The Rotation: What We Can Learn From All-Star Weekend - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Tom Ziller.

It's easy to pass off All-Star Weekend as a meaningless midseason distraction if all you see is Terrell Owens dunking on Taylor Hicks. But if you're an NBA fan and you don't pay close attention to the weekend, you are not just skipping class. You're missing a cram session that supplies all the info you need about Shaq, Dwyane Wade, and others. Consider:

The ASW offers education from seeing players from teams never on national TV (hello, Rudy Gay!), and the events wrapped into the weekend tell us volumes about guys we think we already know. Nate Robinson's an easy example; before 2006's dunk contest, who knew the kid was not only extraordinarily fierce in competitive battle, but also an insufferable gnat with a Napoleon complex and a little too much mouth for a career back-up? In 2007 we learned Amare Stoudemire could survive without Steve Nash; in another year (or two), that lesson will be important to remember. We've learned Jason Kapono and Jason Richardson are each good for one thing, and one thing only.

Last year Dwight Howard went from "remember the name" to "Holy Lord!" before our eyes. All knew Howard would be something special; he was picked #1 out of high school, after all. But the speed of Howard's ascension ... this was not expected. Since Dwight plays for the Orlando Magic, his graduation from "potential" to "here!" could have gone unnoticed, if not for the dunk contest and All-Star Game.

Here's what we wrote after Dwight's 2007 ASW:

Howard destroyed the dunk competition with the craftiest missionary work since Brigham Young. He placed third but everyone talked about Howard's sticker shock, not Gerald Green's trophy. The smile on the sticker said it all - "I AM HERE."

The Magic, of course, petered out thereafter and Dwight got almost no attention during his brief visit to Postseason Land.

Fast-forward to this year, where Dwight's still an improbably off-the-radar MVP candidate. But Saturday night was a demonstration of what we've got here. Dwight wasn't -- and isn't -- just the best big man, or the cornerstone of choice, or the broad shoulder threatening for multiple titles. He is a STAR in the grandest definition. He absolutely owned All-Star Saturday, and (excepting the Birthday Cake) he's all anyone talked about Sunday morning.

Speaking of the Cake, we learned a lot about Gerald Green this weekend, too. Namely, that his motivation/innovation comes only in short bursts. One dunk? A year to plot your title defense and you bring out one dunk? The rush of air on that candle put Green in a position to take the trophy. Instead he offered green socks, the false Statue of Liberty, the standard thru-the-legs fare ... and that was it. And I have a feeling Green didn't even frost the cupcake himself; that thing had Rashad McCants written all over it.

Beyond the lessons on Dwight and Gerald, what else did we learn over the weekend?

Dwyane Wade has given up. A turnover during the skills challenge? Honestly, I do not blame Wade for his "wait 'til next year" approach to life right now. I feel that way at least twice a week, and I don't have to listen to Ricky Davis and Udonis Haslem debate the merits of John Updike's longer works every morning.

Daniel Gibson is real. If 11 made threes in 21 minutes followed by a close second-place in the shootout doesn't prove to you and Mike Brown that Gibson is the best backcourt choice to roll with LeBron James ... you and Mike Brown cannot be saved. The International House of Slightly Above-Average Big Men might mean loads for Cleveland's team defense; Gibson is the best Robin on offense, though.

Shaquille O'Neal is irrelevant. The only way Shaq could've helped the Suns this weekend is to take Eddie Johnson's jumpers for him. Are we really sitting here on a post-ASW Monday without one definitive "that's Shaq!" moment? The world as we knew it has ended.

Let's not slip into an inter-sport contest here, but do any other leagues cram this much import into their popularity-contest exhibitions? The homer derby is a yawn. The Pro Bowl is completely irrelevant. But the NBA's All-Star Weekend ... it's not just the black Super Bowl. It's the NBA's Super Bowl. It's no frivolity -- it's required viewing for any fan.





Mapping the NBA gives Excel spreadsheets some balls.

The simplest definition of an All-Star team is: a team composed entirely of stars. Boston, the Lakers ... the usual suspects. But here's a definition more descriptive and just as accurate: a team which executes many dunks and plays little defense. On that note, which current NBA team is most like an All-Star team?

How about New Jersey and Memphis?



The Lakers, Nuggets and (!!) 76ers dunk an awful lot -- more than nine points a game off the dunk for each. But they all sit above average on defense, hurting them in this completely contrived measure of All-Starredness.

So it's the Jason Kidd-led (until now) Nets and the Pau Gasol-led (until a few weeks ago) Grizzlies as your Everyday All-Stars. The complete opposite? Those thrilling San Antonio Spurs (they get two points off dunks per game, which is less than what LeBron gets) and the old-man Boston Celtics, which (outside of L.A.) is the closest thing to a "team composed entirely of stars." Can't wait for those Finals!