Jared Dudley
I had to start it off with someone from my favorite team, the Phoenix Suns. He makes
my all star team for two reasons: first, he is the most nonathletic player in the NBA. When he goes up for a lay up, he can barely get his feet off the court. He has no athletic abilities, yet he is still the spark for the Suns second team. When he comes in off the bench, he shoots more than 40% from behind the arc and he hustles his butt off. He plays 100% the entire time he is on the court and will very often come up with a big offensive rebound or a tough defensive stop. And second, he is hilarious. He is known for having some of the funniest tweets.Monta Ellis
This guy will one day make an All Star team and will probably win a few NBA scoring titles. But until then, he makes my all time cool list because of who his wife is. For the last couple of seasons, Ellis has been one of my favorite players to watch. I think the Golden State backcourt is the most exciting in the entire league. But when I found out that Ellis was married to a former Police officer from Memphis, I said to myself, "Dang, that guy is cool." She is older than him and is the reason that he has turned his life around. Marcus Thompson from the Oakland Tribune wrote this about Ellis and his wife:
Juanika is a Memphis police officer who is six years older than Ellis, who turns 25 later this month. She didn’t go along with whatever Ellis said and had no problem “putting me in my place when I needed to be put into place,” he said.
She told Ellis he wa
s wrong for saying he couldn’t play with point guard Stephen Curry and advised him to apologize. She implored Ellis to let go of his beef with the organization, that he was only hurting himself by carrying that weight.
“It’s always good to have that person, that better half, to keep you grounded,” Ellis said. “It’s great to have that someone you can sit down and have that comfort with. All that partying and stuff, I did that. It wasn’t successful for me. I just go home to a peaceful house. It’s just lovely right now.”
Yep, Monta and his boo are pretty dang coo. (Sorry, that was lame.)
Eric Gordon
Also, Gordon will one day soon be an all star. He is in the top ten right now in points per game, but I put him on my list because I think he is the most overshadowed player in the entire league. He is having the best season of his career and no one is noticing. How come? Well first, he plays in Los Angeles where people only care about the Lakers, and second, he is having his best season at the same time that Blake Griffin is having one of the all time greatest rookie years. Not to mention that if there was a Ms. America for YouTube, Griffin would win it with all the play he is getting. No one has even noticed Gordon, yet Eric still goes out each night and does work.
Andre Iguodala
Why does he make my team? Well, he is leader of a young, exciting, and soon to be very good 76ers team. He is fun to watch and he also played his college ball at my favorite school, the University of Arizona. But mostly he makes my list because he has the most fun name to say, Andre Iguodala. Just try it, its fun, trust me.
Rudy Gay
I liked Rudy ever since he was at UConn. I have always liked his style of play. He is the type of player that if I was a general manager, I would figure out a way to get him on my team. He is a natural leader, he can score, rebound, and defend.
But the biggest reason he makes this list is because he had the all time best self promotion video to get him on the All Star team. Check it out.Serge Ibaka
He may not be on an All Star team this year, but he will be competing in the dunk contest. But that is not why he made this list, he made it cause he is the definition of cool. First of all, Andre Iguodala may have the most fun name in the NBA, but Serge has got to have the longest. His full name is Sergeballu LaMu Sayonga Loom Walahas Jonas Hugo Ibaka. What? He is from the Congo and is the third youngest of 18 children. Uh huh, crazy! He was so poor when he grew up that he used cardboard for the soles of his shoes. He did not know much English until he came to the United States after he was drafted. Everything about this guy screams cool.
Caron Butler
The last guy on my list makes the All NBA Cool team because of a certain addiction that he has. I usually do not think addictions are cool, in fact, they are not cool, unless you have the same addiction I have. That is right, an addiction to Mountain Dew. But just like the good man that he is, he was able to defeat his addiction, something I have not yet been able to accomplish. He told Yahoo Sports last year:
I lost 11 pounds this summer by giving up Mountain Dew. That's right Mountain Dew. A lot of people don't know I'm a Mountain Dew addict so I guess this is my confession.
To try and give this up was crazy for me! I was going through withdrawals. I was in the bed sweating. My wife would turn over in the bed and ask "Are you OK?" Honestly, those first two weeks without The Dew [were] the roughest two weeks of my life. I'm talking headaches, sweats and everything. Before that I drank at least six 12-ounce Mountain Dews a day.
It was so bad at one point that I had to have a cold one right there at the night stand before I went to bed. I had to get the coasters and let it drip a lil' bit and just have it waiting on me. Come 2 a.m., I'd wake up out of my sleep, I'd pop one open and hear the fizz sound ... and just down it! Then I always had to have another one in the morning when I woke up. Before practice I had one too and before games I would knock back two.
And that is my 2011 ALL NBA COOL TEAM!!!
