As NBA All-Star Weekend gets underway HOOPSWORLD once again turned to a panel of experts to make their picks for each of the events. Joel Brigham, Yannis Koutroupis, Jason Fleming, Eric Pincus and Lang Greene each made their choices and the results are compiled below. Does their consensus (or lack thereof) match yours? (An asterisk denotes the defending champion of the event.)

All-Star Friday

BBVA Rising Stars

NBA All-Star 2012 will play host to the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge, which will introduce an exciting new format to a game that has historically featured NBA rookies facing off against sophomores. For the first time, rookies and sophomores will be mixed together on teams. BBVA, the Official Bank of the NBA, will serve as the title partner of the new event. TNT Analysts Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal will serve as the general managers of two opposing teams, each with ten man rosters, consisting of NBA rookies and sophomores drafted from a pool that was previously selected by the NBA’s assistant coaches. Also, TNT’s Kenny Smith will serve as the honorary Commissioner. (Rosters)

Picks:

Team Chuck – 2
Team Shaq – 3

MVP:

Blake Griffin – 2
Jeremy Lin – 2
Paul George – 1

All-Star Saturday

Taco Bell Skills Challenge

The Taco Bell Skills Challenge was introduced at NBA All-Star 2003 in Atlanta and features players competing in a two-round timed “obstacle course” consisting of dribbling, passing and shooting stations. All players must observe basic NBA ball-handling rules while completing the course. The two players with the fastest times from the first round advance to the finals with the order of competition determined by inverse order of the first round times. At the discretion of the referee, television instant replay may be consulted for clarification of rules compliance

Picks:

Stephen Curry*, Golden State Warriors – 1 (dropped out)
John Wall, Washington Wizards – 2
Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder – 0
Deron Williams, New Jersey Nets – 0
Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers – 1
Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs – 1
Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics – 0

Haier Shooting Stars

The Haier Shooting Stars contest features one current NBA player, one current WNBA player and one TNT on-air talent/NBA legend on each team. There are six numbered shooting locations of increasing difficulty, with each team attempting to make all shots in numeric order in the fastest time. Each team will select a specific player rotation to follow throughout the competition. Each shot must be made before the next player begins shooting in succession. Teams have up to two minutes to complete the entire shooting course and the team that completes all six shots in the least amount of time is declared the winner. In the case of a tie, a shoot-off will be used to determine the winner.

Picks:

Team New York (Landry Fields, Cappy Pondexter, Allan Houston) – 5
Team Atlanta (Jerry Stackhouse, Lindsey Harding, Steve Smith) – 0
Team Texas (Chandler Parsons, Sophia Young, Kenny Smith) – 0
Team Orlando (Jameer Nelson, Marie Ferdinand-Harris, Dennis Scott) – 0

Foot Locker Three-Point Contest

The players will compete in the two-round competition with the top three finishers from the first round advancing to the finals. Five shooting stations will be set up around the three-point line, with four Official Spalding NBA game balls worth one point each and one Spalding NBA All-Star 2012 commemorative red, white and blue “money ball” worth two points at each location. Each player will have one minute to shoot as many balls as he can. In the final round, players will shoot in ascending order of first-round scores. At the discretion of the referee, television instant replay may be consulted for clarification of rules compliance.

Picks:

James Jones*, Miami HEAT – 0
Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder – 0
Kevin Love, Minnesota Timberwolves – 0
Ryan Anderson, Orlando Magic – 2
Anthony Morrow, New Jersey Nets – 3
Mario Chalmers, Miami HEAT – 0

Sprite Slam Dunk Contest

A new format will be implemented for the 2012 competition. The contest will consist of only one round and each competitor will execute three dunks. Fan voting will open after all four players have completed their first dunk. Previously, the Sprite Slam Dunk contest consisted of two rounds, with the first round scored by a panel of judges which determined two finalists.

Picks:

Chase Budinger, Houston Rockets – 0
Paul George, Indiana Pacers – 4
Derrick Williams, Minnesota Timberwolves – 0
Jeremy Evans, Utah Jazz – 1

All-Star Sunday

61^st NBA All-Star Game

In a midseason showcase for the NBA, the 2012 All-Star Game will feature 24 of the league’s brightest stars. The five starters for the Eastern and Western Conference’s teams were selected via fan voting while the All-Star reserves will be named by the coaches. The 2012 All-Star Game will have a high bar to surpass the excitement of last year’s game in Los Angeles that featured Kobe Bryant’s MVP performance in front of his hometown crowd. (Rosters)

Picks:

Eastern Conference  - 3
Western Conference  - 2

MVP:

Kobe Bryant – 1
LeBron James – 1
Carmelo Anthony – 1
Dwyane Wade – 1
Kevin Durant – 1

Our team of experts seems to agree about the dunk and shooting star champs, but the rest of the events are pretty split.

Who do you pick? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!