Around the Hornet

 Remember voting for ASB president back in high school? I remember that it was always the most popular student that was voted president rather than the best candidate. Well the NBA All-star voting has brought back the popularity contest similar to the ones in high school.

David Stern has done a phenomenal job evolving the NBA to what it is today as basketball has become one of the best ran sports there is, so to see the All-Star voting come to what they are today is baffling to me.

Every year some worthy player or players are left off the All-Star ballot, some undeserving players make the team. Some players make the team at positions they don’t play for their respective teams. How can a “get it” league like the NBA, butcher the All-Star voting year after year?

I don’t think I have seen anyone get robbed of an All-Star voting the way L.A. Clipper’s Center Chris Kaman did this year. If not for injuries to New Orleans guard Chris Paul and Portland guard Brandon Roy, Kaman would have been watching the game from home like all of his Clipper teammates.

Kaman by far is having the best season of his seven-year career. In 44-games, Kaman is averaging 20 points, nine rebounds, 1.5 blocks, and two assists in 36 minutes a game.  When the Western Conference roster was released, Kaman not only led all centers in the West in scoring but also leads all “true” centers in the entire NBA in scoring.

Phoenix Sun’s “Power Forward” Amare Stoudemire will be starting at center for the Western Conference, while San Antonio’s Tim Duncan will start at power forward. Really?

Stoudemire has started more than half of his games at forward, so how does he get named the starting center? It makes no sense at all. As for Duncan, he needs to stop denying that he is a true center.

Perhaps the question that I really would like an answer to is how did L.A. Lakers Forward Pau Gasol win the back-up center role in the All-Star game before Kaman?

Isn’t Andrew Bynum the Center of the Lakers? Gasol, in the Lakers 52 games this season has only played in 35 games while averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds a game. 

The Eastern Conference also has some controversy; Philadelphia Guard Allen Iverson is penciled in as a starter. Yes the same Iverson that started the season with the Memphis Grizzlies (Western Conference) then pulled his version of Brett Favre when he retired after three games in which he scored a career-low 12 points per-game.

The definition of an All-Star is as follows; consisting of athletes chosen as the best at their positions from all teams in a league or region. How Kaman, the league’s top scoring center was left off the All-Star Ballot is absurd to me.

Kaman plays for the under achieving Los Angeles Clippers (21-29) who are currently nine games out of the No. 8 spot, currently owned by the Portland Trail Blazers.

Maybe Stern should have the All-Star name changed to the “NBA’s most known players.” That would be a more appropriate name the way selections are made.

My suggestion to Stern would be, simply stop allowing fans to vote for the All-Star game. Players and coaches should be the only ones allowed to vote, or how about make the All-Star game a meaningful one like the one that is played in Major League Baseball where the winner has home field advantage in the World Series. 

If the NBA All-Star game winner decided what conference would have home court advantage during the NBA finals, we would see a much more competitive game.