NBA All-Star Game 2012: League Must Ignore Love's Advice to Make Game Count

According to AP writer, Jon Krawczynski, the Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star forward, Kevin Love thinks the NBA should follow the MLB's lead and make the All-Star Game count for something. 

Kevin Love should stick to playing. He's a great player, and I love me some Love, but I hate the idea of making the All-Star Game like the MLB version. 

First, it's an exhibition. By definition it's there as an exhibition. It's not there to mean something. There's no reason to make it mean anything. It should do one thing—exhibit the talents of those who are playing. 

The moment you start making it "count for something" it becomes meaningful. The players start playing defense. They start challenging shots harder, committing fouls and playing like it's meaningful. 

That enhances the risk of injury. You have a multitude of players that are playing injured right now. Kobe Bryant is playing with a torn ligament in his wrist. Luol Deng is doing the same. Derrick Rose is having back problems and dealing with turf toe. 

The last thing this game needs is meaning. The moment it starts having meaning, that's the moment that players stop participating. Do you think Tom Thibodeau is going to want Derrick Rose and Luol Deng to be risking injury playing in the All-Star Game?

The first reason you don't want the All-Star Game to count for something is that it exists to exhibit stars, and if the stars aren't going, it ceases to be an All-Star Game—it becomes an Almost-Star Game. 

The second reason is that if it counts for something, then eventually you have to honor what it counts for. There were a lot of complaints this year that the St. Louis Cardinals, who sporting a worse record than the Texas Rangers, were hosting the World Series. 

What happens when we get to an NBA Finals and the team that worked all season to secure that home-court advantage loses it because a player from another team turned the ball over during the All-Star Game? Why should the Miami Heat be pinning their hopes to what Carmelo Anthony does in the All-Star Game?

The All-Star Game isn't actually broken. It does a wonderful job of showing off some of the talents of the NBA's best players in a fun game where the players can simply let loose and forget about defense for a while. Leave it fun. Don't make it meaningful. That's what would ruin it.