstaff leave, Ellis is confident he'll be the right man in Washington.
"He definitely knows how to motivate his players. They have young players who need somewhat of a disciplinarian who's going to motivate them and get them ready to play," Ellis said. "He's the type of coach that you want to play for and want to win for."
Together again
All-Star Games are reunions where players get to play on the same side with old friends and ex-teammates.On Sunday, a special reunion will take place when Eastern Conference head coach Doug Collins has a chance to look down his bench and see Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen for the first time in nearly eight seasons. Collins coached both Bulls from 1986 through 1989 and took the club to the playoffs all three years.
"I'm excited I've had a chance to watch them grow," said the current Detroit Pistons head coach. "There are wonderful things that have occurred in their lives; there's been tragedy; there's been triumph.
"I really respect and admire both of those people for what they did when I was there and for how hard they played, and for the opportunities that they gave me to win games and the success we felt even though (it pales) when compared to what they've gone through now. But it was a starting point. I'm excited to see them, and I hope, at some point in time, they will be as happy for me that I had this opportunity also."
As for diagramming plays for the two top opposing players in his own division, Collins isn't ready to limit them.
"I'm just going to let them take the ball and do what they want to," he said. "I'll manage their time and ask them how much they want to play and hopefully sit back and enjoy them. If I try to coach Sunday, I'll get in the way of them making plays that people pay to see."
Nice to meet you
Wilt Chamberlain was the greatest of his time. Jordan the greatest of his. Together, they're arguably the two greatest players of all-time, yet they've never met. That's because Chamberlain hasn't been to an All-Star Game since he last played in one in 1973 -- when Jordan was just 9-years-old."I've watched a lot of them on TV," Chamberlain said. "I watch guys like MJ and they want to show everybody what they are all about, so they go out there and do that. I think the pride in the players is still there."
This season, due to the celebration of the 50 greatest players of all-time, Chamberlain is in town and looks forward to meeting Jordan.
"I'll hopefully meet Jordan this weekend," he said. "I'm not really sure what I'll say. I'll say whatever I feel at the time."
Mourning doesn't
Alonzo Mourning wasn't voted a starter, but with Patrick Ewing's withdrawal from the All-Star Game, the Heat center would have gotten his first career All-Star Game start. However, the 6-foot-10 fifth-year center will miss the game as well.Mourning is suffering from plantar fasciaitis of the right heel -- essentially he has an inflamed tendon around his heel -- and will now use the All-Star break as an extended rest time.
"It would have been a great opportunity for me to start," he said. "I have to do what's best for the team. I have to be healthy down the stretch. Although the game doesn't have as much significance as a playoff game, I feel like I'm missing a great opportunity."
 |
|
Brandon
|
Hometown guy
Cavaliers guard Terrell Brandon has gone from a first-time All-Star last season in San Antonio to the host this year."The guys have been calling me, asking what to do and where to go," he said. "It's a lot different from last year, when I was the rookie and I was watching and waiting to see exactly where I was supposed to go. Now I'm relaxed and used to it."
The All-Star Game made its only other appearance in the Cleveland area when the Richfield Coliseum hosted the game in 1981. Then-Cavalier Mike Mitchell came off the bench for 14 points.
Blowing it off
While most of the All-Star Weekend participants attended Friday's media day, the usual absentees remained absent again this year. Among the missing were Jordan, Pippen and the injured Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal. Jordan and Barkley were rumored to be playing golf in Las Vegas.The traditional fine for missing media day has been $10,000.
