Ray Allen Gets Nelson's All-Star Spot

When Jameer Nelson was discovered to have a torn labrum that would require season-ending surgery, it opened up a spot on the Eastern Conference All-Star team. Nelson was one of three Orlando Magic players that were initially selected to the squad, and the fact that Orlando had more players named than any other team in the East annoyed some members of the Celtics and the Cavliers.

At this point, only LeBron James can continue to be upset, because David Stern has officially named Ray Allen as Nelson's All-Star replacement.

Despite my personal feelings that there doesn't need to be any more than two players from a single team represented in the All-Star game, it's hard to argue that Allen doesn't deserve to be there. He's averaging 18 points per game, while shooting almost 50 percent from the field, and (oh yeah) he's been clutch as well.

So, what about LeBron's continuous complaining that by sending only one Cavalier to the All-Star game, his team is somehow being disrespected? Nonsense.

We all saw LeBron's box score Wednesday night, but did anyone look over to see what Mo Williams (the team's other alleged All-Star hopeful) did against the porous Knicks defense? Try nine points, on 3-of-12 shooting, in 37 minutes, when the entire arena was focused on Lebron James. Not exactly an All-Star performance.

Allen was named as an injury replacement last season too, and ended up scoring 28 points for the East off the bench. It's easy to forget that Allen used to be the number one guy for whatever team he was on, and now he's basically the third option on this incarnation of the Celtics.

This is a well-deserved nod for Allen -- if LeBron and Mo Williams are so upset about it, I'm sure they'll have the opportunity come playoff time to show the world that their Cavs should have been a little bit better-represented in Phoenix.