February 24, 2012; Orlando FL, USA; TNT anchor Kenny Smith introduces Team Shaq general manager Shaquille O

The new tradition at NBA All-Star Weekend regarding the game between the rookies and sophomores is letting Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley draft teams from a pool made up of the two classes.

Last year was the first time the NBA did this. Barkley’s team won 146-133 as rookie Kyrie Irving captured MVP honors with 34 points and nine assists.

The two were back at it again last night drafting their teams. So which team is the favorite this year? Who had the better draft?

Well, you nearly have to give them both failing grades because Irving wasn’t taken until the third pick. Shaq went first and took rookie Damian Lillard then Barkley picked the No. 1 overall pick from the 2012 NBA Draft, Anthony Davis.

The fact that Shaq at least still ended up with Irving gives him a pass for now. Barkley taking Davis isn’t a horrible idea either since the game often hinges on who can finish the most alley-oops, something Davis is already one of the best in the league at. It’s still a head scratcher that Barkley wouldn’t draft his MVP from last year.

The key to this game is not only dunks but point guard play and three-point shooting. It also doesn’t hurt to end up with a few guys who are going to play hard.

Let’s break down which team is made up of the most of these four categories:

Dunkers

Team Shaq: Andre Drummond, Harrison Barnes, Dion Waiters
Team Chuck: Anthony Davis, Kenneth Faried, Tristan Thompson

Point Guards

Team Shaq: Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker
Team Chuck: Ricky Rubio, Brandon Knight, Isaiah Thomas

Three-Point Shooters

Team Shaq: Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson
Team Chuck: Bradley Beal, Brandon Knight

Going to Hustle and play a little D

Team Shaq: Chandler Parsons, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Tyler Zeller
Team Chuck: Kenneth Faried, Kawhi Leonard, Nikola Vucevic, Alexey Shved

As you can see, the amount of each type of player that each team has is pretty even. You gave to give Team Shaq a big advantage when it comes to point guard play and shooters. Team Chuck has better dunkers and finishers of alley-oops and also has better alley-oop passers with Rubio and Shved.

A key matchup will be Parsons and MKG vs. Faried and Leonard in the hustle category. You know MKG only knows one speed and should have a big game but who on Team Shaq is containing the Manimal?

At the end of the day, it will probably come down to which team has a player who is likely to just go off and take over. This is where Team Shaq has the edge. Between Irving, Lillard and Thompson, one of them is probably going to knock down five-plus treys. Team Chuck simply doesn’t have a player like that.

The edge goes to Team Shaq but it’s only a slight advantage.

The game will be played Feb. 15.

Durant scored 32 points last night to lengthen his lead over Kobe. Durant is now averaging 27.969 points per game this season and Bryant 27.862.

Durant and Kobe each have one game remaining this season. Durant will play at home against the Nuggets tonight and Kobe closes out his season tomorrow night in Sacramento against he Kings.

Here are the scenarios of what needs to happen for Durant to hang on to the scoring lead.

• If Durant scores 20, Kobe will need 28 to pass him.
• If Durant scores 25, Kobe will need 32 to pass him.
• If Durant scores 30, Kobe will need 36 to tie him exactly.
• If Durant scores 35, Kobe will need 41 to pass him.
• If Durant scores 40, Kobe will need 45 to pass him.

Crazy things have happened in the past in the NBA over winning the scoring championship.

In the 1993-94 season, David Robinson scored 71 points in the final game of the regular season against the Los Angeles Clippers to pass Shaquille O’Neal in the scoring race. Robinson played 44 minutes in the otherwise meaningless game and went 26-for-41 from the field and 18-for-25 at the free throw line.

The closest scoring race ever was in the 1978-79 season between George Gervin and David Thompson. Gervin led 26.8-26.6 entering the final day of the season. Thompson played first and scored 73 points going 28-for-30 from the field and 17-for-20 from the line and pushed his average up to 27.15.

Gervin then would score 63 points later that night including an NBA-record 33 points in the second quarter to regain the scoring title 27.22-27.15.

The race in the next two days between Durant and Kobe could end up being just as close. Durant will play first so Kobe will have the benefit of knowing how much he will need to pass Durant.

Both players seem like they are more concerned with team success at this point in their careers but there is a chance we will be treated to some huge scoring nights from two of the greatest scorers of this generation.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

The Oklahoma City Thunder have the second-best record in the NBA this season at 39-12. They are the favorite to come out of the Western Conference and play in the NBA Finals. They are doing this despite their four best players being 23 or 22 years old.

The Thunder have been one of the more impressive teams to watch in the NBA this season. Every game they play in is filled with athletic highlights and incredible shot making. It is hard not to love this team and how they are put together.

But are the Thunder built for winning a title? Do the pieces really fit?

The criticism when it comes to the Thunder is usually directed at point guard Russell Westbrook and how he is not a point guard and how he shoots too much. I’ve made the argument that he is of course not a true point guard and is called on to do much more for the Thunder as a scorer as well, resulting in his high shot totals.

