The Players Vote - SHAMEFUL

[MeestR]

Why can't the league just mandate every team to nominate 4 of their own Alstar candidates to choose from by Christmas time? That way, the fans/players/media can only choose out of 4 players from each team, instead of 15. That would solve the Zaza problem and tacking on an additional rule for the players - no votes for teammates - wudda solved the Westbrook problem.

[Heat3]

I just hate the all star game. Its not fun to watch. Very formulaic with guys being wannabe Globetrotters and only "trying" in the last few minutes of the game. This game was never intense like a playoff game but the level of play has dropped so much that I don't even bother watching highlights on youtube now.

[ChuckyFE]

Screw it. Just let them pick allstar rosters based on PER with eligibility requiring an average of 25+ mpg because if they really are an allstar caliber player the coach would at least be playing them for more than half a game on average. Not 18 mpg like Zaza.

Using this method, this years allstar rosters would be as below. I know there are one or two names people would criticize being in there, but there always has been in the past too. No popularity contest, no chance of Zaza making it, or Huertas, or four players from the Hawks etc.

EAST
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Isaiah Thomas
Jimmy Butler
LeBron James
DeMar DeRozan
---------------
Kyle Lowry
Joel Embiid
John Wall
Kemba Walker
Kevin Love
Dwight Howard
Hassan Whiteside
Brook Lopez


WEST
Russell Westbrook
Anthony Davis
Kawhi Leonard
Kevin Durant
James Harden
---------------
Chris Paul
DeMarcus Cousins
Nikola Jokic
Stephen Curry
Damian Lillard
Karl-Anthony Towns
Gordon Hayward
Rudy Gobert

[King of Canada]

Dude, those players voted for themselves or each other

You must understand what I'm saying? You vote for me, I vote for you, etc....

[immortalone23]

ASG starters do.

http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q16

Young players can receive contracts worth > 30M more with 2 ASG starts and players can receive EARLY 5 year extensions with the same.

http://official.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/01/NBA-2017-CBA-Principal-Deal-Points.pdf

From January 19th, these are the only listed requirements now:

• the player was named to the All-NBA first, second, or third team, or was
named Defensive Player of the Year, in the immediately preceding
season or in two of the immediately preceding three seasons; or
• the player was NBA MVP during one of the preceding three seasons.

That is FAR more restrictive than it used to be. I'll have to shoot an email to Larry about updating his site...

Are you sure? The all-star one is the Rose Rule for rookie scale contract extensions, while the other one is for guys like Cousins.

[jbk1234]

Only 73% of the players even bothered to vote. After years of asking for a say, they didn't take it seriously which leads me to not take complaints about who does or doesn't make it on the all star team seriously.

[LuDux1]

Dude, those players voted for themselves or each other

You must understand what I'm saying? You vote for me, I vote for you, etc....

I do, but that wouldn't result in single +1 hilariousness

[CoreyGallagher]

Are you sure? The all-star one is the Rose Rule for rookie scale contract extensions, while the other one is for guys like Cousins.

The criteria is referred to in the RSE/RR section.

3. Rookie Scale Extensions

a. Maximum Annual Salaries in Rookie Scale Extensions

The rule allowing a team and a player who meets certain performance criteria
to negotiate a maximum salary of up to 30% of the Salary Cap in Rookie
Scale Extensions (or certain free agent contracts) will remain in effect, but the
performance criteria will be changed so as to be the same as the
performance-based criteria described in section B.2.c above.

[Jason_Todd]

I don´t think Americans know how to vote properly. Just look at the white house.

[King of Canada]

You must understand what I'm saying? You vote for me, I vote for you, etc....

I do, but that wouldn't result in single +1 hilariousness

Those are players voting for themselves. I'd do that!

[clippertown]

Unfortunately, I think what we are seeing is that 65% of NBA players can't read a simple ballot form.

[Shimso]

I like the idea of the 50% fan/25% media/25% player voting. I just think the ballots should be revised so that players are only eligible if they meet a criteria of a certain amount of games played, a minimum threshold for minutes per game, and have it so that they can't vote for anyone on their team.

How awesome would it be if the ballots were public, too? They could make a whole show out of Durant and Westbrook revealing their ballots

[turk3d]

I always figure that all star votes were based on popularity contests when it came to the fans (and which locations were the most populous)l I guess the same holds true for the players which is quite surprising. I thought that the coaches might be the best to select the players although that becomes political as well since they would usually give the nod to their own players (whether deserving or not).

Perhaps if they could only vote for opposing teams (not their own) it might improve things but even then it becomes political because they might be afraid to "snub" someone on an opposing team in fear that that player (or players) might hold a grudge and take it out on his team when they play them. Hopefully the coaches can make up for some of the bad picks or snubs by selecting them as backups and will give those guys the minutes they deserve when the game is played.

[BR0D1E86]

My Cal Ripken-like streak of not having watched one of these games since the 90's will continue, so it's difficult to care. It's an exhibition. Meaningless.

[BayArea408415]

And people are surprised at the vote? This is the country where 15,000 people woke up on election day, ate breakfast, cleaned themselves up, got dressed, and voted for a dead gorilla to become president.

Only 15,000 people voted for Trump?

It likely wasn't 15,000 but yes, some individuals probably did vote for him and other random write-ins like Micky Mouse.

http://www.snopes.com/harambe-15000-votes/

Supposedly, almost 80,000 Michigan residents left the presidential vote blank on their ballot though. Trump won the state by like 10-12k last time I checked over a month ago.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2016/11/28/recount-in-michigan-isnt-about-fraud-its-about-missed-votes-steins-lawyer-says/

I don't remember the final raw numbers but Trump won the election (via electoral college) by securing roughly 80,000 combined votes more than Clinton in PA, MI & WI. So, if roughly 40,000 votes swung the other way in the right amounts in each of those 3 states, Clinton would have been president.

Final vote numbers:
http://cookpolitical.com/story/10174

To make this post on topic, I don't particularly care for the All-star game anymore. Don't even bother watching it. All I care is about the 3 point shoot out and Dunk contest. I guess we shouldn't have trusted the players with this responsibility though. Love some of the random guys you've heard of like once getting votes.

[HurricaneKid]

Steve Kerr has clearly been following my RGM posts:

http://www.slamonline.com/nba/steve-kerr-nba-players-made-a-mockery-of-all-star-voting/#HUuYqmd1GsxbmPlE.97

"They asked for the vote and a lot of them just made a mockery of it"