Much to my dismay, as I read an article listing the reserves that will round out the NBA All-Star team, nowhere on the list did I find the best player on my favorite team, Baron Davis. Davis is clearly one of the games elite players; he is 12th on scoring (22.2), 7th in assists (8.1), and second in steals (2.5). Those aren’t All-Star numbers? While Davis was probably the biggest snub, there were many other deserving players, like Josh Howard, Shawn Marion, Deron Williams, Tyson Chandler, Ray Allen, Hedo Turkoglu, and Manu Ginobili, just to name a few.

The next logical step was to look at the rosters and see who doesn’t deserve to be there. Try as I might, there wasn’t really anyone on the the list to complain about. Maybe you could argue that David West or Brandon Roy weren’t better than some of the non All-Stars this year, but they are definitely having All-Star caliber years. There are just too many great players that should be recognized than there are roster spots.

The solution is simple: add roster spots, since the number of talented players isn’t going to go down. MLB has already done this, increasing the All-Star game roster from a team’s regular season roster. If the NBA All-Star rosters were increased to 15 a side, that would still only be the top 30 players in the world.

The argument against increasing the rosters is that it is already hard enough to find minutes for 12 people, and it would be impossible to do so for 15. But it really wouldn’t reduce playing time that much. Rather than everyone averaging 20 minutes a game, have the players average 16. Just 4 minutes less per player gets 3 more players on the roster. And really, the most important part is getting on the roster, to be recognized by the fans, players and coaches as one of the game’s best. Because long after there careers are over, former All-Stars will be introduced wherever they go as just that, one of basketball’s true elite once upon a time. And if a player does belong in that category, like Baron Davis, he should be recognized for it.