Schaller All-Stars

[Tammo29@xxxxxxx]

May 22, 2003

Allstars: West Dominates Joe Schaller
    

The perennial scapegoat: Last year it was Kenyon Martin with the catty 
references to Keith Van Horn's playoff failure. This year Allen Iverson deflects the 
blame toward the same convenient scapegoat.

First of all, who ever designated Van Horn as an allstar? Why is he held to 
such a high standard in the post-season when he's never played at a high level 
during the regular season?

Second of all, look who's talking! Martin has performed impressively this 
year however last year he was outplayed by Van Horn during their playoff run yet 
K-Mart had the audacity to point fingers.
Iverson's predictable fourth quarter chokes as the "King of Bricks" led him 
to conclude "We definitely need others to step up and contribute offensively". 
Hey Brickmeister!, maybe if you weren't such a ball hog the other guys could 
"step up"- 5 for 25 is a pretty good formula for failure. Have you noticed Matt 
Harpring stepping up with the change of scenery in Utah?

Third of all, instead of jumping all over Martin and Iverson for their 
hypocrisy, the pundits let it slide- a free pass- "of course, Van Horn is the 
villain". This is mind boggling. Why do thugs and scumbags draw so much praise (the 
list is long) while honorable nice guys like Van Horn and David Robinson are 
scorned?
The methods of our sports media have become similar to that of tabloid 
journalists with lots of hype, little substance and a mean and twisted spirit.


The difference between an MVP and a mere allstar: In order to obtain a 
perspective on players' values it can be helpful to speculate on the impact of a 
trade. Let's consider an Allen Iverson for Tracy McGrady trade. The Sixers are 
deep in talented role players while the Magic are weak in almost every area 
except perimeter shooters. McGrady with the Sixers should easily be the top team 
in the East, however Iverson with the Magic takes them to the level of Miami. 
The Sixers role players can make up for Iverson's poor shooting however on the 
Magic he would not have that luxury.
The media still seems desperate to justify their ludicrous MVP selection from 
2 years ago. After Iverson's first playoff game of 55 points on 21 for 32 
from the field, espn's Kevin Frazier and Tim Legler on separate occasions 
proclaimed "This is absolute proof Iverson is worthy of the Olympic team". Yet for 
every 21 for 32 game Iverson will have 5 games of 11 for 32, seriously. In fact 
it was all downhill for Iverson after game one. When you add on a 
racist-sexist-you-name-it bigotry which makes John Rocker look like a saint I can't think 
of a worse fit for the Olympic team.


Hey freeloaders!, how about doing your homework? Chauncey Billups and Mehmet 
Okur seem to have taken everybody by surprise. It's as if they had never 
before performed at a high level however they are merely showing the same stuff 
they've previously displayed.

Billups' breakthru season with the T-Wolves went unnoticed by the mainstream 
and Joe Dumars cashed in on the prevailing ignorance of others. And all along 
the attention has been directed toward Rip Hamilton who despite his 
improvement is still far from the allstar level of Billups.

If you look back at my feature World Championship Allstars I make the 
observation "23 year old center-forward Mehmet Okur of Turkey was drafted by Detroit 
in the second round and may turn out to be one of the steals of the draft". 
It's a matter of doing the homework. It seems the mainstream's homework ethic 
falls under the classification of "garbage in- garbage out".


Is it possible for a center or power forward to play 35 minutes without one 
rebound? It seems that unless you were running away from the ball that one 
would eventually fall into your lap. Cliff Robinson has once again proven to be 
the worst rebounding big man in the NBA by doing just that and despite Big Ben's 
top rebounding rating the Pistons are not a good rebounding team and will 
lose to the Nets if they don't provide Ben some assistance.


A bonus for minutes played is added to TPR for an allstar score.

