Really Andre?

            Andre Miller is mad about the All Star Snubs. Not that he wasn’t selected; Miller has never played at an All Star level and certainly isn’t doing so in his 12^th season. Rather he is upset his team mate, LaMarcus Aldridge, didn’t get picked. His biggest gripe is that Blake Griffin made it and Aldridge didn’t. Really, Andre? Your argument might have had a chance if you chose anyone other than Griffin.

Lets ignore the fact that Aldridge and Miller are team mates, rendering him totally bias and reasonably so. Lets even ignore the fact that Griffin obviously got under Miller’s skin causing him to lose it and do this and end Miller’s slightly impressive 632 consecutive games played streak. What we can’t ignore that A. Griffin is out scoring and out rebounding Aldridge in just his rookie season and B. Its an All Star game. What does that mean? Its an exhibition. No one really plays defense until the fourth quarter. The purpose of the game is to entertain. Players do things like this. That being said, which player would be more fun to watch? The player that is known for this? Or the player that is known for consistently knocking down 15ft jumpers?

I’ll admit, I wasn’t too high on Griffin initially too. To me he appeared to be in the same mold as a Michael Beasley; dominate college player, high draft pick, NBA bust. Going all Greg Oden on us in his real rookie season didn’t help things either. Griffin has grown on me though. He appears to be more Amar’e Stoudemire than Michael Beasley. He even has a little leg up on Amar’e; he actually appears to want to and like to rebound. He should watch a great deal of game tape on Amar’e; offensively only, avoid anything Amar’e does on defense, which isn’t much. If he can work as hard as Amar’e and develop a consistent jumper, he will be Amar’e 2.0; just as dangerous a scorer as Amar’e with more heart and reckless abandon.

Back to Aldridge’s “snub.” Miller had a number of players to choose from to make his case for Aldridge. Yet he chose to take the petty route and bag on Griffin. Why not call out Tim Duncan’s selection? While there is no denying his Hall of Fame credentials, are 13 and 9 really All Star numbers? Even when Duncan was putting up MVP numbers, all he did in All Star games was play minimally to use the weekend for rest. Then again, Miller claimed that Griffin hadn’t paid his dues like Aldridge. Aldridge hasn’t exactly paid the same amount of dues as Duncan, so I guess Miller would lose that argument too. You said it Andre, not me. What about Pau Gasol? 18 and 10 isn’t as good as the numbers Aldridge is putting up. We might have an argument here. Oh wait, Miller shot himself in the foot on this one too. Miller stated, “We have a better record than those guys (the 19-29 Clippers)…” Well, Andre, the Lakers have a better record than the Blazers, so I guess Gasol gets in. To top all of the “snubbing,” Kevin Love was selected to replace Yao Ming (Don’t get me started on Yao, China’s All Star voting rights should be revoked). Aldridge gets snubbed again. One can’t help but notice that Love’s selection came after Miller’s Griffin comments. Did Miller irk the comish enough to get Aldridge black balled from this year’s ASG?

To recap, Andre Miller unfairly went after Blake Griffin because his team mate LaMarcus Aldridge didn’t make the All Star game. Miller and Griffin have an obviously bad history, eliminating any validity from any argument made by Miller against Griffin. In Miller’s rant on why Aldridge is deserving of the spot over Griffin, Miller unknowingly explained why Aldridge shouldn’t make it over lesser qualified picks, Duncan and Gasol. Finally, Miller’s premature criticism came before all of the selections were made, possibly annoying the commissioner into selecting Kevin Love over Aldridge. Andre Miller set out to defend LaMarcus Aldridge, yet in all his efforts probably cost Aldridge being taken seriously as an All Star snub.

On a side note, now that Love has been named to the All Star team, is anyone else overly giddy (yes, I say giddy, because the thought of this makes me feel like a school girl hearing some juicy gossip) about the potential of the following play? Blake Griffin challenges a Chris Bosh 3 point attempt and proceeds to continue running down court past Bosh. Bosh misses, Love grabs the rebound and throws a two handed, full court, outlet/alley oop to Griffin. Nash is probably the only other play with the accuracy and cajoles to throw a pass like this; however, he lacks the power for it to get there. Love has no probably accurately throwing the ball the length of the court. Don’t believe me, check this out.