Time for the annual gripefest.

Thursday evening the NBA announced the reserves for the February 18 All-Star Game in Las Vegas, and predictably, the number of players thinking they deserved selection vastly exceeded the number of spots available. Only seven subs were chosen from each conference by the 15 coaches on each side, so a few high-profile snubs were inevitable.

But you won’t see any griping coming from the Swamp, as both Jason Kidd and Vince Carter were named to the team. Joining the two as Eastern Conference reserves are Detroit’s Richard Hamilton and Chauncey Billups, Washington’s Caron Butler, Indiana’s Jermaine O’Neal, and Orlando’s Dwight Howard. They’ll team up with a fan-selected starting five of Miami’s Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade, Washington’s Gilbert Arenas, Toronto’s Chris Bosh, and Cleveland’s LeBron James.

That two Nets made it was a pleasant surprise. Heading into Thursday, the general consensus was that Kidd would make it but Carter would get the shaft, because Eastern Conference coaches would be reluctant to choose two players from a team with a losing record (22–24).

In this case, however, the main competition for Carter was two other players whose teams were even worse — Milwaukee’s Michael Redd (18–28) and Atlanta’s Joe Johnson (17–27). In truth, Redd was easily the best of the three, but a recent injury combined with the Bucks’ lackluster play of late persuaded the coaches to pull the lever for Carter. Another injured star in the East also suffered from “out of sight, out of mind,” as Boston’s Paul Pierce was omitted.

Knicks fans may be disappointed too, since big man Eddy Curry didn’t make the squad. However, the cruel truth is that it would have been scandalous if he had been selected. New York had campaigned fairly hard on Curry’s behalf — no doubt, in part, to help Isiah Thomas justify that godawful trade with Chicago a year ago — but I doubt he mustered many votes.

While Curry’s play over the past two months has been impressive, a sober analysis shows his numbers still fell short of the true All-Stars. Eastern Conference big men like Howard, O’Neal, and Charlotte’s Emeka Okafor easily outrated him based on my Player Efficiency Rating (PER, a perminute rating of a player’s statistical effectiveness).

And for Curry, the numbers are the best part of the story. He’s still unquestionably one of the worst defensive centers in captivity, and that’s normally a big part of an interior player’s job. On a team that’s struggling largely because of its deficient defense (New York ranks 26th out of 30 teams in Defensive Efficiency, my measure of a team’s points allowed per 100 possessions), that weakness is tough to overlook.

The silver lining here is that the Eastern Conference roster could change between now and game day. Shaq is hurting again and may give the gala in Vegas a pass while he works himself back into shape. If so, another big man would be on order for the East, and seemingly it would come down to Curry and Okafor. I would take Okafor in a heartbeat, and I’m guessing the coaches would too, but you never know. Cleveland’s Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Chicago’s Ben Wallace would be the other, more remote possibilities.

While the Eastern selections won’t generate much controversy, that’s not the case out West. Denver’s Carmelo Anthony, who leads the league in scoring but earned a 15-game suspension for his role in the fight between the Knicks and Nuggets at Madison Square Garden, didn’t make the squad, and in a mild upset neither did Dallas’s Josh Howard.

Instead, the seven reserves are Phoenix’s Steve Nash, Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire, San Antonio’s Tony Parker, Dallas’s Dirk Nowitzki, Utah’s Carlos Boozer, and Denver’s Allen Iverson. They’ll be joining starters Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming of Houston, Kevin Garnett of Minnesota, Tim Duncan of San Antonio, and Kobe Bryant of the Lakers.

Fortunately, the Western side gets a pair of mulligans thanks to two serious injuries. Yao is out with a broken leg until at least mid-March, while Boozer suffered a broken leg of his own this week and won’t be able to play in the game, either. The injury-created absences permit commissioner David Stern to select two substitutes. Howard seems like a sure thing for one of the spots given Dallas’s league-best 38–9 record, while Anthony is a tougher case to forecast. He’s a no-brainer based on his play but the commish may want to send a message that crime doesn’t pay. In the latter case, expect the Clippers’ Elton Brand to get the nod.

Earlier this week, the league announced rosters for the Rookie-Sophomore Game (excuse me, the “T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam”), and two local players made the cut. The Knicks’ David Lee was an obvious choice for the sophomore squad after posting the second-best PER of any second-year player — only the Hornets’ Chris Paul outranked him.

The name that floored everyone, however, was the inclusion of the Nets’ Marcus Williams on the rookie squad. Williams has struggled at both ends of the court but somehow earned the nod over more accomplished players, such as Minnesota’s Craig Smith and Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge. Heck, he’s not even the best rookie on his own team — that would be Hassan Adams. Just goes to show that often the rosters for these events are based more on minutes and name recognition than on quality of play, which explains how first-year busts Adam Morrison and Rudy Gay also made the squad.

Two other Knicks sophomores, Channing Frye and Nate Robinson, won’t be joining Lee in Vegas. Robinson got the ‘Melo treatment it seems — he would have had a real shot at it were it not for his fighting suspension, as his other numbers pretty much parallel those of Houston’s Luther Head. (Then again, Head shouldn’t be on the team either — how Toronto’s Jose Calderon was left off is beyond me.)

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Robinson will be headed to Vegas anyway to defend his Slam Dunk title. That’s an odd bit of happenstance given that he hasn’t dunked in a game all year — perhaps because they don’t give you 14 tries in the games.

Finally, no Nets or Knicks were named for the PlayStation Skills Challenge, a competition where guards pass the ball through squares, dribble though cones and shoot a couple shots. Kidd won the event in 2003.

jhollinger@nysun.com