TPR scale: 120+ superstar, 100+ allstar, 80+ starter, 65+ bench, 60 = min 
wage


'02-'03 First Team Allstars
_______________TPR_"bonus_score

G Tracy McGrady Orl___175__20__195

G Kobe Bryant LAL____157__24__181

C Shaquille O'Neal LAL_166__15__181

F Kevin Garnett Min___174__23__197

F Tim Duncan SA_____171__22__193

Second Team
_______________TPR_"bonus_score

G Jason Kidd NJ______141__20__161

G Paul Pierce Bos_____134__21__155

C Ben Wallace Det____130__19__149

F Dirk Nowitzki Dal____154__21__175

F Shawn Marion Pho___144__24__168

Third Team
_______________TPR_"bonus_score

G Allen Iverson Phi____118__25__143

G Gary Payton Mil_____119__22__141

F Karl Malone Uta_____133__19__152

F Jermaine O'Neal Ind_129__19__148

F Andrei Kirilenko Uta__130__12__142

Fourth Team
_______________TPR_"bonus_score

G Steve Nash Dal_____121__17__138

G Ray Allen Sea______117__19__136

G Steve Francis Hou___113__23__136

F Chris Webber Sac___125__16__141

F Elton Brand LAC____121__15__136

Fifth Team
_______________TPR_"bonus_score

G John Stockton Uta___121__13__134

G/F Michael Jordan Was_113__20__133

C Yao Ming Hou_______118__14__132

F Peja Stojakovic Sac__120__15__135

F Rasheed Wallace Por_117__17__134

Sixth Team
_______________TPR_"bonus_score

G Chauncey Billups Det_119__13__132

G Stephon Marbury Pho_109__22__131

G Michael Redd Mil____117__13__130

C David Robinson SA__124__7___131

F P J Brown NO_______118__16__134

Seventh Team
_______________TPR_"bonus_score

G Sam Cassell Mil_____112__17__129

G Kerry Kittles NJ_____117__10__127

C Shawn Bradley Dal__110__17__127

F Mat Harpring Uta____112__16__128

F Shar.Abdur-Rahim Atl_106__21__127

Eighth Team
_______________TPR_"bonus_score

G Jason Terry Atl_____104__21__125

G Doug Christie Sac___107__17__124

C Arvydas Sabonis Por_124__2___126

F Jamal Mashburn NO__104__23__127

F Donyell Marshall Chi_110__14__124

Ninth Team
_______________TPR_"bonus_score

G Jon Barry Det______109__15__124

G/F Michael Finley Dal_106__16__122

C Brad Miller Ind_____110__13__123

F Ron Artest Ind______108__13__121

F Pau Gasol Mem_____101__19__120

Tenth Team
_______________TPR_"bonus_score

G Bobby Jackson Sac__115__7___122

G Eddie Jones Mia____114__8___122

C Kurt Thomas NY____104__16__120

F Juwan Howard Den__103__17__120

F Kenyon Martin NJ___103__16__119

Notables Missing from Top 50

Glen Robinson Atl

Antoine Walker Bos

Jalen Rose Chi

Ricky Davis Cle

Zydrunas Ilgauskas Cle

Nick Van Exel Dal

Rip Hamilton Det

Antawn Jamison GS

Gilbert Arenas GS

Andre Miller LAC

Wally Szczerbiak Min

Baron Davis NO

Allan Houston NY

Amare Stoudemire Pho

Bonzi Wells Por

Scottie Pippen Por

Mike Bibby Sac

Tony Parker SA

Rashard Lewis Sea

Vince Carter Tor

Jerry Stackhouse Was

Total Performance Ratings (The Total 12)

Scoring

Scoring Efficiency

Ballhandling

Rebounding

Disruptive Defense

One on one Defense

Team Defense

Team Game Pace

Positional Norms

Schedule Strength

Projected Improvement or Decline

Teams Wins Adjustment
Ratings indicate productivity per minute played. See my feature "The TPR 
Formula" for more information.



Joe Schaller
    
    http://schallertpr.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=188301