Reader comments
Traffic jam at NBA's guard position

Byron Scott can't "pick" anyone for his team. Coaches aren't allowed to vote for their own players.

Byron Scott, as with all coaches, could not nominate his own players on his All-Star ballot. Chris Paul and David West were awarded their berths according to the votes of the NBA's 29 other coaches.

Jerry Stackhouse??? 9.8 ppg, 38% fg pct Jerry Stackhouse?????

Brad, I can't believe you mentioned Jerry Stackhouse in the article. He is way past his prime my friend. There are plenty of guards that are better than him in the West....try Monta Ellis or Leandro Barbosa. But Stackhouse, come on, you just ruined your cred.

Those other gaurds mentioned are not point gaurds.

I think there is another reason why Williams seems to get passed over especially by Chris Paul. All the wise people at ESPN and other sports programs insisted that the Jazz should have drafted Chris Paul over Williams.

Chris is a great player. Williams is better. Much better. But the Stephan A. Smith's of the world don't want to admit they were wrong even when Williams runs all over Chris.

I think another issue is that Williams does exactly what a point guard is supposed to do and that is engineer plays so someone can get an open shot even if it isn't him. That doesn't always show up in stat sheets.

I don't often agree with you Brad Rock, but I do on this one. Guess in some areas (instances) our values aren't that far apart.

What a joke on how they choose the players. Portland sent ipods to all the coaches and media around the league for Roy. Timing is everything to. When people are looking to vote and coaches were looking at players the Jazz were not even in the playoff race and were verily over 500. Also media chooses who they like and who they pay attention to. Deron deserves to be there just as much if not more than some that are there.

Brad....Jerry Stackhouse? Are you kidding me? Your credability just went out the window. Do you not follow the NBA at all? I can think of 3 guards off the top of my head that should have been on that list. Monta Ellis, Leandro Barbosa and Devin Harris. You could put our own Ronnie Brewer ahead of Stackhouse along with Raja Bell and guys like Derek Fisher and Sam Cassell.

WOW!!!! Jerry Stackhouse.

Put Kevin Martin and Mike Bibby ahead of that bum Stackhouse as well.

Ok, so calling the numbers between Roy and Williams 'about the same' is a little off. They're off by less than half a point in scoring, a little over one reboug, equal in steals, but Williams has almost double the assists. Last I checked, point guards were supposed to rack up the dimes, right? All other things being equal, how do you compare the two? And with Deron being the on court general of a team with FIVE more wins? I can see arguments for Baron, but Roy getting in ahead of Deron is just ridiculous. Almost as bad as west getting in!

Yo Rock, Byron Scott didn't pick two of his own. Coaches can't vote for their own. Thought you've been around for a while.

Rock you gone crazy!!!!

I don't think he was reffering to just point guards. Roy is a 2 guard not a point same with Manu. The point is that the west is plain loaded with guards.

"As good as Williams is, which guard would you kick off the Western Conference team to make room?"

That's easy, Brandon Roy. Deron's stats are better and his team is 5-1/2 games ahead of Roy's.

All of those other small markets you listed are much bigger than Salt Lake. Just because they are in the same category (small market) does not make them equal in size and population. Deron will always have a tough time getting voted in by the fans. His only hope each year is the coaches voting. Deron would have made it but when the voting was being done the Jazz were struggling and were on track to miss the playoffs.

Roy just bought his way in with ipods. That combined with Portland's easy early schedule is what got Roy in.

Roy made it because when the voting started, Portland was a on rediculous winning streak (thanks, in large part, to their light schedule). Roy is almost the entire team in Portland - unlike Williams, who is a brutally efficient piece of a larger picture, which is why the Blazers are hanging on for dear play-off life and Utah is steadily becoming one of the stronger teams in a top-heavy conference. Utah has a better TEAM than most, which is why they typically do better in the standings and playoffs than placing people on the All-Star team.

Hey guys- I'm as huge a Jazz fan as anyone. But 1) at the time of the voting Portland had a better record than Utah and DWill had not started his streak of double double games. 2) I like DWill better than Chris Paul, I think DWill is a better player for our system but I don't think anyone can argue that Paul is having a better year. I mean New Orleans is #1 in the conference and Chris Paul's stats are unbefreakinleaveable. 3) Even if Roy didn't make it what's to say DWill makes it over Baron Davis? Baron Davis has similar stats, maybe even better stats, and his team is 12 games over 500 and has no allstar while the Jazz already have boozer. I love Dwill, but I don't think he's an allstar this year based on the first half of the season.

You can't claim that Deron isn't missing out because he's in a small market when he doesn't even finish in the top ten of point guards in the fan voting. You telling me that there's ten guards who are better than Deron? That's just ridiculous. Just like saying that being in a small market doesn't effect his chances. Players who would definitely make it don't suffer in small markets (like Duncan), but players who are in the 'probably should've been there' category usually stay there. Yeah, Malone and Stockton made it a ton, they're also among the top 50 players of all time.