Daily Links: So, You Think You're An All-Star

There was chance I was going to head out to Dallas this weekend for the ASG fun, but given that it is 60 degrees and sunny in Phoenix and a wick winter wonderland in Big D, I think I am just fine where I am, thank you very much.

But if you are going to Dallas, and you can actually make it there, here's a travel guide for all your needs..

Your Ridiculous Upside Dallas All-Star Weekend Travel Guide - Ridiculous Upside
A humorous visitor's guide for people attending the NBA All-Star festivities in Dallas.

All-Star 2010 by the numbers - Ball Don't Lie - NBA Blog - Yahoo! Sports

The game itself it really not the point of all-star weekend. It's about the fans in the host city attending the NBA Experience events and it's about getting all the league's stars together in the place along with most anyone who's anyone in NBA circles.

Think of it as a giant convention of dentists but replace dentists with really tall, athletic men and the various people who make a living based on the sport they play.

There is always the other "events" like the dunk and three-point shooting contests...

How To Win The Dunk Contest - The Baseline - The Baseline - Sporting News
You’ve got to be able to jump. Before anything, if you can’t jump, you can’t be in a dunk contest. You’ve got to have big-time hops. You can’t just have I-can-dunk-in-a-game hops, you’ve really got to be able to elevate, get your elbow close to the rim, get your head almost hitting the rim. A lot of guys who have won the dunk contests in the past are guys who can really elevate off the floor.

How to make the 3-point contest - TrueHoop Blog - ESPN
But it begs the question: How are they selected? The NBA says the process works like this: The players are sorted by 3-point field goal percentage, and then they look at which players have hit the most shots.

Dissecting the Three-Point Shootout - Ball Don't Lie - NBA Blog - Yahoo! Sports

azcentral.com blogs - Coro's Suns dish - PaulCoro - Frye's 3-Point Shootout outlook
But taking himself out of the equation, Frye is picking Golden State rookie guard Stephen Curry for his shooter bloodlines. Papa Dell Curry was a two-time participant but did not advance. "Gallinari is a game-time shooter," Frye said. "Stephen Curry. His dad is a bigtime shooter. I'll go with the rookie."

But what really matters is the parties

Your Guide to All-Star Weekend Parties - Eric Freeman - The Baseline - Sporting News
If Mark Cuban is to be believed, this weekend in Dallas is going to make the Super Bowl look like little Benjamin Weinberg's bar mitzvah. And while Ben's rockstar-themed party was pretty awesome -- I still have my inflatable guitars! -- it can't compare to what's going down in DFW this weekend.

And the satire

Basketbawful - 2010 Null-Star Game
The rosters for this game were carefully chosen, with great research put into determining who should best represent the Assocation's large group of lacktators....(no Suns!)

The Internationals - TrueHoop Blog - ESPN
International teams have had their share of success against USA Basketball over the past decade and beyond.

And the best all-star of them all

SUNS: Nash Carries Olympic Torch
The seven-time All-Star played Wednesday night in Phoenix, leaving the locker room around 11 p.m. The next morning, Nash boarded a flight to Vancouver to carry a leg of the Olympic torch, only to fly to Dallas afterwards for all of the All-Star festivities.

Other...link...stuff

• The most important statistic in basketball (and how it's killing us) - The Only Colors
  Rethinking the Four Factors. These college kids and their "math"
• Shaq Turns Cute Dwight Howard Rivalry into Blood Feud - Eric Freeman - The Baseline - Sporting News
  Do you miss him?
• AP Source: NBA proposal targets all player types - NBA - Yahoo! Sports
  A person who has seen the document told The Associated Press on Thursday that first-round picks would have their salaries cut by about one-third and the minimum salary would be reduced by as much as 20 percent. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly about the negotiations.
• NBA.com: At midway point, these players have risen the most
  Though Dragic plays only about 17 minutes a game, he's one of the team's most efficient players (his 16.1 PER ranks higher than established stars Jason Richardson, Channing Frye, Grant Hill and Leandro Barbosa) and he has obviously learned from Nash as he ranks as the Suns' second-best assist man. With Barbosa expected to miss significant time following wrist surgery, Dragic is getting his shot to prove how much he's grown from his rookie season.
• Green leads Stanford to 60-58 comeback victory
  Former Stanford All-American and current Phoenix Suns player Robin Lopez was in attendance along with Jim Plunkett, the school's only Heisman Trophy winner.

and can't forget your daily trade rumor (which looks like a lot more smoke with no fire)

Post-Ups: All-Star Edition - CBSSports.com
Executives say Phoenix officials continue to tell them it’s unlikely that they’ll deal Amar’e Stoudemire. No proposals have been submitted to the Suns that would make them better this season. The exception to the Suns’ reluctant posture, sources say, would be a deal that would create a seductive opportunity to position them better next season and beyond than they’d be if they kept Stoudemire and played the opt-out game with him. While the Sixers continue to discuss internally whether Stoudemire makes sense for them long-term, sources describe Philly as a highly unlikely destination.