Who cares what you guys think! over 900,000 and counting think differently about T-Mac. If the fans want to see him there, then too bad for you guys. Im happy for T-Mac and this should show him that he still has many believers and maybe that would push him to get back healthy and get back to being regarded as one of the best players the NBA has to ofer. Instead of knocking him down, be happy for him and hope that it changes his season around. So much negativity on this forum for a team that is not doing bad at all
Mr Commissioner, are you seeing this? Do you realize how influential the Chinese fan base is?! Maybe you should think about instructing the refs to show some respects to Yao when he is on the count?
Have NO fans votes at ALL, or yeah count Non-US votes less. Still, all the marketing, media bias and attention centered on the Lakers and in the past the Bulls, I dont think its unfair the Rockets or another team gets the same imbalanced fan focus. All-Star as a deserving, distinguished honor of excellence compared to letting fans decide All-Stars they want to see dunk and do behind-the-back passes - two entirely separate things. I think as long as long as fans have a say in it, it slightly lessens the genuineness of the All-Star title. Fans just vote for the starters only, not the complete lineups. So its half fans/half genuine choices.
Hah! I'm beginning to think that the Chinese government chartered a department for the specific purpose of voting Yi into the all-star game. A farce, a travesty, a joke, whatever you call it.. anyone who watches basketball knows he shouldn't even be in the conversation. What a shame...
I don't think there is really much of a case for altering the system. It would appear pretty hypocritical in light of Stern's push for globalization. Everyone has equal access to the balloting - you can't just weight the votes differently because you don't like the results. But yes, the fact that T-Mac and Yi are in the race is pretty embarrassing.
18 more days left, T-Mac up my 100,000 votes, I think he got this in the bag. Hopefully this boosts up his confidence..
It's not, and frankly all the self-righteous anger in this thread is useless. The All Star Game has never been about the best players. It is a sheer popularity contest and always will be. Every year there are well-deserving players who don't make it, and every year there are underperforming players who make it in due to their popularity. Tracy McGrady is still one of the most popular basketball players in the world. Deal with it.
Which begs the question, why the hell is Tracy McGrady still one of the most popular players? He's been on a downward spiral for a while now thanks to his injuries and attitude.
Or maybe Stern will just say screw it and count each Chinese vote as 1/3 a regular vote? The NBA. Where rigging ***** happens.
Garnett 1.1 million votes Pierce 387,105 votes Josh Smith 131,281 votes AI 1 million votes Deven Harris 359,442 votes Gilbert Arenas who hasn't played this season 283,030 votes Tracy Mcgrady 961,852 votes Chris Paul 867,889 votes Fans vote for whomever they want. Pierce is the MVP of the Celtics not Garnett. AI isn't very good anymore. Arenas hasn't played this season. It's not just Rockets players. Also making the allstar game might help Tracy with his confidence. He is very weak mentally and need all the help he can get.
BTW for those who don't follow other sports, baseball is worse. In any given year the Yankees and Red Sox will have the guy hitting 7th in the All-Star game, or some no-name middle relief man having a career season. I honestly hope the Rockets get three guys in. At least we'll have a team to cheer for with some leadership that will allow T-Mac to take it easy and just play his game.
how does making an exhibition game help his confidence? he's been in the league 12 years, not like he's a young player. he does not care about the allstar game and will not go if chosen.
I just voted for the Rockets players sans Battier for the All-Star team. I know they all don't deserve to make it, but it would be cool if we could get the starting five all Houston players.
even if T-mac has the votes to get in, he will probably get taken out, like last year. He mysteriously faded off the ballot when he said that he shouldn't be in it.
No, because their votes are concentrated towards a few players or teams. It's akin to the popular vote vs electoral vote debate. Certain "states" (players/teams, in this case) are getting overly represented because of extremely disproportionate size of their fanbase due to international stardom. The all-star voting is already unfair due to bias towards players playing in large media markets. Now you have a bias towards players with an international following, which exacerbates things even more.
Well, at least we know Rockets' players are more popular than other NBA players by 'human head count'. Who really care? As long as they are voted in, they deserve it because more fans want to watch them in All-Stars game. All-Stars game is no longer for Canada and US fans only. That's why NBA title is equivalent to World title. Damn! in fact, all commentator and fans called the winner, World Champ.