The real thing to note about the Thunder is how top heavy they are when it comes to usage rate. Usage percentage rates how much a player uses his team’s possessions counting field goal, free throw attempts and turnovers. This is a good way to help see how efficient a player really is.

I went back to 1980 and took a look at every team that won the title and what each of their player’s usage rates were in the playoffs for that championship run.

In the 1980’s, the teams that won were much more balanced and didn’t really on one star to carry much of the load. In 1985 the Lakers actually had five players with a usage rate of 20.0 or higher. Larry Bird had usage rates of 23.2, 25.9 and 23.3 in his championship years.

Things changed in the 1990’s and mainly because of Michael Jordan. Jordan has the highest usage rate of all-time in the NBA and his playoff usage rates were no exception. He recorded the highest playoff usage rate in 1993 at 38.0. During the Bulls’ title run from 1996-98, Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Toni Kukoc averaged usage rates around 35-23-19, respectively.

When the Lakers started winning titles in the 2000’s, the Kobe Bryant-Shaquille O’Neal duo became probably the best duo ever and their usage rates represented this for how close they were and how high too. Kobe averaged a 28.9 usage rate from 2000-02 and Shaq a 31.6. In 2001 they were the only teammates ever to both have usage rates above 30.0.

In fact, not that many players have usage rates over 30 on championship teams. Take a look at the players that did: Dirk, Kobe, Wade, Duncan, Shaq, Jordan, Olajuwon, Vinnie Johnson and Andrew Toney. So if you are going to shoot a lot, you better be one of the best players ever.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

This is where the Thunder come in. Westbrook and Durant both have usage rates over 30.0 this season. Westbrook has a higher usage rate than any point guard to ever start on a championship team. Not only that, but the trio of Durant-Westbrook-Harden’s combined usage rate this season is 85.2, higher than any other trio ever.

Last season in the playoffs when Westbrook received all of the heat for shooting too much, he had a usage rate of 34.4 while Durant was at only 29.0 and Harden 17.1. Again, not all of the blame should go to Westbrook here but that formula definitely isn’t going to work.

This regular season has Westbrook leading the Thunder at 32.7 with Durant at 31.0, Harden 21.5 and Serge Ibaka just 15.3.

I’ve said before that the sort of model the Thunder will need to follow to win a championship is that of the San Antonio Spurs’. They had a high-volume point guard in Tony Parker along with Manu Ginobili who is so similar to James Harden and Tim Duncan who had similar usage rates to Durant’s.

Parker had the highest usage rate ever by a point guard in 2007 at 29.2 when the Spurs won the title. Westbrook would probably need to get around that number for the Thunder to improve their title chances. If he does that it will mean more balance for the Thunder and probably a rise in production from Harden and Ibaka.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

The more you look at this Thunder the more you think they probably are one year away still. For Westbrook to get his usage rate down, it’s really just going to take Harden upping his and he is only in his third season this year and if he continues improving next season, this may very well happen. We have already seen instances this season when Harden becomes the primary ball-handler even with Westbrook on the floor.

The other thing that will probably start to happen next year is a growing of Westbrook as a playmaker. His assists are way down this season and that may be because he has become such a dominant athlete and scorer this year. Next year he should learn to better balance that with playmaking helping get Ibaka better involved as well as more looks for Durant and Harden off his passes.

The one thing the Thunder have working for them in terms of winning this season is that their biggest competition in the Eastern Conference, Miami and Chicago, also have issues with their usage rates.

The Heat have a similar top heavy big three in LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh who are combining for 87.3 usage rate, even higher than Oklahoma City’s big three. James and Wade are both over 30.0 which is something that only happened once in a playoff run with Kobe and Shaq. The highest usage rates for Jordan-Pippen was in 1993 when Jordan was 38.0 and Pippen 26.2.

An interesting thing happened for the Heat last year in the playoffs with James’ usage rate decreasing from his 2011 regular season mark of 31.5 to 26.9 with Wade’s remaining about the same over 30.0. This is the whole alpha dog issue with the Heat and what LeBron should do in the playoffs. You wouldn’t expect his usage to drop below 30 this postseason and really it should be higher than Wade’s. But we’ve never seen a team win a title with two perimeter players having such high usage rates.

As for the Chicago Bulls, it is no secret that they may rely too heavily on Derrick Rose to make every play on offense. Rose had a usage rate of 35.2 in the playoffs last season, higher than any other player and will likely have to carry a similar load this season, although Luol Deng and Carlos Boozer have improved some.

The toughest test for the Thunder may be the Spurs though. They haven’t shown any signs that they will be able to beat them in a playoff series and the Spurs added some pieces in Stephen Jackson and Boris Diaw that will improve their team even more come playoff time. This may not be the year the Thunder win it all but that really isn’t the end of the world. Next year should be their prime time but they still may be able to steal a title this season.