If voting ended today, both Tracy McGrady and Allen Iverson would be starters at the 2010 All-Star Game in Dallas. McGrady surged ahead of Phoenix guard Steve Nash for the second Western Conference guard spot — despite the fact that he left the team before Christmas and is working out on his own while awaiting a trade.
Nash has launched his own online marketing campaign in the hopes of re-taking a richly-deserved starting spot.
Why is McGrady doing so well? Call it the Yao Ming halo effect. Yao’s presence on the Houston Rockets has made McGrady one of the best-known NBA players in China. There may be something to that… looking at the current tally, Houston forwards Trevor Ariza and Luis Scola are ahead of better-know players like Shawn Marion and Ron Artest… and at guard, Aaron Brooks has more votes than Chauncey Billups, Brandon Roy or Deron Williams.
It seems reasonable to suspect that Yao would be leading the race for the starting center spot in the West if he was on this year’s ballot.
In the East, Iverson has a commanding 150,000-vote lead over Orlando’s Vince Carter in the race to start alongside Miami’s Dwyane Wade.
Kobe Bryant is the leading vote-getter this far, with 1,606,032. Wade and LeBron James have over 1.5 million votes, and Orlando’s Dwight Howard 1.4 million.
All-Star Starters as of December 31, 2009
Western Conference:
- Guards: Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady
- Forwards: Carmelo Anthony, Dirk Nowitzki
- Center: Amar’e Stoudemire
Eastern Conference:
- Guards: Dwyane Wade, Allen Iverson
- Forwards: LeBron James, Kevin Garnett
- Center: Dwight Howard
Online voting continues through January 18th.
- Get the complete vote tally as of December 31st at NBA.com.
- Cast your own vote at NBA.com
- My picks for the Eastern and Western Conference All-Stars
McGrady and Iverson: All Stars? originally appeared on About.com Basketball on Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 15:53:07.
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