Sixers Notes: Tough chances for Holiday to be All-Star

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Make no mistake about it, Jrue Holiday is playing like an All-Star this season. The Sixers fourth-year point guard leads the team in scoring (19 points per game) and assists (8.8 per game) and is 12th in the NBA with 37.9 minutes per game.
After agreeing to a multi-year contract extension on Oct. 31, Holiday is one of the players the Sixers will build their future upon.
But will Holiday get a spot on the All-Star team for the Eastern Conference when it is announced next Thursday? Its going to be tough, says Sixers head coach Doug Collins. The reason is because the Sixers record isnt very good.
When asked about Holidays chances to make the team, Collins didnt hesitate.
Hard. Tough, Collins said. There is a tremendous wealth of point guards. If you ask me if Jrue is playing at an All-Star level, yes, hes playing at an All-Star level. If we were winning would his chances be better? Absolutely.
There are a lot of point guards. If you look at Jrue and the way hes playing, hes definitely worthy. But our record might hurt him.
Heading into Friday nights game against the Toronto Raptors at the Wells Fargo Center, the Sixers are just 16-23 and have a two-game lead on cellar-dwellers Toronto. However, last season Andre Iguodala was selected as a reserve for the Eastern Conference despite producing numbers nowhere near as good as the stats Holiday is posting this season.
The reason for Iguodalas selection was simplethe Sixers were winning.
This time last year we were 20-9 and when the All-Star team was being selected. Andre Iguodala made the team and Lou Williams was under much consideration because we had a very good team, Collins said. Thats what I always look at, first and foremost.
The All-Star teams are selected by a vote from conference coaches. Coaches cant vote for their own players, which means Holiday wont get a vote from Collins. Instead, the Sixers coach will likely give his votes to players from winning teams as opposed to players posting the biggest numbers.
In fact, Collins said choosing an All-Star team is not difficult at all.
Its not hard. The first thing I focus on is which teams are winning and then Ill focus in on those players, he said. Its not fair that that you might not put a guy on the team who is playing on a poorer team. But if its close Ive always rewarded the guys who play on winning teams.
Brown out, Richardson inTwo players missed practice at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine on Thursday. One is in the lineup on Friday night and the other will be nattily dressed in a stylish suit.
Jason Richardson missed Thursdays practice because he had 20 ccs of fluid drained from his left knee. However, Richardson is in the starting lineup for Fridays game. Collins said he left the decision to play up to Richardson.
I think its important. Hes such a competitor, Collins said. If he feels he can go, then its important. I learned a long time ago from Michael Jordan that if guys want to play and you hold them out, eventually they wont want to play. So if he wants to play, were going to give him every opportunity to play.
Kwame Brown missed Thursdays practice for personal reasons. He wont play on Friday because of a sinus infection.
E-mail John R. Finger at jfinger@comcastsportsnet.com.

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