The NBA All-Star Voting: Where Amazing Happens
The NBA made “amazing” happen again when the starters for its annual All-Star game were announced earlier this evening.
Allen Iverson, who has rode more pine this season than Darko Milicic, was named an Eastern Conference starter. He, just like his fellow starters, Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan, has turned in a sub-par performance due to age and injuries. However, because of their loyal fans, all managed to make the starting five for their respective conferences.
Although the All-Star game is an exhibition (as seen when Charles Barkley squared off against Dick Bavetta in a halftime footrace), the NBA allows its fans far too much leverage over who makes the cut. Giving fans an unlimited amount of votes and 100% of the say on who starts, is as ludicrous as giving George Lopez his own late-night show.
Like many, I have ignored professional basketball the way women do with men with male-pattern baldness (hello, Manu Ginobili); yet, these voting results baffled me. If All-Star voting is a glorified popularity contest, why does it hold such merit when it comes to Hall of Fame inductions, and “Greatest Player” debates?
Sure, all the 2010 starters are future Hall of Famers, but a past “body of work” should not be enough to earn votes. Other, more deserving players should be afforded the right to named a starter—honor the washed-up veterans as reserves.
Take Chris Bosh, for example, who is third in the Eastern Conference in scoring (24.2 PPG). He is coming off the bench for a guy in Garnett who ranks 33rd in the conference in scoring; behind the likes of Jianlian Yi of the Nets and Louis Williams of Iverson’s Sixers (Iverson is third on the Sixers in scoring). Or a kid like Kevin Durant, who is third in the entire league in scoring. He is forced to take a seat to an over-the-hill forward in Tim Duncan.
Fortunately, the NBA narrowly escaped having to change their slogan to: “Where astonishing happens.”
Tracy McGrady, who only played in six games all season, was narrowly overtaken by Steve Nash for the last guard spot in the final days of fan voting. Had McGrady started the All-Star game, it would have been more embarrassing than Craig Sager’s suits.
