Raj Valencia

Carmelo Anthony

Eric Gordon

Al Jefferson

Chandler Parsons

DeMar DeRozan

Rudy Gay

Mavericks

Mason Plumlee

Joakim Noah

Mason Plumlee, Joakim Noah, Mason Plumlee. It’s a long list. You know this team had a lot of great players, just not enough time at the end of the year to make it.

So a bunch of the All-Stars have not been available, while the bench has not been an issue. That has kept the Mavs from getting their regular rotation players into the All-Star game. In fact, on the flip side, the Mavs have not even had to play the bench much when it’s been all done up.

The only player who got to be in the All-Star game, when he was healthy enough to be, was Monta Ellis. But even then, he was the starter, and he was in the starting lineup every night. He was the starting point guard in all but three games (and then the reserves twice).

If you wanted to keep the Mavs from getting a full rotation from their best players, there were a lot of ways to do that. You could change who you started them with, or rotate the guards, or play that “one-guard-on-the-wing” mentality that the Mavericks practice.

So you could have given Rajon Rondo time to play (that is, use the All-Star break to rest up and get all the right kind of rest), or let Dirk be in the starting role until he did get rested. You could play that one-guard-on-the-wing game on your bench (you do have the two-guard game).

Or maybe you just put someone else in the front court so that Monta could be on the floor, and make him an option for everyone else’s rotation.

None of the other options was what many people wanted. That is what made these choices all the more frustrating for the Mavs.