All-Star Starters Announced (McGrady is a starter)

Some of the votes do look weird. Like the Ridnour over Ray Allen, or Bruce Bowen the #3 most popular forward in the game.

Also weird is how many votes the top vote getters got this year. I just read the AP article, which said that the previous record for votes was Yao 4 years ago at 2.5 mil. Yet just about every starter this year got more than that. Kobe, Lebron, Wade, Duncan, Yao, Howard... It's like a steroid-enhanced voting this year or something.

 

pathetic.

 

is he in or not?

 

I usually think fan voting is underrated. If you look back over the years, the fans seem to have an idea who the true superstars are, while the coaches (supposedly better at picking All-Stars according to some) have picked the most ridiculous and controversial "Stars" in history. Dale Davis, Wally Szczerbiak, Jamaal Magloire, Rasheed Wallace in the past few years, all these guys were picked by the coaches. The coaches often operate under fallacious logic, saying that someone isn't a star just because their team sucks and lets them down. That's why they pick 2nd or 3rd best players on a good team, which results in non-stars being given the honor.

But this year has been particularly bad for fan voting. They've selected two guys, Allen Iverson and Tracy McGrady, who have name recognition from previous accomplishments but have no business going to the All-Star game this year. AI was picked over NJ's breakout star Devin Harris, as well as Vince Carter. Carter is a former fan favorite and is perennially underrated by the coaches and media who have jumped on his anti-bandwagon; he has been and is still a legit All-Star caliber player. T-Mac, who is averaging an embarrassing 15.4 ppg on 0.388 FG%, has been picked over a number of worthy West Coast guards, including MVP candidate Chris Paul.

If T-Mac were performing anywhere near an All-Star level I wouldn't have a problem with him being voted in, even if some other All-Star was snubbed for the starter slot. But he's not. He's been underperforming and injured, and doesn't even want to go.

 

Nevermind, I just saw the latest numbers which look SO suspicious. T-Mac's out but AI's still in. Bowen has apparently become more popular than Melo, although he didn't make it in.

 

the NBA has a rule where if you play a game before the ASG, you MUST play in it.

i think the NBA and tracy don't want the controversy so they just altered the votes.

 

That was homer and the simpsons

 

This happened last year, didn't it?

 

http://www.nba.com/2009/allstar2009/01/22/starters.garcia.0122/index.html


WESTERN CONFERENCE STARTERS

Yao Ming, Houston Rockets
In Houston's first half of uncertainty, Yao (19.9 ppg, 9.6 rpg) has been a 7-foot-6 rock. Where would the Rockets be without him?

Amar'e Stoudemire, Phoenix Suns
Anyway you spell it, he's back. Phoenix's leading scorer (21.3 ppg) is bound to give the hometown fans a special treat come February.

Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs
If efficient is boring, winning must be too. San Antonio's anchor is putting together another stellar campaign (20.4 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 3.5 apg) without much fanfare.

Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers
His team is cruising in the West and Kobe (26.8 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 5.2 apg) is doing the same. Could No. 24 be headed to a second straight MVP?

Chris Paul, New Orleans Hornets
CP3 will have something to say in the MVP votes. The do-it-all quarterback leads the league in assists (11.0) and steals (2.7), while scoring 21.2 ppg.

 

i never said paul doesnt deserve to be an all-star he sure as hell is an all star if anyone is. all i am saying that this whole fan voting this is BS and that the league will put in the players they want to market as the starters as much as they can. of course these players will always be the top players, but it would be sort of a black mark on the league that tracy mcgrady is a starter especially with the season he is having which isnt even good for the NBDL all star game. with tmac starting it would basically mean that the fan voting system is flawed and their push to make the fan more involved unlike any other league is a mistake.

heck for that matter Amare hasnt played nearly as well this year as seasons past, there are other forwards in the west having more productive seasons than him but he somehow makes that big jump in the last tally..weird isnt? where is the game again this year? phoenix oh thats right.

but the league wouldnt go out and do something outrageous like place nash as a starter because clearly he isnt nearly as popular as kobe, paul tmac etc.

it was the same for mcgrady when he rose to be a star in this league in orlando the league was pushing for his popularity because it was beneficial to the league.

for example the same year when tmac came to houston nash went to the suns and lead them to a great record and the suns were the talk of the league. nash is a starter and tmac was still playing outstanding basketball as the league was pushing the tmac/yao duo (remember that it was the rockets, heat and lakers that had the most national tv games that year) and kept mcgrady as a starter by making him a forward since he was a "G/F" They pushed out garnett that year who while still putting up great numbers was on a wolves squad that was going nowhere...no one likes to root for a losing team...now look at garnett on boston you see him everywhere on league commercials and other ads and he is a starter again though he isnt putting up the numbers he has been in the past, but he is on a winning team. Even if Yi had 2x the number of votes that garnett or lebron did no way he would be starting the league wouldnt allow that.

by the same token both nash and tmac have drastically declined but still playing at a pretty high level (not tmac this year..yet) but their teams are no longer the talk of the league while the hornets are.


all i am saying is that the fan voting thing is a total joke the league manipulated the totals as it sees fit to help its own image and agenda.

seriously the fact that marbury is not even on the list is ridiculous since everyone who voted for marbury was also supposed to vote for ridnour and i am sure after it became known that was the case the league stopped counting votes for luke but probably increased them a little just to make it look like luke was getting votes on his own.

if its truly fan voting then let the fans vote and do not let anyone else tamper with the totals. i would have a third party company handle the votes and not the league itself to get unbiased totals. its like asking the republican or democratic nominee to count the votes for the president in a closed setting where no one knows whats going on and then to give us the numbers.

I didnt vote for mcgrady at all but there are plenty of people out there who did, i dont agree with them but their opinions matter just as everyone else so if there were more people out there who voted for mcgrady than paul and the other guards than he should be starting in the all-star game whether he deserves it or not.


the whole all-star game is a joke

the only thing i like was the 3pt shootout and the dunk contest but the nba keeps trying to bastardize the dunk contest and keep taking away the things that made it great and now putting in new rules and limiting number of entrants to make it more marketable. the pg skills thing is a complete JOKE, but its better than that wnba, legends, nba 2 ball thing.

 

great post YoYo.

I think the quality of the all star weekend hinges on the dunk contest. It shows how the league and its players value the weekend. I think the players just don't care as much about the weekend as they did in the past. Seriously, Jordan was in it, Clyde, Dr. J, VC, Kobe, they all went in the dunk contest and made it fun to watch.

It's like the current star wings think they're to good for it or something. What does it take to get Lebron and Wade in the dunk contest?

I think David Noel and James White are in the dleague. If they have a dunk contest it'll probably be better than the nba's.

 

with he be a reserve?

 

This shows how delusional the Tmac fans are. Tmac IS NOT STARTING, yet they still think he is.

sad.

 

Reserves are chosen by the coaches not the fans.

 

well then he is out...