By Brendan Lynch

A recent editorial on these pages suggested that the fans vote onto the all-star team those players they decide are the most fun to watch. I disagree. The most qualified guys should always play, regardless of popularity, position, or chances to win the game. More to the point, the fans don't seem to need anybody to tell them who to vote for; they're fully prepared to send whole lot of weird choices to Atlanta on their own. Year in and year out, there are always a few dubious starters voted on to the teams by the fans.

Yesterday the NBA released the 1st round of vote totals, and so far, only 2 of them make absolutely no sense. If the Game were to be held today, the east starters would be Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady, Ben Wallace, Vince Carter and Grant Hill. Two of these kids don't belong, can you tell who? Carter's only played in 10 games this year, and not all that well. He's averaging 19.2 ppg, 2.6 apg, and 3.7 rpg. Grant Hill is having a better year, especially just because his foot hasn't fallen off yet, but he misses a game here and there just in case, and he's averaging just 15.7ppg, 7.5rpg and 4.6 apg. I would like to meet the fan that decided, with a straight face, that either of these guys were having a better season than Antoine Walker, Paul Pierce, Jermaine O'Neal, Ron Artest, Glenn Robinson, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Jason Kidd, Eddie Jones, Sam Cassell, Jalen Rose or Ricky Davis. Even Tony Delk is having a better year than either Carter or Hill. It's tricky getting every guy who deserves it on the roster, but there should at least be some logic involved. I'm surprised Michael Jordan isn't starting. It's all well and good to let the fans vote, but more often than not, the coaches' picks serve to correct the fans' mistakes.

As for voting on the fun guys, that's what the Dunk and the 3-Point contest are for. Jason Williams can make his all-star debut when he starts to play D and cuts down on the turnovers. Plus, Antoine Walker is just as willing to throw the ball behind his back into the stands as White Chocolate, trust me. Antoine is little else if not exciting. My heart almost stops just about every time he does anything.

Lastly, who cares who wins? The game is totally meaningless. The coaches often pick undeserving players because they need a guy at a certain position, usually center. This is the kind of thing that leads to guys like Dikembe Mutombo and David Robinson taking up space. The best players in the east right now happen to be swingmen, and if they put 12 deserving shooting guard/small forwards on the team, that would be fine by me. Just please, no Mr. Robinson, no Dikembe. I'll take the 12 best guys from each conference in a well-played game, thanks.

The All-Star game should be a happy medium between fun and player accomplishment. I want to see a lot of dunks and fancy passes too, but not if it means putting Jason Williams and Vince Carter in the starting lineup. We can save that for Pierce and Antoine.

Brendan Lynch is a frequent contributor to InsideHoops.com.