It’s been a marathon year for our superstar guard.  He’s been jet-setting around the world picking up the maximum bling in Beijing, pre-season games in Berlin and Barcelona, leading every Hornets practice, playing with fire and creativity at a level that has left the NBA in awe at his routine brilliance.  Chris Paul has become the magician of the league, racking up fans and jersey sales so fast he’s like a one-man economic stimulus package.

No way then CP3 can miss the biggest showcase game of the year, his first year as the fans’ choice for the 2009 All-Star Game in Phoenix, right?  Well, anybody who has had a groin strain knows that rest, full stop rest, is really the only cure.  The Hornets have only three games left before the break, a back-to-back Sun/Mon vs Minnesota then @ Memphis, with our finale at home tussling with the Celtics.  (The Celtics have one more road game the next night, going up to Dallas.)

Now we know that Chris Paul hates sitting out games.  However, if you gave me the chance to go 2-1 these next three games whether or not CP played, I’d take it and ask him, please, to get some rest on those legs.  I might even take going 1-2, although I can’t stand losing much better than Chris.  As we fans must remind ourselves time after time, the NBA season is a marathon where the goal is to have a chance to turn the playoffs into the next marathon, with a view to the championship in June. Would rest be best, not just for Chris Paul’s injury, but for a team that had gotten entirely too comfortable leaning on his unbelievable talent night after night?

Of course, I want to see CP3 play as soon as possible for the Hornets.  I can hardly wait to see if Paul can win the All-Star MVP this year, remembering last year how he brought the West team surging back from a big hole with dazzling plays.  Quite simply, I feel that every game I get to see CP3 play for my team is a blessing and a joy because that man brings his skills, brilliance, and love for the game all the time, and I can barely bee-lieve my good luck he plays here in New Orleans!  Nonetheless, me and my team need him at optimal health for a grueling dash to the playoffs, so I’m just saying… the unthinkable?

Discuss amongst yourselves, with a complicated sidebar: who would be the right choice to replace Chris Paul if he was too injured to go to Phoenix?