More NBA All-Star Drama for 'Melo

Tony Mejia, from CBSSportsline.com, reports on more All-Star drama for 'Melo: "Dilemmas, dilemmas.

On the one hand, David Stern has the fans to think about. They, after all, are who this All-Star Game is for, and they want to see Carmelo Anthony.

More than 1.3 million fan votes were cast for 'Melo, making him the highest vote-getter not to have his ticket to Vegas punched.

On the other hand, Stern has to concern himself with cleaning up the game. It's one thing if the fans chose to overlook Anthony's Dec. 16 actions that got him suspended for 15 games, or if coaches respected his excellence and voted him in. But instead, the Denver star's fate lies in Stern's hands.

Now, Stern has to do the right thing, and that's to not look like hypocrite when he selects two injury replacements for the Western Conference team.

Because the league office's punishment of Anthony in mid-December was so harsh, Anthony missed one-third of the action these All-Star selections are supposed to be based on. Despite being the NBA's leading scorer, Anthony hasn't done enough to merit a spot on a very crowded West roster, because he hasn't played enough.

And although Anthony wrote a nice letter to Denver fans before his return and took his punishment like a man, without an appeal, the fact is that his actions in the Knicks/Nuggets brawl are part of his first-half résumé. The punch-slap, the scurrying backward, the losing his mind -- all of it.

Stern has said he doesn't expect to take Anthony's suspension into consideration, but how can he not?"

To read more, go to CBSSportsline.com