Yao Ming and Shaquille O'Neal lead NBA All-Star balloting

It's sad people still vote so much for that punk Kobe. Way worse than people voting for Vince. Everyone should vote for Nash, so we can have a T-Mac/Nash backcourt with Yao in the middle. Now that would be awesome if it were reality.

 

Don't take things for granted.
I think Yao will get more advantages if they don't count China's votes.According to Chinese BBS,there are too many Yao haters in China.And they vote for Dampier because he always make Yao embarrassed. Despite of this,how can a 8pts7rebs player get 109,763 votes?Don't tell me it's because he is the "second best center".
On the contray,many Yao fans didn't vote.Just like myself,for example.Because they think Yao will definitely lead in western centers.
The Chinese votes doesn't have too much impact.Otherwise Dampier can't only get 109,763 votes.And SF3 will lead other eastern guards.You see,it seems that fans miss him very much.
So Yao get most votes just because other centers suck.It doesn't mean he is the best or he is the most popular.
BTW,if I vote,I will select J.O'neal.Anyway he is the best boxer in the league.

 

Come on man. He's just being sarcastic.

 

so many people have to chim in and give smara$$ comments like "Yao is not really good, just others sucks". Well, what can you do? if you are that good, but you are not on the ballot, so you can NOT be in ASG to represent any high level. Last time I checked, Dream, Ewing, even Rik Smith (spelling?) are not on the ballot. Are you going to leave the center position open or choose the less sucked Yao?!!

I just hate ASG, every year, a Rockets player is on, so many "true Rockets fans" are offended and upset, coz the pure sport is vandalized, and true basketball geniuses are insulted. WTF is wrong with this board! ASG is just an entertaining game, some people like tough guy, some people like soft ones, and it just happened, 3 years in a row, tons of people like sucked Yao. Give over with it!

 

FYI, Stevie made his first all-star appearance BEFORE Yao arrived.

I think they should just ignore the whole "center" thing. If you can have two shooting guards, why not have two PFs. It was sad to see Nazr Mahamed, Malgorie etc became all-star just because they are called "centers"

 

They CAN have 2 PFs. It's hard to believe your trolling can get even more stupid.

 

for rockets fans, in a small way, yao getting so many votes makes up for the lack of votes hakeem used to get when he played because he wasnt as popular...

 

Just curious..

How much does outward appearance effect popularity?

If you look at the leagues most popular players they are all good looking..

Kobe/TMac/VCarter/AIverson/Yao/ and so on.

and then the people who dont get the ASG votes or not as much as they should are more facially challenged.

SCassell / Amare do you think these guys dont get as many votes cuz they are ugly? do you think it plays any part?

 

LOL, I mean three PFs. PFs are playing centers anyway these days.

It is funny that you can be 35th in ppg and 25th in rpg and still leading the all-star vote.

 

hmmm. good question. so how does Yao only have 880000 votes? considering if most of those Chinese fans vote for Yao online.

 

As was mentioned several times, Shaq won the Internet voting last year, Yao won the balloting done in arenas.

 

Good question. I personally think it does. At least to some degree.

If Yao looked like Muresan and MJ looked like Hedo before the nose job....you have to wonder if they would be as popular.

 

do you think the league wants to push the better looking athletes?

I have been wondering about that for some time..

If you look at the All Star game most of the players voted in would be considered good/average looking.

not that many butt-ass ugly players..

J

 

I don't know about all that. lol

It might not be a coincidence that good athletes, who are very healthy individuals, happen to be good looking though. Afterall, "good looking" and "healthy looking" is related somewhat. It's nature's way to ensure survival of "healthy genes".

Just my 2 cents. I hope this doesn't turn into a social-political issue.

 

Considering how popular Yao and T-Mac are, you have to kind of wonder about the attendance figures in Houston. Either the Houston fans are an unbelievably tough sell or the marketing totally sucks.

 

I think it's a combination of a tough sell and more importantly, our product sucks!

NBA is a franchise just like Pizza Hut. If your pizza tastes like my left butt cheek, I don't care how good the pizza looks, I'm not paying for it. Right now, our product don't even look good. Once we start winning, things will look better, and people will pay.

Fan loyalty is very hard to come by at this day and age. Teams don't stay together long enough. I admire many on this site who will stay life long Rox fans. To me, modern sports teams are products and nothing more. If the product is not good, why pay for it?

I find the "You only became a Rockets fan for Yao/Tmac/SF" "insult" silly. Admirable, but silly.

 

does it have tomato and onion sauce on it?

 

The Houston fans are a tough sell and the team is boring to watch. But if they start winning, they will start selling out.

It's a football town. The Texans keep selling out despite being a losing team for the 3rd year in a row.

 

lol

Take my word for it, tomato and onion sauce will not make my left butt cheek taste any better.

 

the first 3 years of their existence, of course.

look..you have to put a compelling product on the field/court in MOST cities in America to get people to show up. particularly so in big cities with warm weather climates.

oddly...boston..the mecca of all things american sport...can't sell tickets to see the celts. know why?? because they're boring and have been for quite some time. the nets are only a couple of years removed from a finals appearance...they can't sell jack either, in a huge population center. people don't go to arizona cardinals football games. they don't show up for new orleans hornets games. they never showed up in dallas before cuban started bringing in compelling, entertaining players. phoenix had years and years of sellout streaks broken after they sold off barkley. and on and on.

entertainment dollars can be spent anywhere. and frankly, it takes a lot of them to get into an NBA game. if there's not a good product on the court, people aren't paying. particularly the average joe who isn't freaky enough to spend time posting on a website devoted to the team.