What a stupid article!!! http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060205/SPORTS01/602050334/1108/SPORTS01 The real NBA All-Stars By MIKE DOUGHERTY/NBA IN FOCUS THE JOURNAL NEWS (Original publication: February 5, 2006) Ignore all of the self-righteous people on this side of the camera or the computer, selecting the All-Star team without input from the NBA fans interested in watching the games and buying the stuff would be downright insulting. Deal with Yao Ming for a couple of minutes. Can 2,342,738 Chinese be wrong? Absolutely. Every fan is entitled to drop the ball at least once a year. The league only provides ballots, not voters' guides. And it's pretty much impossible to avoid snubbing a deserving candidate no matter who picks. By the way, here's the list of players who should've received your votes. Eastern Conference Shaquille O'Neal, C, Miami Heat: The big man loves a captive audience, so we'll overlook his expanding middle and shrinking numbers. LeBron James, F, Cleveland Cavaliers: It's a blast watching the league's only legitimate superstar play alongside teammates who can actually keep up. Chris Bosh, F, Toronto Raptors: Nobody deserves a little recognition more than this blossoming talent. Dwyane Wade, G, Miami Heat: A perfect combination of power and precision. He is more fun to watch than anybody in the league. Chauncey Billups, G, Detroit Pistons: When the game's tied 148-148 with four seconds left, give him the ball. Western Conference Marcus Camby, C, Denver Nuggets: It's nice to see a big man get up off the floor and play above the rim. Elton Brand, F, Los Angeles Clippers: There's nothing exciting about his game, but check out the numbers. Shawn Marion, F, Phoenix Suns: You can't name another player capable of doing as much with undeniable grace and style. Kobe Bryant, G, Los Angeles Lakers: There's no chance his teammates will allow him to go for 100 in this setting. Steve Nash, G, Phoenix Suns: The only player in the league who can flip his bangs over his ears. And he doesn't mind sharing the ball. Got any better ideas? Send an e-mail and we'll post some of your picks. Pointing a finger: Philadelphia won two games while Allen Iverson was sitting with a sprained ankle. Right on cue, the debate started up. Are the 76ers better off without the league's second-leading scorer and second-favorite target? For heaven's sake, no. "You have to be a strong teammate when you're playing with me," Iverson said. "And I have to be strong myself because of the controversy, just putting me against my team one second, and then putting my team against me the next second." Stop checking out the grass on the other side of the fence. How good were the Lakers when O'Neal took off? Did the Magic improve when Tracy McGrady left town? Pick me: David Stern gets to name a replacement for Jermaine O'Neal, who's injured and can't play in the upcoming All-Star Game. Many around the league are wondering if the NBA commissioner will make the obvious choice. Can he really send Rasheed Wallace to the showcase event? Without a moment's hesitation. Stern let reformed bad boy Latrell Sprewell go in 2001 and got all kinds of positive feedback. Heck, a well-timed outburst might just liven up the exhibition. There's a decent chance Wallace is going to wind up among the seven reserves voted in by the coaches, whose picks will be revealed on Thursday. See no evil: Highlighting faces in the crowd is part of the Madison Square Garden experience. And on Tuesday, a smiling Magic Johnson received a grand ovation when he showed up on GardenVision during a humbling Knicks loss to the Lakers. Isiah Thomas just happened to be standing inches away from his old friend. The camera zoomed past the beleaguered Knicks president, hoping to shield from public ridicule the man responsible for another forgettable season. Talk, talk: The league needs more chatter boxes. Richard Jefferson is a prime example of what a little personality can do to animate the long season. The engaging forward serves up sound bites as easily as highlights. Do you want to know why the Nets aren't scared of Detroit? "We don't look at the record," Jefferson said. "We were the last team to beat them in the Eastern Conference. We still have confidence against this team. We have guys that swept them out of the playoffs." Could it be the second coming of Charles Barkley?
David Stern should send Chuck Hayes to the All-Star Game and make him an Eastern Conference Stater. Otherwise, the game is too lopsided to even be played. The West will kill 'em.
Another prck writer. For all of the all-star cry baby's who waste their time bi*%#ing about Yao Ming getting votes from China, why don't you give David Stern a call and tell him to stop taking the millions of dollars Yao Ming's Chinese fans give to the NBA on a yearly basis. If you really feel your guy really deserves some recognition-he'll get it when the All-NBA teams are announced at the end of the year-your guy will have three chances to make a team-And i guarantee, come seasons end, Yao(if he stays healthy) will be there ahead of Any western Conf. Centre, be it 1st, 2nd or 3rd team. I can't believe how much Yao gets dissed by every sports writer in America, this guy respects the game, his team, his coach and he appreciates his fans. He cops absolute ****e from every ref in the league. Yet he continues to play hard, produce and bring his best effort. The all-star game is all about the fans-so build a bridge, take your kleenex and teddy bear and get the hell over it.
