The NBA announced the rosters of the Rookie-Sophomore challenge today, and unfortunately, Jason Maxiell won't be making the trip. From Chris McCosky's Detroit News "blog":
Jason Maxiell won't be going to Vegas, unless he's paying for the trip. The NBA announced the teams for the rookie challenge a little while ago, and Maxey was left off the sophomore squad.
Here's who they picked: Centers Andrew Bogut and Andrew Bynum, Forwards Danny Granger and David Lee, guards, Monta Ellis, Raymond Felton, Luther Head, Chris Paul and Deron Williams.
Hard to argue the picks. All of those guys play more minutes than Max, but it seems like they could have taken one more forward and one less guard. Pretty sure Maxey has to be on the short list of alternates. Maybe he will get the call. Paul is just now coming back from injury, so maybe he will be excused from the All-Star festivities. We'll see.
Thanks to DBB reader (and PF.com guy ) Micro for the tip. For the rookie roster, check out SLAM.
Despite the tone of this post's title, it's not hard to see why Maxiell didn't get the nod -- his playing time simply didn't warrant it, though anyone who's been caught between the rim and the ball when he's going up for a dunk knows that he wouldn't look out of place if he did get the belated invite.