It’s crazy to think it’s only the middle of November and all-star balloting is already up. All-Star weekend used to be the highlight of the NBA season (before playoffs), from the rookie-sophomore challenge, 3 pts contest, dunk contest, and the big Sunday game itself. How many great memories do we have of these days, just thinking back to the last decade. Remember when JRich (HA! Remember that name…?) bounced the ball off of Boozer’s head [link below] or when Kyrie set Brandon Knight into the path of death? Peja Stojakovic was trying to 3-peat as the 3 point champion? How could we forget the long, extremely long, dunk attempts by Chris Andersen [link below] and Nate Robinson (somehow a 3-time dunk champ), DeMar DeRozen and Andre Iguodala both getting hustled out of a dunk championship, and Blake Griffin jumping over a car (overrated, but amazing for the NBA crowd to finally get a glimpse of). Even the Sunday night game has proven to be surprisingly entertaining. The very first all-star game I watched live, was in 2003 and I still remember Kobe casually pick-pocketing Jason Kidd and going in for the dunk [link below], and then Kobe missing a free throw down the stretch (I still believe he intentionally missed it just because the game was so damn entertaining) that led into another overtime. After all these memories, all these glorious moments, what is there to look forward to this year? We have plenty to look forward to with this ballot this year. The ballot consists of 36 front court players and 24 back court players, and each one of them has arguably earned a spot on the ballot. Others have been left off the ballot or realistically, just don’t deserve to be there.
I figured the easiest way to organize the players would be by conference and then separating them by team. My first issue is with the Chicago Bulls’ Jimmy Butler. Rising star in the league, fun and explosive shooting guard, had a phenomenal playoff run last year and he was left off the ballot. Disappointing considering other guys like Gerald Henderson and Tristan Thompson are on the ballot. The Knicks also got a weird ballot, we see Amar’e Stoudemire (definitely a this-guy-used-to-be-amazing card) on the ballot but no Shumpert? Granted, Shumpert is nowhere close to an all-star but c’mon…why is Amar’e there? The biggest slight in the East is definitely Michael Carter-Williams. MCW came into the league with an almost quadruple-double against the reigning Champions. He led Philly to a stellar start and one of the top records in the conference when the ballot was released. I’m not a Philly fan at all, but c’mon…couldn’t show the kid a bit of love? Besides that, we have the typical big names and slightly big names that we know won’t make it (Beal, DeRozan, Hawes, Varejao) and the big names that are either injured or too old to contribute in any real way (Garnett, Pierce, Rondo, Bynum, Granger).
As for the West, it’s a much crazier ballot. Does anyone know why Asik is in this? Even if you use summer or pre-season projections, no one saw this guy even coming close to being an all-star. Same with Chandler, Gallinari (what the…he’s injured and not even practicing anything beyond free throws), Marion (wow…seems like we’re in 2005 and Steve Nash is the MVP for the Matrix), Derrick Williams (uhh…wtf…someone must have been drunk and fired), Tyreke Evans (has he ever been an all-star candidate), Manu and Tiago (wow…okay, I understand, SAS needs lots of love and there’s no way to do it right for them). I understand that each team needs at least 1-2 guys on the ballot sheet but let’s be real here… there are so many guys who got overlooked who play at the same level as guys who are on (Wes Matthews looked over but Greivis Vasquez on the ballot). I don’t mind if we show love to guys who don’t deserve it but let’s show love to guys who also deserve it. I hope that this year’s all-star starting lineup represents the best players in the league and we don’t have another Yao ahead of Shaq in 2003 situation again. Here’s hoping from a guy who genuinely loves the pointless all-star game just because he loves the game itself and the stars that come with it.
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