For Mo Williams' sake, we hope he wasn't seven hours too late.

NBA coaches had until 3 p.m. ET on Tuesday to submit their selections for All-Star reserves. Later that night, Williams dropped a career-high 43 points as Cleveland remained unbeaten at home.

In addition to missing the deadline with his lights-out performance, Williams has a number of other factors working against him. He plays in the huge shadow of an All-Star. He has never been an All-Star himself. He plays a position that is loaded with candidates. And coaches can manipulate the voting a little bit.

Coaches don't have nearly the impact that fans have. First off, they all allowed to vote once, not once every 24 hours as the league says its electronic ballots are counted. Secondly, coaches would lose an awful lot of respect among their peers if it was learned that they had voted for a highly undeserving player.

Although coaches cannot vote for their own players, there is still a way that they can tilt the balloting in favor of their players. And that is to cast what appears to be a thoughtful vote for a somewhat deserving player -- and not for a highly deserving player.

For example, in 2001, Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy cast one of his votes for 76ers guard Aaron McKie, who was having an extremely solid season and would eventually win the Sixth Man Award. But that was a vote that did not go to either Sam Cassell or Andre Miller, which probably helped land both Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell from the Knicks on the East squad.

So it is conceivable that Nets coach Lawrence Frank, in an effort to get both Devin Harris and Vince Carter on the All-Star team, could cast votes for Jose Calderon or Ben Gordon -- guys whose numbers merit brief consideration and don't represent an abuse of the process. In turn, those ballots potentially become one less vote for Williams and Jameer Nelson, which helps Harris and Carter.

Before you start drawing analogies to dimpled chads or ACORN, keep in mind that the coaches have two other significant limitations on their vote: (a) among their seven picks has to be a conventional FFCGG unit, and (b) they sometimes have to fix the moronic mistakes made by the fans.

The fans made two huge mistakes this year -- the selections of Amar'e Stoudemire and Allen Iverson. Neither of these guys warrant an All-Star berth, let alone a starting spot. And I'm tired of hearing about how this game is for the fans. I want to meet the so-called NBA fan who does not watch the All-Star Game because his beloved player isn't there.

It is the fans who for decades have been picking injured and/or undeserving players as starters, from A.C. Green in the 1980s to Grant Hill in the 1990s to Steve Francis in the 2000s. It is the fans who this year nearly gave us a Yi Jianlian-Bruce Bowen matchup at one of the starting forward spots. And it is the fans whose blind lack of objectivity forces a snub -- which, of course, generates complaints from the fans.

Had the fans voted for Carter (third) or Harris (fourth) instead of Iverson in the East or Carmelo Anthony (close fifth) or Dirk Nowitzki (sixth with 1 million-plus votes) in place of Stoudemire in the West, the coaches would have had an easier job.

This is not to say we have some sort of foolproof method for selecting All-Stars. Every one of us link-stained wretches has our own formula, with varying parts of stats, team success and bias. But here are our selections.

Relax, Mo. As far as we're concerned, you made it.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

FORWARDS: Paul Pierce, Boston; Danny Granger, Indiana. Pierce is a somewhat easy choice, because the East is more guard-heavy and the Celtics warrant at least two selections, as do all of the teams in the 35-win stratosphere. Granger gets the nod over Toronto's Chris Bosh because his numbers are extremely strong and as his team's alpha dog has the Pacers playing above expectations rather than below them.

GUARDS: Joe Johnson, Atlanta; Devin Harris, New Jersey. Aside from Dwyane Wade, Johnson is having the best season of any guard in the East, and the Hawks' success should land them an All-Star. Until recently, the Nets had been surprisingly competitive, which gets them Harris - but not Carter.

CENTER: Emeka Okafor, Charlotte. I know, I know -- Emeka Okafor? We would love to slide Bosh into this slot. But he was listed as a forward, and rules dictate that you have to pick a center. Okafor ranks in the top 10 in rebounds, blocks, field-goal percentage and double-doubles, posting better numbers than the banged-up Andrew Bogut and Zydrunas Ilgauskas and the complementary Kendrick Perkins.

