NBA: The all-star selections will take playground approach
HONOLULU— The NBA is trying to inject some life into an all-star game that’s degenerated into a dull, uncompetitive display of individual talents rather than a representation of how the game should be played.
For February’s game in Los Angeles, team “captains” will pick teams regardless of conference from a pool of 24 players to give the game a playground feel, the league announced Tuesday.
Fans, players and a select group of media will still choose the five starters from each conference and the coaches will select seven reserves from the East and West but the top vote-getters in each conference will serve as captains and choose up the sides.
The impetus for change came after an extraordinarily dull affair last February in New Orleans.
A committee representing the league and the players association decidedon the format change.
“I’m thrilled with what the players and the league have done to improve the all-star game, which has been a priority for all of us,” a statement from Chris Paul, the union’s president, said. “We’re looking forward to putting on an entertaining show in L.A.”
Charlotte owner Michael Jordan, chairman of the league’s labour relations committee, was also involved in the change, which will see the teams playing for charities.
Specifics of the “draft” process are to be announced.
THE RAPTORS’ RANGE: Dwane Casey will refer often to the “shot spectrum” the Raptors are looking for this year.
His definition: “Anything that’s not in the paint or behind the three-point line — you’re not saying(that will be) a bad shot — but you want to have less of those and that’s the shot spectrum.”
It would seem to run counter to the skills of all-star guard DeMar DeRozan, who is one of the best mid-range
shooters in the league.
“He’s never going to have zero non-paint twos, he’s one of the best in the history of the game but less of them and more in the paint, which he is working his butt off trying to do,” the coach said.
REMEMBERING DEFENCE: The need to implement a slightly altered offensive scheme has dominated time at training camp for the rosters but coach Dwane Casey hasn’t been ignoring the equally important other aspect of the game.
“We’ve put a lot of emphasis on the offensive end . . . not as many minutes in our practice schedule defensively but . . . we had some changes to make so we committed some more time to our offensive end,” he said.
“It’s not like our defence is broke. We had some good defensive possessions (Sunday against the Los Angeles Clippers) some physical plays that were good, we had some length plays with our long guys that were really good but my point is, we can’t forget about it.”