By Peter Sblendorio

Staff Writer

The NBA All Star Game, coming to Cowboy’s Stadium in Dallas, will put professional basketball’s brightest stars on a single stage this February.  Fans have been encouraged for months to vote for the game’s participants and choose the most deserving players to start.

The NBA’s Eastern Conference starting line-up consists of a foursome of all-pro level players who are key cogs in their team’s success: Heat guard Dwayne Wade, Magic center Dwight Howard, Celtics forward Kevin Garnett, and the games leading vote getter Cavaliers forward LeBron James.

T he last spot in the game is clearly based on reputation more than their play, however, as 76ers guard Allen Iverson was able to steal away the final starting spot in the East from a list of more deserving candidates.

For more on the Iverson selection, click here.

Iverson has already played for two teams and retired once this year, leaving the Memphis Grizzlies after just three unspectacular games. After several weeks of retirement, Iverson returned to his first team Philidelphia and put up a mediocre 14.8 points per in sixteen games.

‘AI’ is one of the game’s most recognizable players, and his career 26.8 points per game average has been matched by a very select few. As for the 2009-2010, this future Hall of Famer is clearly less deserving of the honor than, say, Celtics guard Rajon Rando, who leads all Eastern guards with 9.76 assists per game or Chicago’s Derek Rose, who averages nearly nine more points than Iverson each game.

The fans decision to put Allen Iverson in the starting All Star Game line-up is a nice tribute to one of the NBA’s all time performers, but as for this year there were certainly more deserving all stars.