ALL-STAR balloting: Steve and Yao are second in their places

The photos at the bottom of that article are hilarious. Everybody has a huge Kool-Aid smile except for Big Ben Wallace.

Probably because he's unorthodoxed.

 

It will be interesting to see if Payton catches Francis for the 2nd guard on the West starters. Being in LA I am sure Payton is getting a lot more votes this year.

I am sure Yao and Shaq will go down to the wire.

I admit that I am surprised LeBron does not have as many votes as he currently does via all the hype! I thought for sure he would be a shoe in as an East starting Guard but it looks like he is back a bit there.

Amazing how Vince hasn't lost ANY luster during the last two years while he was injured. He is still the most popular NBA player via those votes!

And Wallace being 2nd OVERALL in voting? That indeed is unorthadoxed!
I think that has a lot to do with ZERO competition for East centers! He is getting just about every East center vote.

 

a lot of you really do underestimate vince carter. notice, since he's gotten some help, that the raps are playing exceptional ball. what have they won, like, 8 of their last 9? 4 or 5 with 100+ pts? and, down the stretch of games, it has been vince carter that has taken over the games - demanding the ball and either making the big shot or the correct pass to win.

watch a bunch of raps games (not just 2 or 3) then come back and say vince is overrated. vince is outstanding.

 

If I remember correctly, Yao was behind Shaq at the same time last year. And we all know what have happened. Nothing to worry about.

 

I guess this show last year votes for Yao was no fluke. Because if it is a fluke and a majority came from China...then surely the trench should be continued today...but it's not.

 

For those people who can read Chinese, you need to open a similar thread in all Chinese forums and make sure everyone votes for Yao.

Make sure the word gets out, Yao is NOT going to start if we don't start doing this.

How horrible would it be to have Payton, Kobe and Shaq all starting? 3/5ths of the line up would be Lakers.

Let's get 2 Rockets in there, get some more exposure.

Don't forget to tell the Chinese fans to vote for Francis as well. Any help over there is appreciated, but hurry, get going.

 

Suprised to see Francis in 2nd. I really don't see him holding on to that. I will do what I can to make sure he does. I think Payton will end up getting it, though.

Yao will probably end up starting, either because he wins the vote or because Shaq is hurt.

 

i'd rather yao not get voted in, but as previously posted he'd probably have to do the all-rookie thing if he wasn't voted to the regular game.

Yao might not even deserve to be voted into the game. Shaq deserves it more and I think a major case could be made for Brad Miller over Yao.

I would also rather have Yao rest, but I guess he'd still have to play the rookie-sophmore game if he wasn't voted in the regular game.

Lastly, Yao probably has the worst game to showcase in an all-star game. He's a half-court guy and you won't be seeing him do behind the back passes running the break. Maybe he and Stevie can come up with a play where Yao interlocks his hands and lean down then Stevie take s a running start and steps on Yao the human catapult and gets launched in the air for the world's highest alleyoop. Shaq would be used as a prop as Stevie would be jumping over him with his hands raised.

 

Regardless of the other issues (whether Yao's tired, whether he's a good All-Star player)... point is, from a statistical point of view, I'm surprised to see how close Yao is this year to shaq's performance:

Yao: 35.0 mpg, 49.6 FG%, 75.2 FT%, 10.1 RPG, 2.0 APG, 2.0 BPG, 17.3 PPG

Shaq: 35.2 mpg, 53.0 FG%, 52.2 FT%, 11.70 RPG, 2.9 APG, 2.74 BPG, 19.9 PPG.

In almost all of these categories, Shaq is still doing better than Yao. There's no doubt about it, Shaq's still a better player. But at this point in their careers, these statistics are surprisingly similar.

 

NEW YORK -- Kobe Bryant tops the Western Conference in voting for the NBA All-Star Game, leading the Los Angeles Lakers this season while his sexual assault case in Colorado goes forward.


He drew 577,505 votes in the fan vote for the Feb. 15 game in Los Angeles. Vince Carter of the Toronto Raptors led all players with 696,652 votes.


The vote totals Thursday were the first released by the league. Balloting continues through Jan. 18.


Bryant is averaging 21-8 points a game, helping the Lakers to a league-best 18-3 start. The guard is charged with attacking a woman in June at a resort. He has said the two had consensual sex.


Other Western Conference leaders were Steve Francis of Houston (286,515) at the other guard slot, Kevin Garnett of Minnesota (539,280) and Tim Duncan of San Antonio (515,009) at the forwards, and Shaquille O'Neal of the Lakers (534,380) at center.


Joining Carter as leaders in the Eastern Conference balloting were Jermaine O'Neal of Indiana (542,673) at the other forward, Allen Iverson of Philadelphia (566,713) and Tracy McGrady of Orlando (417,529) at the guards, and Ben Wallace of Detroit (597,959) at center.

 

[heresy on]Neither Steve or Yao is playing well enough to start the all-star game this season.[/heresy off]

 

DONT FORGET AMAECHI FOR THE WRITE IN!!!!

 

We shall vote for Cat and Stevie, Yao has his Yao-only-fan to vote him in. Hurry up, folks, go for Cat and SF3.

 

"Yao Ming (Hou.) 414,063
Brad Miller (Sac.) 51,410"

So much for the posts several weeks ago hyping Miller as a potential threat to Yao in the All Star voting. Not even close.
The AS game is a popularity contest above all and the fans love Shaq and Yao.

 

i dont think yao would get tired playing the all star game; how many minutes did he play last year again?

 

For the umpteenth time - The ASG is a popularity contest where fans VOTE IN the starters with a huge to little to NO regards for ability. That said Yao and Francis' stats are notbad enough to make them starting in the next ASG laughable or inconceivable.

 

I read somewhere that last year most of Yao's votes came from arenas and NBA stores, in other words from American voters. Looks like the same is happening this year.

 

When did Ben Wallace become so popular?!?

Well I am amazed Steve is still popular..he's not that great. But of course..we should be grateful and happy that he is a Rocket.

Yao owned Brad Miller at least.

 

Wallace is getting a ton of votes because he has like no competition... the 2nd place eastern center right now is Mourning who retired earlier this year

 

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.hts/sports/bk/bkn/2289400

All-Star totals

Rockets guard Steve Francis and center Yao Ming are second in the first update of All-Star voting, putting Francis in position to start his third All-Star Game in four seasons.

"That's good, real good," Francis said. "Hopefully I can continue to keep that going."

That said, Francis said he wouldn't necessarily mind not getting voted onto the All-Star Game roster by the fans if that meant being selected by the coaches. Francis leads Gary Payton by just 38,635 votes. Shaquille O'Neal leads Yao by 120,317 votes.

"This year, I think I have a better chance of getting voted in by the coaches because I think my defense is a lot better," Francis said. "That's what Rudy (Tomjanovich) told me. He told me the reason he thought I could never get voted in by the coaches and didn't get voted in my second year was because my defense wasn't good.

"It's good enough now that hopefully people will start respecting it."

####

Francis, better hope you get VOTED on, if not then look for him to NOT make it with the way he is playing this year. Nash, Marbury, Payton all are having solid years.