5 NBA Players That Could Give 2012 All-Star Starters a Run for Their Money

The starting lineups for the 2012 NBA All-Star game are full of stars.  In the West you have Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and Andrew Bynum.  The East is loaded as well. Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard can be put up against the best in the world, just like their Western counterparts.

The star power in the NBA doesn't end with the aforementioned starting 10.

Following is a list of guys that I would put up against any five in the world.  Some players are on the All-Star team as reserves and one or two may not be, Regardless of their All-Star status, my team can ball with the best.

Rajon Rondo at the 1

"Rajon Rondo is good, but he can't shoot worth a darn."  This is usually what I hear when I ask a fan their opinion on Rondo.

The fans are right. He's not a great shooter, but he's working on it though. And the guy can score, that's for sure.  Don't let his 10.9 career points per game average fool you.

Rondo scores when he has to, and earlier in his career he had a younger "Big Three" who took care of that for him.  He just had to be Rondo.  Who is Rondo, you ask? Rondo leads the transition game like a maestro.  Rondo penetrates at will and dishes if he has to.  If not, he takes it to the hole himself.

Rondo is a tenacious defender who is always under foot, creating turnovers and basically getting under the skin of any player he defends.

Rondo plays at 150 miles per hour from buzzer to buzzer.

Rondo will come up with key rebounds at crucial times.

What about the scoring?  Just look at his last two games against the Chicago Bulls and the Detroit Pistons. He scored 32 and 35 points respectively. Against the Bulls he was the total Rondo package with a triple-double, putting up 15 assists and 10 boards to go with his 35.

As far as top point guards around the league, he's not the sexiest pick if your starting a team, but he would be the smart pick.

Give him the ball, he won't make a fool out of you.

Stephen Curry at the 2

My heart says Ray Allen, but my head says let the kid from Davidson have a shot.

Their is nothing I don't like about this kid.  He plays with Monta Ellis who can be a black hole at times, so his numbers are not going to be gaudy.

Technically, Curry is a point guard. With a shooter on the team like Ellis, this a good spot for him due to his ball handling skills.

Put this guy on a team with a pure point guard and he could be a Ray Allen type player.  Curry set a record for most three-pointers made as a rookie with 166.  Sounds like Ray Allen to me.

On my squad he's a shooter that will spell Rajon Rondo when necessary.

Danny Granger at the 3

Not even on the 2012 All-Star roster, Danny Granger has turned into an elite small forward.

Luol Deng, Paul Pierce and Andre Iguodala made the 2012 squad and all are worthy. But Granger is no joke and you lose nothing if he replaces any of the these guys.

Granger plays in Indiana so he gets overlooked, but Coach Frank Vogel has done a nice job with the club making No. 33 more visible to fans.

Kevin Durant and LeBron James still rank supreme at the 3, but I have no problem running this guy out against them.

Kevin Love at the 4 or 5

The big question is: who would you take as your starting power forward?  Your choices are Kevin Love and Blake Griffin.

You can't go wrong with either.  Blake is a human highlight reel and the more polarizing figure. Griffin's 21. 2 points per game and 11.0 boards per game are certainly worthy of a starting nod on the Western Conference All-Star team.

I choose Love—Kevin Love that is.  The big man from UCLA has burst onto the scene in the last two years, and not unlike Blake, he is a double-double machine. 

Love is putting in over 25 points a game and pulling down 14 boards a game.

One can make the argument that Griffin has more scorers around him and doesn't have to carry the load himself.

Make that argument all you want, a near 25 and 15 guy is grounds for being an MVP, I don't care how you break it down.

Both men bring it every night, but I "Love" my guy!

Pau Gasol at the 4 or 5

Pau's brother Marc might be the sexier pick after his monster postseason.

Pau's 2010-2011 postseason had fans scratching their collective heads, but you can't use last years meltdown against as a larger sample size of just how good this guy is.

He is starting to play like a man possessed lately. He didn't start strong, but he had to deal with the fact that the Lakers had all but written off the bearded Spaniard.

He has now made his peace with the trade that was blocked and will be a handful for any opponent for the rest of the NBA's shortened season.