Shaq and Kobe were media darlings alright, they tried hard to give them MVPs too, only to have Shaq always unfit and play half a season, and for Kobe to end up #2 or #3 many times (moreover Kobe was himself #2 on his own team in his formative winning seasons). They gave an extra one to Malone cos they got tired of voting for Jordan. So if not Malone, Jordan should have ended up with 7 MVPs, would you complain about that media bias too? I agree about Nash. Hakeem vs Robinson was debatable, but Robinson did have the better numbers and record before the playoffs. There's just one MVP per year, so it can exacerbate the impression of a media bias. If the league gives more credit to top five players other than All-NBA, like a tennis ranking #2, #3 etc based on MVP voting splits, you may feel the media is less biased.
It's never been this absurd. The popularity contest aspect really only meant that a player or 2 might have been snubbed out of being a starter in the game. Andrew Wiggins really isn't even an all-star at all, much less a starter. I could accept him being on the team bc he is having a solid year and he's been an important piece for a good team, but him being a starter in this game is an embarrassment for the league. This would be like Enrique Hernandez starting over Mike Trout. It's worse than that really, but that's the first comparison that comes to my mind early this morning.
Sorry how old were you when Nash won the NBA. the 05-06 MVP race wasn't even close. The Suns won 54 games without Amare purely on Nash organizing the offense on insane efficiency where Dirk was on a fully healthy stacked team. If you look at the votings, the 2005 race was actually way closer between Shaq and Nash. If anything he got snubbed in 2007 because of voter fatigue. Kobe didn't deserve a single MVP, he spent most of his prime stat padding on a shitty Lakers team that was not winning many games. He won the 2008 MVP purely on media narrative and robbed Chris Paul blind. Chris Paul was better in almost every statistical category and his team had one fewer win than the Lakers. Too bad he didn't get to play with Pau Gasol
LMFAO it really was KPOP fans in... Thailand that made Wiggins an all star https://www.yahoo.com/now/wiggins-owes-assist-k-pop-160019042.html Is that more embarrassing than not making it?
At least when an entire nation dogplied on their few/only NBA player(s) to get him to an all-star game, it was the collective effort and nationalistic spirit to elevate on of their brothers to immortality, sure it may have taken away a spot from someone more deserving, but the intention was more than understandable. This is just insane.
Wiggins might pull a "Shaq" and become one of the few players in NBA history whose FTs regressed throughout their career
Wiggins deserves at least to be part of the ASG, you know who didn’t: - some of those Hawks in 2014 or whatever it was, getting in solely based on a story the NBA wanted to put out there - BJ Armstrong in 93-94
Eh, I mean better pts, rebs and assists. But he's a poor shooter. Wouldn't put him in the all star game though.
