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The fan voting may be over, but there is still plenty of campaigning left to do.

The reserves for the All-Star game will be announced Thursday, which means teams don't have long to push for players they think should be chosen. Washington will make its case for Caron Butler, Denver will remind people that Carmelo Anthony's good should outweigh the bad and the Phoenix Suns can boast of how many of them should be in Las Vegas.

"All 13 of us," forward Shawn Marion said. "The whole team should be there."

That's a bit much, but Mike D'Antoni thinks his club should have a strong presence on the Western Conference team that he will coach.

"We have three All-Stars on this team. There's no doubt about it, and they all should be there," he said. "How Steve Nash and Shawn don't get in with the fan vote, that's still a mystery. But Amare (Stoudemire), Shawn and Steve, they've played about as well as anybody."

The coaches in each conference will vote for seven players, and can't pick their own. They must select two forwards, two guards, a center and two players regardless of their position.

Picking only seven in the powerful West isn't easy. Anthony has never made the All-Star game, but he's leading the league in scoring, and the Nuggets think that's more than good enough to give him a spot despite his recent 15-game suspension for fighting ...

Kobe Bryant doesn't necessarily have Byron Scott's endorsement for MVP yet, but the New Orleans Hornets coach thinks his former teammate should at least be considered on an even footing with other leading candidates.

"The thing that's crazy right now is he's probably playing better than he's ever played and nobody's talking about him as the MVP. Nobody," said Scott, who played his final season with the Lakers in 1996-97, Bryant's rookie year.

"I know Steve Nash is having another unbelievable season, and rightfully so should be probably the leading candidate again. Dirk Nowitzki should be up there. But there's no doubt in my mind that Kobe Bryant should be mentioned in that category."

Scott said he thinks Bryant has taken on some of Nash's characteristics this season, namely leadership and better communication. But he can still be an explosive scorer, too.