In honor of the NBA’s All-Star Weekend, this week’s edition of Stat’s All Folks will turn into Stat’s All-Star Folks where I’ll hand out All-Star berths for the six main cumulative categories in fantasy basketball.  I’ll cite the category leader as the starter and a value choice as a reserve.  This value choice will be a player that I think has exceeded his expectations before the season started and/or will come on strong after the break. 

Sarge, you’re welcome for the pic… everyone else, you’re welcome too.  Just like the shots during the Three-Point Shootout, let’s get poppin’. 

POINTS

Starter – Carmelo Anthony, SF, Denver Nuggets (30.7 ppg)
Unfortunately for Melo, he is known for the quickest backpedal after the cheapest shot just as much as he is for leading the League in scoring.  However, he’s a consistent scorer and has been, even with Allen Iverson on the team.  I’d expect him to continue being one of the top scorers when it’s all said and done.

Reserve – Kobe Bryant, SG, Los Angeles Lakers (28.8 ppg)
Gilbert Arenas and Dwyane Wade are averaging as many points as Kobe, but they’ve either been inconsistent with dips from month-to-month and/or have injured teammates that are pretty good scorers themselves on their way back.  So, the choice here is the Black Mamba whose scoring average has been level for the whole season thus far and just like last year, KB81 can go off post-break.  Maybe not 81 points again, but you never know.

ASSISTS

Starter – Steve Nash, PG, Phoenix Suns (11.8 apg)
Nash is averaging a career-high in dime drops this season and all-around is putting up better statistics than he did in the previous two years when he won two consecutive MVP awards.  It’s looking like he’ll be taking that picture with NBA Commissioner David Stern and hoisting that hardware again at the end of this season and one of the main reasons is his ability to find the open man.

Reserve – Deron Williams, PG, Utah Jazz (9.2 apg)
Williams has obviously improved from his rookie campaign last season and has a firm grasp on the offense, thanks to spending the offseason with none other than John Stockton, Hall of Fame Jazz point guard.  In 16 games last month, Williams averaged 10.0 assists and in five games thus far in February is averaging 10.8 dime drops.  The torch has been passed.

REBOUNDS

Starter – Kevin Garnett, SF/PF, Minnesota Timberwolves (12.6 rpg)
The Big Ticket has had big hands thus far this season and is grabbing mucho boards.  Check the trend from month-to-month from the start of the season – 11.9 (Nov), 12.4 (Dec), 12.8 (Jan), 13.9 (Feb).  Yeah, that’s an upward trend with zero decline… yeah, that KG is pretty good.

Reserve – Tyson Chandler, C, New Orleans Hornets (12.2 rpg)
As good as Garnett has been on the glass, Chandler has been the hottest thing lately sweeping missed shots.  In eight games thus far in February, Chandler has been grabbing 16.9 rebounds per game and don’t think that month alone has padded his stats as he averaged 11.9 in November, 10.3 in December, and 11.7 in January.  Thus far he’s been worth the multi-year contract he signed as a free agent during the offseason and an even better value for fantasy players.

THREE-POINTERS

Starter – Ray Allen, SG, Seattle SuperSonics (3.0 3pg)
Well, Allen is at it again.  After averaging a career-high 3.5 trey makes last season and setting an NBA record for three-pointers made (269) in a season, Allen is hitting three triples per contest.  I don’t expect this to change as he’s been taking an average of 8.9 three-point attempts in the past two months.  Can you say “three happy”?  And I’m not even talking about Allen.  I’m talking about his fantasy owners.

Reserve – Mike Miller, SG/SF, Memphis Grizzlies (2.9 3pg)
Right behind Allen is Mike Miller, who is actually tied with Agent Zero, Mr. Arenas, but the Grizzlies are faltering, their star player Pau Gasol is strongly rumored to be traded, and basically things are out of control down in Memphis.  But, in the chaos of it all, Miller has been consistently strong and should continue to do so, even if the Grizz add more perimeter players IF Gasol gets traded.  Just like Nash’s shoulder, the shots will be jacked up.

STEALS

Starter – Ron Artest, SF, Sacramento Kings (2.2 spg)
Caron Butler and Shawn Marion are averaging the same amount of rock rips, but they’re “real” All-Stars and Ron Ron isn’t, so I’ll give him his props.  But, seriously, Artest has always been one of the premier ball thieves in the League and could very well end up being the leader when it’s all said and done.  But, he’ll get some hard competition from the aforementioned “real” All-Stars and…

Reserve – Chris Paul, PG, New Orleans Hornets (1.9 spg)
Remember him?  Last season, CP3 led the league in total steals, but won’t get a chance to do that again since he missed a month of the season and just recently returned to the hardwood.  But, now that he’s back, he’s been averaging 2.1 steals per game and should work himself back up the steal category ladder.  But, on top of that, expect Paul to get back to being worth that late first/early second you spent on him because the Hornets are making a real push for the playoffs and that just sounds crazy to me.  Did I just say that?

BLOCKS

Starters – Marcus Camby, C, Denver Nuggets (3.0 bpg) and Jermaine O’Neal, PF/C, Indiana Pacers (3.0 bpg)
Okay,  I just couldn’t choose and I didn’t want to do a “real” All-Star versus fantasy All-Star like I just did above with the steals category.  So, I’m talking both the Camby Man and JON.  Just deal.  Both have been monsters down in the block and rejecting shots like a kid afraid of the doctor.  Camby has, for the most part, been healthy and that’s always a good thing to hear if you’re a Camby owner as his health is the only thing that stops him from being an early round draft pick.  O’Neal is arguably a Top 3 center and he seems pretty angry with the state of affairs in Indy and as long as he continues to take it out on the ball, fantasy owners will benefit.

Reserve – Samuel Dalembert, C, Philadelphia 76ers
I considered Emeka Okafor because he’s been healthy and performing, but I’m afraid he might get injured.  Sorry, Emeka, you’re considered injury-prone in my book. So, I’m going with Dalembert who was probably drafted in the mid-rounds of drafts and has seen his block trend moving up from month-to-month and in the past two months, he’s rejecting at a rate of 2.5 per game.  Also trending upwards are Dalembert’s minutes per game as he’s found his personal fouls per game dropping from 4.4 in November to 2.7 in February.  More burn on the floor equals more potential blocks!

Next week, we get back to the old format and not only look at those who’ve been steadily performing in the black, but also those players that have been declining and playing in the red.  Enjoy All-Star weekend and I’ll catch you all on the rebound.  Unless you’re Tyson Chandler, in which case, it’s all yours.