With Kevin Love going down with what looks to be a regular season ending surgery, the East All Stars needed to find someone else to take his place. They had any number of players to pick from. I was hoping they would not take another guard because this All Star game is filled with great guards, and much to my pleasure, they did not. But, there choice to replace Kevin Love has me really scratching my head.

How on Earth is Carmelo Anthony worthy of an All Star spot? I just do not get it. If the All Star game were just about putting "super stars" in it, then if Carmelo is an All Star, so is Dwayne Wade, LaMarcus Aldridge, Joel Embiid, Dwight Howard, Tristan Thompson, Blake Griffin and Nikola Jokic. All these players are well known names to your average NBA fan, and a few are way more deserving that Carmelo, I'll touch on that in a bit, but if most of them were mentioned, people would laugh at you. But, for some inexplicably reason, Carmelo will be making his 8th straight All Star team despite the fact that he plays no defense, he shoots the ball way too much, he is not the best player on his team anymore and that team is an absolute dumpster fire.

The fact that the Knicks have an All Star is asinine. And, if the Knicks are going to have an All Star, I'd first look at Courtney Lee, who has been surprisingly consistent this year, then Kristaps Porzingis before I even mentioned Carmelo's name.

But, the NBA wants those ratings, so they figured, lets put in an aging guy, that's way past his prime, because that will give us ratings. Newsflash NBA, you guys are as popular as you've been since the Michael Jordan era. More and more people are watching the NBA now. League Pass has been an enormous boost in your popularity. The glut of good young players seems to be endless. The Warriors are must watch sports television. Russell Westbrook and James Harden have been electrifying this season. LeBron James is quietly having one of his better seasons. The Spurs are playing great. This has been a great year for the NBA,

Putting Carmelo on the All Star team definitely leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I know that the game is a pointless exhibition, but the NBA has, by far, the best All Star game. Major League Baseball's All Star game is a baseball game, so it's boring. I do not watch hockey, so I cannot comment on their All Star game. And the Pro Bowl, the Pro Bowl is by far the dumbest and most pointless of all the All Star games. But, the NBA All Star game is filled with scoring, tremendous dunks, guys going crazy scoring buckets, tons of transition and alley oops, it is just a fun game. Last year's All Star game almost had a combined 400 points, which I loved. But, for some unknown reason, after the Love injury, the powers that be decided that Carmelo Anthony was the best possible replacement in the Eastern Conference.

When I saw that Love was going to be out, I started to rack my brain thinking about who would replace him, and when I saw Carmelo's name on some lists, I literally laughed it off. I thought it was a joke. I figured that someone like Bradley Beal, Kristaps Porzingis or Joel Embiid would be picked as the replacement. Joel Embiid was definitely the sentimental choice. He has been great when he has played this year. He looks like the real deal. I wrote awhile back that he is the one and only reason to watch the 76ers. But, he has missed a ton of games recently, and he is injured. That was his death blow to making the All Star team. He has also pulled out of all the rookie and skills stuff as well, so there's that as well. Porzingis, unfortunately for him, plays on a terrible, terrible Knicks team, and he has actually taken a step back from last year. Some of this is his fault, some is the organizations fault. He doesn't attack the glass like he did last year and he has been settling for way too many jumpers. But, he also has to play with ball stoppers all over the floor. Derrick Rose still thinks he is an All Star, he is not, and he will not even look in Porzingis direction. Carmelo, to his credit, will try and get him the ball, unless it is a crucial possession. Then, he thinks he has to do it himself, which has stunted Porzingis' growth. With all that being said, Porzingis was rightfully left off the All Star team.

The guy I think should have gotten the spot was Bradley Beal. He has been playing very good basketball this year. It seems that he and John Wall squashed whatever beef they had, and they have looked great during their recent run of wins. Beal has been healthy and has been stuffing the stat sheet. He is scoring in bunches and has looked like the players the Wizards hoped he would be when they drafted him in the lottery to pair up with John Wall. Bradley Beal is the biggest snub in this entire All Star game, in my opinion.

There are many others who should have been considered ahead of Carmelo. Some may say, what about Chris Paul? He is hurt, so it would have only been a lets put him on the team, but find a quick replacement type deal. Other may mention Andrew Wiggins, too young and hasn't fully figured it out yet, or Karl Anthony Towns, he hasn't regressed as much as Porzingis, but his numbers aren't All Star worthy yet. People might say, what about Damian Lillard or CJ McCollum? Both guys have been fine, but All Stars, no way.

I legitimately believe that Bradley Beal is the biggest snub, and the NBA could have fixed that with the Kevin Love injury. But, they decided it would be better to put a "legend" in the game. I think Carmelo Anthony is incredibly overrated. He is an elite scorer, but other than that, what has he really done? He has never been to the Finals, he has never won the MVP, he has proven he cannot be the best player on a title contender and he constantly gripes and complains that he doesn't get what he wants. He has had a very average NBA career, if you take away his offense. He is a very, very poor man's Clyde Drexler. Drexler was great, but no one ever brings him up when people talk about the greatest NBA players, and I feel like that will be Carmelo's destiny. When I tell my son about watching the NBA when he is my age, I will talk about guys like LeBron James, Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, all of these guys and many, many more before I even get around to Carmelo. Is he an all time great? No way. Is he an All Star this year? Absolutely not. The NBA got this very, very wrong.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He booked his ticket last year to attend the All Star Game in Charlotte. He just heard it had to be moved to New Orleans. No w why would the league do that? Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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