Every year, the dumb ass fans that are able to punch holes in a piece of paper, or press SEND on their computer vote the wrong guys into the starting lineups. Every God DAMN year. It really is a tragedy, because there are guys starting the game on the bench who have had twice the year that the starter in their position are having. It's a popularity contest, and always will be for the All-Star starters, the 40 year old "Gigantic NBA Fanatic" who watches a game a month, but tells all his buds at the local Pub that he's an expert votes for an injured star instead of the guy busting his ass for 20,6,6 a night. The 9-year old elementary school Balla wants to see the washed up Diesel start over the dude from across the state averaging 22 and 15. The latest All-Star balloting update came out this afternoon, and we're still messing up. We all know the system is flawed, but we're on the verge of another tragedy this year, and you still have time to prevent this one America!
2008 NBA ALL-STAR BALLOTING EASTERN CONFERENCE
Forwards: Kevin Garnett (Bos) 1,527,963; LeBron James (Clev) 1,294,019; Chris Bosh (Tor) 411,313; Paul Pierce (Bos) 352,243; Yi Jianlian (Mil) 291,447; Caron Butler (Was) 187,396; Hedo Turkoglu (Orl) 172,720; Tayshaun Prince (Det) 155,502; Josh Smith (Atl) 143,518; Rashard Lewis (Orl) 143,118.
Guards: Dwyane Wade (Mia) 1,019,582;
Centers: Dwight Howard (Orl) 1,260,987; Shaquille O'Neal (Mia) 609,597; Rasheed WallaceBen Wallace (Chi) 146,332; Andrew Bogut (Mil) 132,469;
2008 NBA ALL-STAR BALLOTING WESTERN CONFERENCE
Forwards: Tim Duncan (SA) 1,049,641; Carmelo Anthony (Den) 1,029,335; Dirk NowitzkiCarlos Boozer (Utah) 347,899; Shane Battier (Hou) 297,672; Shawn MarionJosh Howard (Dal) 285,580; Luis Scola (Hou) 279,970;
Guards: Kobe Bryant (LAL) 1,234,111; Tracy McGrady (Hou) 809,395; Allen Iverson (Den) 694,611; Steve Nash (Pho) 684,813; Manu Ginobili (SA) 360,408; Tony Parker (SA) 316,541; Chris Paul (NO) 261,169; Baron Davis (GS) 247,187; Jason Terry (Dal) 218,052; Jerry Stackhouse (Dal) 192,017.
Centers: Yao Ming (Hou) 1,077,244;
So lets examine what all the geniuses out there have voted for up to date...
EAST:
The forward starters are great, KG and LBJ are the 2 deserving starters. Ignore the rest of the guys rankings, because the coaches choose the reserves, and Caron Butler will be stealing balls by the middle of the first quarter come February.
Guards are fine with me, not how i would have them; but i can live with it. My ballot had Chauncey and Dwayne... but i can live with a guy whose got a legit chance to be the first guy to average a triple double since the Big O. But Chauncey is leading a first place team, and has a higher PER. (Sidenote on guards... DOES THE PUBLIC REALIZE GILBERT HAS PLAYED IN 8 GAMES THIS YEAR? HE STILL HAS MORE VOTES THAN CHAUNCEY, REDD, AI2, RIP AND JJ??? COME ON AMERICA...)
Center... FINALLY the fans got it right. Shaq has been starting over more deserving players for a few years now, but now the new beast of the east will strut his stuff come February 17th. If your bored or have some free time, I'd love to hear who the 2nd best center in the East is? who gets that spot? Because i sure have no idea...
WEST:
Forwards... Again, i can live with Duncan and Melo starting this one... but personally, Boozer and Dirk are more deserving. Boozer was my number one forward in the conference, and i choose Dirk by a hair over Timmy, Shawn, Melo and Jhoward, amd Al jefferson (who isn't even in the top 10 for forward votes in the west... does anyone realize hes going for 22 and 12 a night?)
Guards...Oh boy...Umm.... Geez.... The toughest 2 spots in the L, and we as a country have messed it up. There was really no way to go wrong. Kobe is a shoo-in, and we could place about 7 different guys (Deron, CP3, Manu, BDavis, AI, Nash, tony parker). SEVEN guys would be fine in that second guard spot, but we have Tmac, who has played half the amount of games as the others, and is still not averaging better than the other 7. My ballot had CP3 in the second guard spot. He's my league MVP half way in, so he NEEDS to start the most prominent game. Now it gets tricky... Who are the 2 reserve guards? You really can't go wrong with any combo of the above 6 remaining, but I'm going for Nash and AI... Maybe. Ha. (sorry deron, davis, manu and parker... ask for a trade to the east?)
Center in the west is sooo much better than the east. Yao is the easy starter. Right? I like Amare and Camby... and Kaman as well. You'll be surprised to find out that i choose Kaman on my ballot, by a hair... over Camby. Kaman is a beast, and is going for 18,14,3 a night like a center should. Camby is on my bench, because he plays his role as a center. 10 pts a game, and 14 boards, 4 blocks. Sorry Yao and Amare, these two are just the creme of the crop while you two under perform night in and night out.
Theres my ballot, compared it to the idiot-based fan ballot at the top. To sum this years ballot up: Tmac is starting as of right now... he doesn't play. Gilbert has half a million votes, and hes played 8 game. Yao has ONE MILLION more votes than Kaman, and Chris is grabbing 4 more boards and blocking 1.5 more shots a game than Yao, while only scoring 3 ppg less... SO I NOW COME TO YOU FANS, AND BEG YOU TO TRY AND FIX THIS. THERE ARE 11 DAYS LEFT TO VOTE, GET THE RIGHT GUYS THERE!
2 comments:
I definitely agree with what your saying. But, all stars has always been a popularity contest. That's why Chris Bosh put out the stupid video of himself begging the fans to vote for him for all stars. And only reason Yao is winning in votes by that much is because China is a very populous country. And guess who most the people in China is voting for??? Yao and T-mac, because theyre on the same team. So if you think about it, it's the people in China who are messing up our All Star roster. But then, there are people who are voting for Gilbert.... If you voted for Gilbert, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Come on NBA fans... do some RESEARCH before you VOTE!!!!
I agree whole-heartedly with the China impact on the all star game... Tmac and Yao are guaranteed a spot every year because China alone votes them in. This year provides more examples as well though. Yi is having a much better year than expected for the Bucks, but he is still only an average player at best in the L. His season stats: 10.4 ppg, 6.1 rpg. Not bad for a rookie, but no way for an allstar. He has MORE votes than the likes of Caron Butlers 22,7,5 a game, as well as about 100 more deserving players. China's new found impact on the voting makes this more of a popularity contest than ever.
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