Is Carmelo an All Star?

By the numbers, yes. By the NBA Ethics board, probably not.

Carmelo was the man behind the sucker punch heard round the NBA (World). It seems a brawl makes major headlines in the NBA these days, while it's commonplace in the NHL. Therefore, Melo is considered the villain now. It makes you wonder if he will pick up where he left off when he returns to Denver before the All star selections. And if so, will coaches be forgiving enough to put him on the roster..Maybe not. Missing 15 games is basically 1/3 of the first half of his season. It's hard to justify him being put on the team when there are other players who may have played closer to 40, while Melo will have played under 25 games. He's leading the league in scoring along with teammate A.I., but you have to believe either his numbers or AI's will dip, maybe both.

Another interesting question; which Center will start in the West, which Centers will be voted on by the coaches? Yao Ming is now out for 8 weeks and says he doesn't expect to play in the big game in February. We all know there's a shortage of good quality centers in the NBA in general. I'm going to speculate that Amare gets his first all-star team start at the Center position, and quite possibly Brad Miller or even Erick Dampier makes it on by default.

You also have to figure a few Jazz players make the team..Most likely, Derron Williams and Carlos Boozer, who's on a tear this year..

Also interesting will be the East's lineup. Iverson will be absent for the first time in a long time, giving a starting spot to another guard in the East..will it be J-Kidd or someone else?

There's still time to cast votes, so head over to NBA.com and make sure you pick the players you believe deserve to represent your All-Star teams in February 07!