In the Rotation: NBA All-Star Weekend

NBA All-Star Weekend is an unofficial holiday for NBA junkies like me. In fact, it took precedence over an actual holiday this year, as I, like so many fans around the country, bypassed the first of many of the year's Hallmark Holidays (Valentine's Day) to stay at home and watch NBA All-Star Saturday.

Who needs chocolate or lingerie to celebrate Valentine's Day when you've got seven straight hours of Ernie Johnson, Jr. and Kenny "the Jet" Smith?

If you've been following In the Rotation this season, you've noticed that the format is basically the same. There will always be a Starting Five, usually recapping the top five stories of the previous week from around the NBA, something that makes the rotation, and something that doesn't.

Next week we'll get back down to business, but this week was All-Star Weekend. Normal NBA rules do not apply.

The problem with the usual In the Rotation approach is that All-Star Weekend is such a crapshoot. You never know from one year to the next what events are going to be the most fun to watch.

So instead of the usual Starting Five, in this week's very special edition of In the Rotation, we take a look back at all the events from the NBA's biggest weekend to determine if the 2009 version of each competition had what it takes to make the rotation.

The Rookie Game: In the Rotation

Really, it should have been called "The Kevin Durant Show featuring appearances by 17 other players." Durant was that good.

You could see from the very beginning that Durant came to play, and that he was going to do something special by the time it was all said and done.

What he did was shatter the Rookie Game scoring record with an unbelievable 46 points on 17-of-25 from the field.

He was just absolutely head and shoulders above the rest of the Rookies and Sophomores out on the floor. No one else from that group is even close to being on his level, and he proved it by completely controlling the game for the entire 30 minutes that he was out there.

Durant's performance should come as no surprise to anyone who's been following him this season; he's been playing out of his mind lately. Unfortunately, it's for a Thunder team that is slowly but surely coming around, but nonetheless remains one of the worst teams in the league. It's because of his team's record, and only that reason, that Durant isn't getting any publicity for the year he is having.

After putting on such a show in the Rookie Game, then winning the H-O-R-S-E challenge the following afternoon, Durant may have finally put himself on the national radar. His team may not win any more games because of it, but February 13th, 2009 officially marked the last day that Kevin Durant was able to fly under the radar in what is shaping up to be a potentially magnificent NBA career.

H-O-R-S-E: In the Rotation

All in all, the NBA's first attempt at a H-O-R-S-E challenge during All-Star Weekend was pretty good. My biggest fear going into the event was that it wouldn't make for very good TV if the players missed a bunch of shots and it just dragged on with no one in danger of getting a letter.

Of course, that is exactly how the competition started. The slow start was probably a combination of the fact that the players were cold, and the fact that the sun made it about impossible to shoot from the left side of the court for the first half of the competition.

Once the players settled in, though, things got pretty entertaining. O.J. Mayo nailing the shot from the crowd was pretty cool, and after that, the players started to loosen up a bit and had some fun with it.

The main problem is that there wasn't enough personality in the game. There was no trash talk, no side bets, and no real sense of one-upmanship. All three guys were just out there taking shots.

Kevin Durant eventually won the competition because he got crazy hot, but aside from a few little one-liners after a made basket, he was pretty reserved the whole time.

Putting rising stars in the game was a good idea on the surface, but in hindsight, trash-talking old vets like Eddie House would have made the event about five times more enjoyable.

Still, I liked the idea, I like the potential of the event moving forward, and I think there's at least a few more years left to tinker with the event before it needs to be scrapped.

Shooting Stars Competition: Out of the Rotation

It's out-of-shape old players and WNBA players at the same time. I'll pass.

Skills Competition: Out of the Rotation

Slow and steady wins the race, but it also makes for boring television. Watching the fastest players in the game go half-speed through some basketball camp drills probably isn't what the NBA envisioned this event would turn into when it started back in 2003, but that's exactly what's happened.

Somehow over the years, the competition has basically become a contest to see who can nail an 18-foot jumper in the fewest amount of tries. Derrick Rose's first place-winning 35-second trot through the course hopefully signaled the beginning of the end of this event.

Next year, either the course will be altered, or the event will be done away with entirely, but I can't see the league starting off All-Star Saturday with back-to-back surefire snoozers again like they did this year.

Three-Point Shootout: Out of the Rotation

The Three-Point Shootout was by far the most disappointing event of the weekend. Usually, the Shootout is the unsung hero of All-Star Saturday. Everyone wants to talk about the Dunk Contest, but the Three-Point Shootout almost always delivers some good action.

Not this year. There wasn't a single player that got hot. I couldn't find the exact totals from previous Three-Point Shootouts, but I'd be willing to bet that this is first time in history that no player, in any round, scored at least 20 points.

