Last year Shaquille O’Neal took the All-Star Game pregame to a new level by putting on a white mask and joining the dance group JabbaWockeez to warm up his then-home crowd in Phoenix.
This year the last laughs might be a little more subtle and the basketball a little more intriguing thanks to a couple of first-time selections who will make O’Neal’s absence and comic relief an afterthought.
How about a player who could be regarded as O’Neal’s replacement, Zach Randolph, who will make the first All-Star appearance of his nine-year career?
This is the same Randolph who has been traded three times in the last three years. The same Randolph who became an Internet phenomenon after an infamous possession with the Knicks in which he mishandled a dribble behind his back only to recover and launch an air-ball on a 3-point attempt that left then-New York coach Isiah Thomas looking to the rafters for divine intervention.
Then there’s Gerald Wallace, who was seldom used his first three years in Sacramento but has emerged as a dynamic showstopper and the NBA’s best rebounder under 6-foot-10 in Charlotte. He also was among the 27 players named to the U.S. national team this week.
Add to that the quartet of Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo and Deron Williams — all of whom will probably be All-Star starters before their careers are through — and Sunday just might be worth watching past the introductions.
