OK - I will say this again, since my last post is a little long David Stern was interviewed last week and he said that he wants to replace the "dream-teamers" who defect with "COLLEGE AGED PLAYERS" (Wade, Mello, LeBron, etc.) I still think SF3 is getting shafted, but the league had now stated publically that it wants to get the younger players on the Olympic teams (something about - they are more excited by it, etc.)
You have to admit the reputation of a player being flashy and exciting does play a huge role in who the fans vote for. Vince Carter has been the NBA’s top vote getter for several seasons now despite not playing a majority of his games. Is that not a sign that the fans do not always vote on merit?
Vince Carter was also selected for the Olympic team. Francis is not perceived as incompetent around the league, as much as many people here want him to be.
That's a cop-out by Stern; They don't want "college aged" players; they wanted the best players, that's what the idea was back in 2002 after sent a bunch of "young stars" to the worlds who got their asses kicked. If Shaq and Kobe and Garnett turned around and said they'd go they wouldn't be welcomed with open arms? That's just sour grapes..."you guys don't want to play? Oh, well that's ok, we really wanted younger players anyway." Yeah, sure.
You probably did not read it right. The fans did not vote for Steve fairly, ... 1 person, 1 vote. We are talking about one person filling hundreds of ballots. Did other teams do the same? I don't know. I read somewhere on this BBS that other teams didn't push it as much. Whether they did or not is really not important, why, you ask? i.e. If there were 1,000 fans each voted 100 times for Steve versus 900 fans each voted 100 times for another PG, the result is not proof that fans across the US thought Steve deserve to be an All star. All it means is there are lots of fans voted a bunch of times for Steve.
Other teams do do the same, I've been to games in many NBA cities, that's what they do. And they have higher attendance too. But anyway, please provide some proof, if you can, at all, as to why ballot stuffing was more significanly prevalent in the (sparsely attended) Compaq and Toyota Centers than anywhere else in the NBA from 2001-2004 This is really absurd, if you think this is true then why aren't Kelvin Cato, Cuttino Mobley, & Jim Jackson also starting in the all star game? I don't understand why it is so hard for people to accept other people's lack of hate.
Come on guys Kobe got voted in one year and he wasn't even starting on his own team. The fans want dunks, they don't care about winning at the all star game. Get a grip. DD
I am sure that it is (a cop out) - Stern hates that the stars are ditchin' the games (after all that work to get the Dream Team together) But I wanted to inject Stern's statements into the dialog - since I think they have meaning here -[ ie. he was saying "OK stars if you don't want to play, we will just get these 'FUTURE ALL STARS' to play our game.... they are more important anyway"] ... kind of a cry baby if you ask me
I never said ballot stuffing was more prevalent in Houston. I never said that other cities didn't do it. Don't you get it? What does it matter if we had 1,000 or 5,000 more fans voted for Steve than the other guy? If everyone did it "legally", 1 person, 1 vote, then I will subscribe to the theory that "lots of fans" liked Steve. The way it happened, sure, Steve might have some fans, like yourself, but I do not believe Steve had/ have 900,000 fans. BTW, back to my reply to the thread's orginal post. I'll say it again ... Wade is a stud and deserves to be on the US team as much as any one, and more than others.
It doesn't matter how he got voted in or all that 1person 1 vote stuff, because the fact is that for 3 years in a row, Steve Francis was voted the most popular PG in the West for the all-star game, period. Yes, Wade is a stud, but to say that he deserves to be on the US team as much as anyone is ridiculous. There are tons of players that deserve to be on that team WWAAYY more than Wade, including Francis. But its just sad to see the Olympic team the way it is. What use to be an honor in representing your country, has turned into a rookie all-star game. We thought we could send anyone over and kick butt and we lost, just like we deserved to. And if Stu Jackson isn't careful, we will lose again.
All star players will always get votes from different demographics... 1) Some hometown fans will vote for home town players no matter what. 2) Some hometown fans will vote for home town players if they have shown they can play at an "all-star" level. 3) Some hometown fans will vote for a favorite player based on game knowledge, skills, and winning ablity. 4) Some outside fans will vote for a favorite player based on highlights/magazines and general popularity. 5) Some outside fans will vote for a favorite player based on game knowledge, skills, and winning ablity. 6) Some outside fans will vote for their home town players no matter what. A 15 year old Sixer fan (just an example) is more likely to vote for Francis than a 30 year old Sixer fan. So, if you were to use Stockton and Francis as examples. How many younger fans (outside Houston) would have voted for him? And how many older fans (outside Houston) would have voted for Stockton? I'm not saying that one vote total is more than the other. Just trying to show that each player *get* their votes from different groups. Each player gets their votes from different demographcis and age group. One will vote on who apeals to them. That's why there are a lot of kids that like Francis: "He's gotz mad skillz! Did you see that dunk he did last night? It was sick!"
It's fine if you think Francis is not fundamentally sound or that he is not smart, and therefore he's not the best choice for the NT. The problem with this argument, however, is that Wade is pretty much in the same mode of Francis, only younger and less experienced. Why is Wade mentioned and Francis not? I think that gives away the real reason: Stu.
I'd like to remind everyone of one thing...Stu J may be head of the selection committee, but he by no means has the power or influence to exclude any one player from the team just because he holds a personal grudge against him. The voting board is made up of several successful, very well established former players/coaches who don't give a damn what Stu boy thinks. They are simply looking to field a team with the best chance of winning...and let's face it, Franchise does not have a reputation of being a winner.
This is getting too obvious man. Previously when Francis is denied Olympic spot, you could argue that Kidd/Marbuary is better PG, maybe Bibby too, LeBron maybe more popular. But Wade? He is neither better, nor more popular. And he never even publically said he wants to play in the Olympics... Absolute power leads to absolute corruption...
I agree with you. SF3's "And 1" gme is simply not suited for international play. To make the team, he'd need to be considered as a 2 and he's not about to crack that lineup. I would be most curious to also see Larry Brown's opinion of SF.
