Stephen BrotherstonStephen Brotherston Email Print 0

The All-Star weekend events kicked off Friday with player interviews, the announcement of this year’s Basketball Hall of Fame Finalists, the BBVA All-Star Celebrity Game, and the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge and Youth Jam.  While these events would normally be the highlights, Friday quickly became the Melo-drama as rumors of imminent deals sending the Nuggets All-Star Carmelo Anthony to the Nets, or possibly the Knicks, became the topic of conservation at nearly every break in the action.

"I am ready for something to just happen," said Anthony to the assembled media during the All-Star player interviews on Friday.  

"As far as any agreement, I am sure that the Nuggets are talking with New Jersey, they are talking with the Knicks, a couple of days ago they were talking with the Lakers, last week it was Dallas.  I really don’t know where any of that is at.  I haven’t got any phone calls as of right now, nothing is imminent.

"I haven’t been presented with any deals by any teams."

Nothing Anthony said, or didn’t say, could slow down the interest in the most anticipated trade of this season.  He was the top story on Friday.

The other planned events did occur however and the NBA would have gotten the All-Star weekend off to a great start without Anthony’s help.

Basketball Hall of Fame Finalists

Before a panel of prestigious basketball representatives, the NBA’s Rick Kamla announced the 12 finalists to be considered for induction into the Hall and Chairman Jerry Colangelo described four new committees to give those previously overlooked a second chance at induction.

This year’s finalists included players, coaches and contributors from college and the professional ranks.

Teresa Edwards, a four-time Olympic Gold medal winner and four-time USA basketball female athlete of the year.

Coach Tara Vanderveer, the current head coach of Stanford has 793 wins, two NCAA national titles, Olympic Gold medal, and is a three-time national coach of the year.

Maurice Cheeks, the four-time All-Star and 1983 NBA champion.

Coach Herb Magee has 907 wins at Philadelphia University, 25 NCAA division II tournament appearances, and won a national title in 1970.

Coach Dick Motta has 1055 career wins at the high school, college, and NBA levels and was the NBA coach of the year in 1970 and won the NBA Championship with Washington in 1978.

Chris Mullin, a five-time NBA All-Star and two-time Olympic Gold medalist.

Referee Hank Nichols, long-time college referee and the NCAA National Coordinator of Men’s Basketball Officiating from 1986 to 2007.

Dennis Rodman, a five-time NBA champion and two-time NBA defensive player of the year.

Ralph Sampson, the great collegiate player and three-time NBA All-Star.

Jamaal Wilkes, a two-time NCAA champion, NBA rookie of the year, three-time NBA All-Star and four-time NBA champion.

Coach Tex Winter, a nine-time NBA champion with the Bulls and Lakers.

The finalists will be considered for acceptance into the Hall by a 24-member committee who will make their selections for induction later this year.

Four additional selections to the Hall will be made by new committees from African-American pioneers before the mid-50s, veterans, international, and the defunct American Basketball League.

BBVA All-Star Celebrity Game

This event may be all about letting some celebrities hang with some ex-NBA players and Hall-of-Famers but it quickly became the Justin Bieber show.  The pint-sized 16-year-old heart-throb made a couple of killer cross-over moves early in the contest and dished off for some wide-open shots and even an alley-oop while nailing a pair of three-balls with an awkward looking shot.  The kid with the great hair won the fan-voted MVP award in a landslide.

The game featured the basketball talents of Jalen Rose and Scottie Pippen who took care of most of the scoring and the freshly-announced Hall-of-Fame finalist Chris Mullin showed that he still knows how to knock down an open jumper.

Coaches Bill Walton and Magic Johnson added color and commentary to the event and were picked on together with other celebrities for the quarterly "green-screen" skits that were made up to be almost as big as the game itself.

East beat West 54-49 and no one seemed to care that the West’s Bieber kept commenting on his team’s victory as he accepted his MVP trophy.  Bieber was after all the big winner in this event.

Rookie-Sophomore Game

Before last year, the Rookies had faced an eight-year drought against the more experienced Sophomore teams, but with Friday’s 148-140 Rookie victory, the sophomores now find themselves losers of two in a row.