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It makes me wonder if anyone ever actually watches basketball.

Lee and Horford are natural power forwards who play the center spot because their teams' systems are predicated on space and, in theory, transition.

Lee should be on the ballot at center, but because he is not Horford sits at 4th among vote getters in the middle and Lee is nowhere to be found in the voting for Eastern Conference forwards.

Not that voting makes much of a difference. Fans have Houston's Tracy McGrady in the starting line up, even though he's just returned from injury.

But Lee has been playing at an All-Star level for the past five weeks. He has been the Knicks' best player as they've made a run back to respectability during their 8-3 December. Lee is playing close to 40 minutes per game and averaging 17.8 points and 11.5 rebounds, while shooting 60% from the field in the month of December. But if you watch closely you will notice just how the offense runs through him, and the benefits of the process.

When the team settles for too many threes, as it did the other night in Chicago where they took about 150 of them, it's because Chris Duhon struggles with penetration. When More recently, Duhon has given the ball to Lee right away in the possession and Lee moves the ball without hesitation, which is followed by an on-ball screen.

That early movement gives the team space, which is key to Mike D'Antoni's offense. The result of more touches for Lee is a spike in Duhon's assists numbers -- he has 78 in 11 games in December.

It is my contention that if the Knicks are in the neighborhood of the 8th seed, Lee has to be chosen by the Eastern Conference coaching staff as a reserve since he assuredly won't be voted in at this point. He deserves to be the first Knick to play in an All-Star game since Allan Houston played in 2001.

Other than Nate Robinson partaking in the Dunk Contest, or Lee playing in the Rookie-Sophomore Game, Knick fans have had little to pay attention to come All-Star Weekend. Yet should the team continue playing well, their beloved hard-working big man should be represented the organization on Valentine's Day weekend.