WILD CARDS: Jameer Nelson, Orlando; Mo Williams, Cleveland. We said the East is loaded with guards, so we picked one from each of the East's elite to give those squads two All-Stars. Nelson is shooting better than 50 percent and has made huge strides in the area of decision-making. While Williams doesn't have the gaudy assist numbers you usually expect from point guards, he was brought in to complement LeBron James as a scorer, which is exactly what he has done.

SORRY: Ray Allen, Boston; Chris Bosh, Toronto; Vince Carter, New Jersey. A strong case can be made for all three, and it would not be surprising at all to see this trio replace Granger, Okafor and Williams when the reserves are announced Thursday. But here's the case against each one.

Allen has the biggest beef, because his showing this season warrants strong consideration and he is hurt by the East's guard depth. But do the Celtics deserve three All-Stars while the Cavaliers and Magic only get two? Bosh's numbers are excellent but don't elevate his team. Carter's stats and leadership qualities are mitigated by New Jersey's mediocrity. Can you really have two All-Stars from a team that's five games under .500 and can't win at home?

As long as we're on the subject of who should not make it, listen up: Rajon Rondo is not an All-Star. He's not even close, as some folks have suggested. Forget about numbers, his role on an elite team, the campaigning of his teammates, etc., and just ask yourself this question: How can you possibly consider as an All-Star a player whom the opposing team regularly makes the conscious decision not to guard? Despite being the prime beneficiary of sharing court time with Pierce, Allen and Kevin Garnett and having more open space than any point guard in the league, Rondo's numbers merely mirror those of Chris Duhon. End of conversation.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

FORWARDS: Pau Gasol, LA Lakers; Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas. These choices are similar to our rationale for the East's reserve forwards. While Gasol's numbers are not overwhelming, he should be the second selection from the West's best team. Nowitzki, meanwhile, is like Granger in that his numbers are just too good to ignore. His team is better, too.

GUARDS: Brandon Roy, Portland; Chauncey Billups, Denver. Roy has added spectacular to his rock-solid base and should be the representative of a strong Portland team. There are guards in the West with better numbers than Billups, but all of them have either missed time with injuries or toiled for bad teams that don't deserve an All-Star nod.

CENTER: Shaquille O'Neal, Phoenix. Should O'Neal be punished for the selection of Stoudemire as a starter? Minnesota's Al Jefferson is listed as a center and has better numbers than O'Neal, who is given games off and doesn't defend outside the lower defensive box. At the same time, the Suns are still nearly 10 games better than the Wolves.

WILD CARDS: Al Jefferson, Minnesota; Tony Parker, San Antonio. We would like to acknowledge one player from each conference who has risen above the morass of mediocrity to produce startling statistics that cannot be ignored. In the West, that is Jefferson, who has better numbers than both O'Neal and starter Yao Ming and has him team playing very well of late. Parker is probably the best choice among a handful of players who have missed significant time due to injury.

SORRY: LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland, Carmelo Anthony, Denver; Andrew Bynum, LA Lakers; Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City; David West, New Orleans; Deron Williams, Utah. The West's talent glut is in the frontcourt, where plenty of bigs got big-timed. Aldridge, Bynum and Durant all have All-Star appearances in their future but don't have enough to crash the party this year.

Given Denver's success, Anthony's inclusion initially felt like a no-brainer, and maybe we're missing something. But the Nuggets are 6-3 with two one-possession losses since he went down with a broken hand. He probably should be slotted ahead of Stoudemire.

Is Williams the next Derek Harper? For a five-season stretch from 1986-91, Harper averaged no less than 16.0 points and 7.0 assists as the starting point guard for a team that averaged 44 wins. But he was obscured by a collection of perennial picks (Magic Johnson, Clyde Drexler, John Stockton) and the occasional selection of teammates (Mark Aguirre, Rolando Blackman).

Over the last two-plus seasons, Williams has averaged no less than 16.2 points and 9.3 assists as the starting point guard for a team that has averaged a (projected) 50 wins. But he has been overshadowed by a collection of perennial picks (Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Steve Nash) and the occasional selection of teammates (Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, Andrei Kirilenko).

Now that's a snub, folks.

Chris Bernucca has spent more than a decade putting his commitment to NBA coverage ahead of his family and is a regular contributor to Pro Basketball News. He can be reached at cbernucca@comcast.net.