All-Star Voting

I love the NBA and always enjoy watching the All-Star game, and I also like the rookie/sophomore game and the dunk contest they have during All-Star Weekend. In my opinion, the NBA has the most watch-able, fan friendly all-star event of the big 3 sports. However…

I just finished poking holes in about 30 more All-Star ballots and I feel the need to comment on a major flaw in the voting process. There, listed on the ballot was Stephon Marbury. The same Stephon Marbury who has not played a single minute this year. I know the NBA lets fans pretty much choose the All-Star game starters like a popularity contest, but shouldn’t the players fans can choose from be ones who’ve actually played? C’mon!

Also, there is only room for one write-in vote per conference, so I couldn’t write in both Joel Przyabilla and Steve Blake, even they both are putting up pretty elite numbers this year. The only 3 Blazers available are Greg Oden, Brandon Roy, and LaMarcus Aldridge (needless to say I voted for them each time).

The saving grace to the NBA All-Star selection process is that once the starters are chosen by the fans, coaches get to vote in the remainder of the players. That helps get the players who deserve it into the game. That’s how Brandon Roy got in last year and probably how he’ll get in this year too.

So, just FYI, here are my picks:

West
C – Greg Oden (I know he hasn’t earned it but since Joel wasn’t on the ballot…)
F – LaMarcus Aldridge
F – Tim Duncan / Amare Stoudemire (I split my other forward votes between them)
G – Brandon Roy
G – Chris Paul

East
C – Dwight Howard
F – LeBron James
F – Kevin Garnet / Chris Bosh (I split my other forward votes between them)
G – Dwayne Wade
G – Devin Harris / Mo Williams / Joe Johnson / Ray Allen (Lots of choices and none very clear cut except for Dwayne, so I pretty much chose a few of my favorites.