Sigh, they act like 2 billion people in china each have a computer. Number two, the country is split in between soccer and basketball, so that means half of the fans who even have a computer if they love sports will only half likely be a NBA fan.
"Yao Ming getting all the All-Stars votes from China" is like "a duck's quack has no echo" myth. Everyone keeps quoting that myth just because it sounds cool. For the 50th bazillion times....Yao Ming gets most of his votes the past few years from PAPER PAPER PAPER ballots... that's right, paper ballots distributed in the United States of the fricking America.
I used to get upset over that too. But after Yao's comments (last year I think) to Chinese reporters, I don't care any more. He was asked to comment on this subject. He was a little bit upset and said (not exact quotes): Why do you guys even worry about that? Are Chinese fans' votes worth less than American fans' vote? Show some pride and confidence! I love Yao!!!
I love how this writer says Shaq, who has worse numbers than Yao, should be a definite allstar because of his 'captive audiance' yet dogs Yao because of his popularity in his home country. Get real. Just admit you just don't like Yao. Look at the numbers, there is no other center in the West that should be ahead of Yao. Camby has an argument, but he has missed as much time as Yao and does not have the points depite not having to deal with constant double-teams. It would be a crime if Camby didn't make the allstar game, but not ahead of Yao. I just don't get why there are so many that seem to root for Yao to fail. The man is great for the game and plays the game the way it should be played, unlike the 'Sportscenter' and/or 'And 1' highlights we see intead of good, fundamental basketball.
simply put: Yao is not the best player in the NBA, but he is the best Center in the Western Conference.
Out of 1.3Billion people, there is only 2 millions people voted for Yao. That will be 2/1300 = 0.0015 ratio. Damn, yao must be very un-popular in China. My advice to David Stern, ask those moron referees to officiate yao more fairly so that more people in china will watch the NBA thus NBA will get more revenues, yao will receive more votes from china and finally those anti-chinese columnist/journalist/sport analysts etc got more articles to write!
Wait a minute... The Chinese have taken over America?!? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
I guess he was trying to say that the Magic improved without McGrady and the Lakers got worse without Shaq. Neither made the playoffs so I don't consider either team an improvement. Heck, the Magic are horrendous THIS year and the Lakers are the 7th seed in the West right now. This article is horrible anyway, I hate reporters who try to be funny and creative who obviously aren't.
There are a million things wrong with that comment. First of all, only and idiot thinks that every single vote Yao Ming got was a chinese vote. That is stupid. Second, should Shaq or Kobe have been taken off past All-Star games because the majority of their votes were American votes?
If this guy wants to be a b**** about it -he should know that Yao's stats are better than Shaq's right now....
I do not know why your guys are so mad at those kind of silly writers. According to this idiot, no starter from Dallars and Spurs. You know this is free contry, everyone has his ( or her) stink gas out freely at public place. My nose has become resisitanct to it for years.
If Yao beat his chest like an ape after a dunk, he might get a little more love. He might actually have to play "above the rim" a little more, but that would require him to "get up off the floor" a bit more, maybe touch the top of the backboard. Then again, if he comes public with his desire for a "captive audience", he should be an undisputed lock, even if his numbers don't blow away the all-mighty beast from the east. PU-LEEZE. This guy should take his own advice, and "deal with Yao Ming for a few minutes".
Thank you. It's such a good point, that dumbasses like this author seem to miss. When you make comments like he has, it's very insulting. A vote is a vote, don't like it, then rally your white dudes, black dudes, whatever to vote for who you think deserves to go...or wait, you do realize the allstar game has always ended up being a popularity vote, and Yao Ming is arguably one of the widely known sports figures today...SPORTS figure, not even just basketball figure. I sense a lot of hate from the writer. Yao almost averages 20/10. This was with AND WITHOUT Tracy McGrady in the lineup. But hey, we still have Rockets fans hating on him, shouldn't be a suprise that others will too. If you are going to hate, make some sense out of it. Hate on his sluggishness and inability to move quick enough to draw charges, how he doesn't have very strong hands, but dammit, give the man his props too. Put him on the trading block and watch the teams soil themselves. SOO glad the Rockets have this guy.
Big deal. Who cares about what he and bunch of attention whores think. Even if every single vote came from a Chinese (Chinese in America, Canada, China and all over the world), every single Chinese who votes for him was so desperate that he/she voted at least 1000 times. Yao won the voting according to the same rules. Want to cry? Cry in their mom's arms or Stern's, for rule change. Just get it over. I would suggest Clutchfans not to quote those idiot's articles about the same thing every single frigging year. What's new? We have enough Rockets fans here are so objective that they believe Yao shouldn't start a meaningless fun and fan oriented All-Star game hosted by Houston! Believe it or not, there are tons of Chinese fans in all Chinese forums argue about the same thing. What is fair? It's not something you agree on, but rather something is hard cold factual and played by rules.
