The NBA released the first official tally of NBA All-Star votes yesterday, and frankly, I’m deeply disappointed. C’mon, NBA fans. You can do better.
The leading vote-getters thus far are Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony in the West, and Dwyane Wade and LeBron James in the East. I have no argument with any of those selections… I chose Kevin Durant over ‘Melo in my Western Conference picks, but Anthony is the NBA’s leading scorer currently and a fine choice in an exceptionally crowded field of deserving forwards.
If the voting ended today, the Eastern Conference stars would be James and Kevin Garnett at the forwards, Wade and Vince Carter at guard and Dwight Howard at center. No major arguments there — I had Chris Bosh over KG on my ballot, and Rajon Rondo at guard, but only because I insist on selecting a point guard and a shooting guard for All-Star honors.
In the West, the starters would be Anthony and Dirk Nowitzki at forward, Amar’e Stoudemire at center and alongside Kobe Bryant…
Tracy McGrady.
Tracy freakin’ McGrady.
Now… I don’t want to get off on a rant here, but McGrady wouldn’t deserve this spot over the likes of Steve Nash, Chris Paul and Deron Williams even if he was healthy. The fact that he hasn’t appeared in a game since before the 2009 All-Star Game makes his spot on the tally all the more ridiculous. And according to recent updates from Houston, coach Rick Adelman isn’t even planning on starting McGrady if and when he does return. So he’s good enough to start for the Western Conference All-Stats, but not for the Houston Rockets? How does that work, exactly?
I don’t even want to discuss the fact that Allen Iverson has received over 130,000 votes. These are the sorts of results guaranteed to get the ball rolling on yet another “the fans shouldn’t be allowed to vote” debate, and who needs that, really?
Luckily, there’s still plenty of time to rectify the situation. The polls will be open for another month. You can cast votes on the web, via text message or at any NBA game.
All-Star Balloting: Early Returns originally appeared on About.com Basketball on Friday, December 11th, 2009 at 10:19:00.
Permalink | Comment | Email this