There's nothing wrong with the competition itself, just an off year really, but it got me thinking: will we ever see another world-class shooter in the NBA?

Think about it, in the last six to eight years, who's the best shooter to come into the league?

I'm wondering whether we'll ever see another Reggie Miller or Ray Allen come along. I'm talking about a guy that has the potential to have 10 to 12 straight seasons where he consistently hits close to 200 three-pointers a year.

Since 2000, the league leader in three point field goals made has had at least 200 in each season. In that span, the only five players have made at least 150 in three consecutive seasons: Ray Allen, Gilbert Arenas, Steve Nash, Raja Bell, and Antoine Walker. There were more than twice as many players who did it in the '90s.

We've had plenty of guys come into the league in recent years that have a chance to just completely rewrite the NBA record books, yet we haven't had a single marksman enter the NBA. With the draft focusing more and more on guys who are freakishly athletic with lots of potential, it's possible that once Ray Allen passes Reggie Miller for the most three-pointers made in NBA history, it's a record that could stand for a very long time.

Dunk Contest: In the Rotation

Begrudgingly, I'll put this year's dunk contest In the Rotation. Looking back, Dwight Howard's theatrics before his 12-foot dunk were pretty annoyingly over-the-top, but I admit he had me on the edge of my seat in anticipation.

That's what the dunk contest is all about. The dunker should have the "how'd-he-do-dats?" (It's what magicians call the audience) on the edge of their seats. Howard changing in the phonebooth and Nate Robinson emerging from the locker room in his "Krypton-Nate" outfit certainly created an aura of anticipation, even if the dunks themselves couldn't match the buildup.

(This is the point where I unnecessarily stir the pot with a conspiracy theory. I think that Howard had more dunks planned on the high rim, but David Stern (who I'm sure had to approve of using the higher rim in the first place) had a change of heart once he actually saw the rim and the real danger that Howard could hurt himself if he missed a dunk and fell, a la Clyde Drexler.

Stern knew it was too late to put the kibosh on the dunk once Howard started going through all his pomp and circumstance, but quickly got on his corded telephone (I didn't realize they still made those, by the way) and passed word along that they were to take the high rim away as soon as the dunk was over.

Howard, having planned on using the 12-foot (or higher) rim in the finals, had to quickly think of new dunks to do for the finals, froze up, and pulled out the tired old "free throw line dunk" as a last resort.)

It might not go down in history as one of the all-time great dunk contests, but while it was happening, it was mildly entertaining. For an event that went from must-see to can't-watch in a span of about five years, a classic Dunk Contest (last year) followed up by a mildly entertaining one (this year) is enough to keep me coming back.

The 58th NBA All-star Game: In the Rotation

The most important thing you have to ask yourself about an All-Star Weekend is, "was there something that happened that we will remember 10 years from now?"

We'll always remember the dunk contest in Chicago in '88. We'll remember Magic Johnson's "Going Away Party" in Orlando in '91. Who could forget Kobe Bryant winning the MVP in Philly in '02 and being booed or Michael Jordan hitting what should have been the game-winner in his last All-Star Game in Atlanta in '03? Last year, we had Dwight Howard as Superman in New Orleans, an image and a dunk that will be remembered as one of the best moments in All-Star Weekend history.

The question is: what, if anything, will All-Star Weekend '09 be remembered for?

I think that as time goes by, this year will be remembered as Shaq's last All-Star Game. From his "Big Jabbawakee" introduction, to being named co-MVP with Kobe, Shaq's giant fingerprints were all over this game.

Coming into the game, all I wanted was for the game to be close in the fourth quarter so that Kobe and LeBron would go at each other with everything they had for the last six minutes to prove who really is the best player in the world right now. Instead, we got the third biggest blowout in NBA All-Star Game history. So much for that.

Nonetheless, we had two of the greatest players in league history, five years removed from the messiest divorce is league history, joining forces and writing (hopefully) the final chapter in the bizarre but fascinating story of their careers together.

I would have preferred this weekend to be remembered as the "Kobe vs. LeBron in the Fourth Quarter Game", but I'll gladly settle for some closure on the seemingly never-ending Shaq and Kobe saga.

Both of these players should be remembered for their countless accomplishments on the court during their respective Hall of Fame careers. Ten years from now, the fact that Shaq and Kobe were willing and able put aside years of tension and put on one final show at the All-Star Game could help these two players get remembered for what they were on the court, the best 1-2 punch in the history of the league, and not the participants of the ugliest feud in NBA history.

That's how I'll choose to remember the 2009 All-Star Weekend. And if Shaq's smart, he'll stop freestyle rapping about Kobe in the offseason, and everyone else will remember it that way, too.

Be sure to check back at Sports Central every Monday to see who cracks Scott Shepherd's rotation as he breaks down what is going on around the NBA.