Kevin Love starting over Dwight Howard in All-Star Game

You can't say that all of Asik's votes would go to Howard because most likely those are from Asik-Only-Fans from Turkey who probably hate Dwight for what he did to Omer.

 

*puts tinfoil hat*
LOFs didn't vote for Howard!?! Would not be surprised if they gave their votes to Love to bump Dwight out of a starters spot.
"If Lin doesn't make it... no Rocket will make it!"

Oh well hope this snub gets to them

 

well LMA played big on TNT last night scored 44 the day the all-star news came out, what will Howard do tonight, will he make his statement ?

the last two games we won against the grizzlies were with asik finishing the 4th on the road holding z-bo & dmo finishing the 4th with his energy in Houston. Must win tonight.

 

Clips are a lot better than Timberwolves. That isn't on Love.

If Blake and Griffen switch places, what would the teams' records look like?

 

Hope this lights a fire under harden and Howard

 

I feel like the elimination of Center is like the Stern olive branch to Adam Silver so he can come in and save the day on something when he takes over. There has to be a better way to engage fans without the embarrassing starting lineups they trot out when little kids vote for for their favorite player from the fatheads on their wall.

 

http://dlvr.it/4mlht5

Kurt helin breakdown

Dwight Howards popularity decline as measured In all-star fan votes

When the surprise announcement came that Kevin Love and Blake Griffin had leapfrogged Dwight Howard to become All-Star Game starters this season — leaving the Rockets’ big man for the coaches to pick as a reserve — my first thought was “that’s a huge Lakers fans base that he pissed off.” They took their vote elsewhere (to Love, who Lakers fans think will be in their colors in a couple of years).

However, Howard’s issue bigger than just the Lakers — how he handled his exit from Orlando (trying to force a trade, then pulling back on that and waiving his opt-out, then forcing a trade again) followed by the injury-riddled disaster in Los Angeles last season has hurt Howard’s popularity everywhere. Howard’s demeanor of wanting to have fun can be spun as a guy not serious about winning or his craft (which isn’t really true), and that doesn’t sit well with fans.

You can see it in the number of All-Star votes Howard has gotten over the years, which were compiled by Jeff Caplan of NBA.com and he added some other notes.

There are other factors in play here, for sure. The biggie is the NBA removed the “center” designation on the ballot last season so fans didn’t have to vote for a center, they could vote for an undersized front line where LeBron James has to play center if they want (which the fans did this season, pairing LeBron, Carmelo Anthony and Paul George up front for the East).

Also, there are young stars on the rise in Western frontcourts — Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge and others. They siphon votes away from Howard.

But obviously Howard’s popularity has taken a serious hit as well.

As I’ve said before, Howard can repair that image by winning — Kobe Bryant and LeBron also took serious PR hits in the past but in this country winning trumps that. Those two have largely re-written their image. It is the only model for Howard — and the Rockets are a good team, albeit one still trying to really find its identity. They are inconsistent right now, but should grow out of it (and there will be roster tweaks coming).

This is also why you suddenly see Howard back in the pool to play for Team USA, maybe at the World Championships this summer, maybe at the Rio Olympics in 2016. Howard has a gold medal from Beijing, but his image could use another one.

With some wins you’ll see Howard’s image change again, slowly. With that you could see changes in the All-Star voting. But the fan vote is a popularity contest and right now Howard is losing.

​

 

Yeah, I usually don't pay attention to that stuff but the comment section on any article about Dwight, that isn't on this site, is loaded with people hating on Dwight. Even though the standings pretty much vindicate his decision there are a lot of haters in Southern Cali and every other town he dissed in choosing Houston. I'm fine with it. He'll get his marketability back as long as we keep on winning.

 

Howard's vote losses also have to do with the fact that his surgery & subsequent recovery and playing into game shape kept him out of the cool kid spotlight(ESPN highlight reels) for a little over a season. That's a large part of what makes a "star" in the eyes of the layman who largely determines the voting outcome.

I know he wore the purple & gold, but I think most of us saw his first month in Houston that he was clearly still not 100% up until recently....and certainly the dunks are coming much more frequently now than they were earlier in the season or when he was a Laker.

 

LOL! You're crazy bro.

 

And this will be the 4th year in a row where I watch ZERO of the all-star activities. I didn't even look at last years, I was just pissed it brought in weirdos and terrible traffic.

 

The Lakers would probably be in the playoff hunt. MAYBE.

 

Cool, nobody is forcing you to.

 

I thought it was removed moreso because of Duncan? Yao was getting in regardless...it was Duncan who no one knew was a PF or Center

 

The NBA needs to add the C position back to the voting process and make it so that the media/coaches have the majority of the vote. Fans should get 1/3 of the vote, so they are appeased but I am tired of the popularity contest thing for the NBA All Star Game. Their are players that are starting in the game that do not deserve to be there at all. I love Melo but his team sucks and the same goes for Love. Don't even get me started on Kobe. He has only played in 6 games and he gets in, that is BS. Should be:
WEST:
Howard
Griffin
Durant
Harden
Curry

 

Because only 40 percent of cable viewers get to see games due to long-running Comcast/Rockets/Astros carriage contract problems, I wonder lots of local people in Houston even did not vote Howard for an all-star center. Howard just did not get enough votes due to the hating in the LA area, the Dallas area etc. Likely he did not get many votes from the Houston area either. Next year, the rockets need do a better job for the promotion for our players.

 

Do the NBA "powers that be" ever really explain why they do things, aside from some frivolous BS tossed to the sports media, so they can feed the nonsense to the fans of the NBA? I think The Yoyo's speculation is as good an explanation as your thoughts about Duncan being the reason. In fact, I lean towards his take, that it had more to do with Yao getting in despite missing so many games to injury, in much the same way Bryant is getting in now. Another factor, in my opinion, is that the rule changes giving so much of an advantage to wings and perimeter play are also being considered by them. So is this a coincidence? Of course not. I think the league front office assumed that a center like Dwight would be voted in, so this absurdity, something demeaning to the All Star game, again in my opinion, wouldn't come up as a problem. Yet it has, and it is making the league look foolish, as it should.

For those saying that the All Star game is just a lark for the fans during the break, and really means little from a basketball sense, I wish some of you had watched Ralph Sampson win the MVP in 1985. I thought it was damned exciting. Olajuwon was there as well, and having 2 representatives for the Rockets made me very proud. The next season, those two carried us to the Finals, which was very special. I hope we have two there this year. Howard and Harden both deserve to be there, as well as Aldridge. It's way past time to stop making the All Star game a joke. Way past time. Things need to change.

 

LOL how are you goig to complain about it being a popularity contest and then in your starting 5 screw Aldridge for Griffin??

 

Who cares about team performance though? this is the all star game, not MVP voting.

 

Didn't Lebron James just leave his team? Didn't Carmelo Anthony do the same thing? weird.