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by Mike Ball
--raptors.commentator
January 17, 2005

A month ago, you'd accuse me of being a delusional homer looking at the Raptors through rose-coloured glasses.

However today, when I tell you that a certain 20-year old, plying his trade in the paint for the Toronto Raptors deserves to be an NBA All-Star this season and be the first Raptor not named Vince Carter to represent the Toronto squad at the All-Star game since Antonio Davis was named to the team by the coaches in 2001, you’d have a tough time disagreeing.

Chris Bosh has no chance of getting on the floor as a starter. All-Star starting lineups are chosen by the fans. Because he is listed as a centre on the 2005 Ballot, in all probability, a certain pivot on the Miami Heat and a very popular rebounder with very large hair in Detroit will both finish well ahead of him in voting.

Chris Bosh's learning curve just keeps accelerating. (NBAE/Getty Images)

If I’m the Eastern Conference All-Star’s head coach however, I’m looking for Bosh to be my third option at the power forward/centre spot after Shaq and Big Ben.

The reserves on both the East and West are selected by coaches in their respective conference. Seven players each from the Eastern and Western Conferences are chosen by a vote of the 30 NBA head coaches. The coaches are asked to vote for seven players in their respective conferences -- two guards, two forwards, one centre and two players regardless of position. They are also not permitted to vote for players from their own team.

So how are Bosh’s chance’s you ask?

Have a look at this season’s ballot and you’ll have a tough time finding power forwards in the East more deserving than Bosh. The names that jump out at you in this category are Jermaine O’Neal (a lock to make All-Star), Rasheed Wallace (13.6 ppg, 7.7 rpg), Dwight Howard and Emeka Okafor.

No question Jermaine O’Neal will make the team, but nothing I’ve seen from Rasheed Wallace this season tells me he’s heading to the mid-season classic, and although both Howard and Okafor might be as deserving as Bosh, history tells us that rookies not named Kobe Bryant don’t make the All-Star game and that will hold true again with these two.

In the centre category for the Eastern Conference, the competition gets even thinner.

Beyond Shaquille O’Neal and Ben Wallace, there’s really no one who can claim to be more deserving than Bosh. Zydrundas Ilgauskas may have a case, but this is an All-Star game. Would you rather see Bosh throw down a tomahawk jam or Ilgauskas lay it in softly off the glass? I'm all for fundamentals, but come on this is All-Star Weekend man!

There is another centre on the ballot named Alonzo Mourning, but we’re not going to touch that issue today.

Bosh’s All-Star Competition Antawn Jamison | Tayshaun Prince Steve Francis | Stephon Marbury Chauncey Billups | Reggie Miller Richard Hamilton | Drew Gooden

Last season, the Eastern Conference started Jermaine O’Neal and Ben Wallace in the paint. This season, in all likelihood, the O’Neal starting will be Shaq with Big Ben and Jermaine coming off the bench. The reserve big men in 2004 were Kenyon Martin and Jamaal Magloire – both of whom find themselves in the Western Conference this year.

Oh, and I think one more spot may have been opened up by Ron Artest, who won't be able to make it this year.

So the way I paint it, there’s simply no way the coach’s couldn’t name Bosh to the team is there? Well, if you ask me I say – Hell no! But I’m just a little partial.

As of last Thursday’s voting returns, it looks like the East’s starting lineup will look something like this; Shaquille O’Neal (C), Grant Hill (F), Vince Carter (F), LeBron James (G), Allen Iverson (PG).

Chris Webber learned the hard way that it isn't easy to stay with Chris Bosh when he puts it on the floor. (Ron Turenne/NBAE/Getty Images)

After those five, there are seven more spots to fill, but still a few can’t-miss all-stars including Jermaine O’Neal, Jason Kidd, Ben Wallace, Paul Pierce and Dwyane Wade. They should all make the team so that only leaves two spots left.

Who’s fighting for those spots you ask? Bosh, Antawn Jamison, Tayshaun Prince, Steve Francis, Reggie Miller, Chauncey Billups, Stephon Marbury, Richard Hamilton and Drew Gooden all have a case to plead.

But if I’m a coach do I want a Stephon Marbury when I have a similar player in Allen Iverson? Do I need Jamison or Prince when I have Hill and Carter? And finally, do I think Steve Francis represents what an NBA All-Star should be better than Chris Bosh?

No, no and no, but these processes rarely play out how you expect them to, or even how they should. Really when you look at it though, if the East wants a balanced roster and someone to guard the Duncans, Nowitzkis and Gasols that the West is going to throw at you, they need Chris Bosh.

I haven’t even referenced Bosh’s numbers just yet, but by this point we’re all we aware of the fact that the Raptors are 9-0 when Bosh puts up 20 or more points and he’s riding a seven-game double-double streak and has 14 in total on the season.

However, Bosh’s stats really aren’t what the coaches should or will be looking at when it comes time to make their picks.

Hopefully they’ll look at the fact that Bosh has quickly become one of the most difficult big men to guard in the league. His jumpshot has become consistent, his defence is leaps and bounds ahead of where it was last season and he can put the ball on the floor like few frontcourt players can.

To me though, an All-Star is more than just a scorer. An All-Star is the ultimate ambassador to your league and a benchmark of who and what you want all your players to be or become.

That is Chris Bosh