All-Star Voting - Could Yi actually be an All-Star starter?

Some thoughts as All-Star voting heads into the homestretch:

1. Will China's Sport Ministry intensify its compulsory "vote for Yi online" initiative to get favorite son Yi Jianlan a completely undeserved starting spot in the ASG? He is currently about 150,000 votes behind KG for the second spot.

2. Would you be chagrined or amused if Yi beat out KG for the spot?

3. What changes should be made to ASG voting if Yi makes it to Phoenix in a capacity other than playing on the Sophomore team?

4. Will votes suddenly be "lost" if it appears Yi is going to be a starter?

5. Finally, here's a list of some players who've gotten more votes than Brandon Roy:

Rafer Alston
Jason Terry
Jamal Crawford
Luis Scola
LUKE FREAKIN' RIDNOUR (?????)
Turkey Glue
Mehmet Okur

B-Roy's vote total is a disgrace.

10 months ago Badalona Baddie 32 comments 0 recs |

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Comments

That is lame.

I like the fan voting, but at the same time… the league should really recognize the players that actually deserve to be there.

by tmundal on Jan 8, 2009 1:17 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

That's how Roy will get in.

Because the reserves aren’t voted on by the fans :)

"Respect everyone, fear no one." -TP

by Arby on Jan 8, 2009 1:20 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Thank god for that eh?

by Eventine on Jan 8, 2009 5:10 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Read somewhere he also is getting the most write-in votes on the All-Star dunk contest

by Norsktroll on Jan 8, 2009 1:18 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

What a travesty.

There are at least 6 forwards in the East better than him. ESPECIALLY with the way Danny Granger has blown up. that guy almost deserves to start.

This just goes to show, along with Roy being below the likes of Alston, Nash, and Kidd, that the All-Star game voting is nothing more than an extremely biased popularity contest (one in which millions of people from the other side of the world get to vote for Yao and Yi).

"Respect everyone, fear no one." -TP

by Arby on Jan 8, 2009 1:18 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

there are six forwards in my YMCA league better than Yi

by trailblazersfan on Jan 8, 2009 3:10 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

It's Stupid

Barkley is right. Fans shouldn’t get to vote.
I vote for Oden and I KNOW he doesn’t deserve it. I’m stupid, too.

-Shad

"If a doctor ever gives me six months to live, I want it in basketball time." - Marc Acito

by NBAstard on Jan 8, 2009 1:29 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, I did too, but I'd be embarrassed if he actually made the team.

I wish more players would do the right thing and fake an injury when they know they don’t deserve the honor.

by Badalona Baddie on Jan 8, 2009 1:38 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

its for fun anyways

its not like they take the asg seriously…so why should the selection process be any different? being on all nba teams is where its at.

by Philthyanimal on Jan 8, 2009 4:38 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

it matters

starters don’t matter so much, but making the game does. it matters for your trade value, your future contracts, your “legacy”, the type of calls you get, and a million other things.

If a guy completely undeserving gets voted in by the fans, then someone who is deserving gets bumped. you don’t think it matters for that guy?

Rule #1 of nitpicking is to get it right.

by douglast on Jan 8, 2009 6:43 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

If Oden were to get voted in...

Maybe he could be the first player to foul out of an all star game. Any word if he is playing in the rookie game?

by tmundal on Jan 8, 2009 1:41 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

thats harsh, funny but harsh lol

Oden & Rudy co- Rookie Of The Year ---- Brandon for MVP!!!

by Ripped City on Jan 8, 2009 7:40 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

don't tell anyone but..

I vote for yi in my ballot…

Jaws were hitting the floor as Greg repeatedly attempted to tear the rim off the backboard...

by TheOdenator on Jan 8, 2009 1:46 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

The league will make sure he won't get in

I think they helped AI last year, giving him enough votes to get ahead of T-Mac.

by Falcao on Jan 8, 2009 1:49 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

AI beating out T-Mac

is what allowed B-Roy to be in All star last year. If T-Mac had been voted in he would have HAD to play if he was able (That’s why Kobe, with his bum pinky last year, had to start but only played those first few minutes.) and I think he was JUST coming off an injury and was playing at the time of the All Star break. The Coaches would have voted AI in instead of Brandon Roy I suspect last year. So if the league did fix the vote last year, and it got Roy in there, then I guess I wont complain too much if they fix it to keep Yi out. I just REAAALLLY want to see KG not be a starter.

by MattyDread on Jan 8, 2009 2:27 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I hope Yi makes it

Its the only thing that could end the sham that is fan voting.

Boomshakalaka

by jksnake99 on Jan 8, 2009 1:52 PM PST reply actions 1 recs

yeah, we need something like the BCS for the all star game

and we can give college football the fan voting system for their bowls.

"I never scored more than 38, even in Little League." ~ Roy, 52 pts

by shralpster on Jan 8, 2009 1:58 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

agreed on this

1) it doesn’t hurt Roy, since we are in the West

2) it would force the NBA to end or seriously alter fan voting.

Rule #1 of nitpicking is to get it right.

by douglast on Jan 8, 2009 6:44 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Rec

"...we have so many experts who think that you have to play defense, you have to rebound, you have to be a possession coach, you have to execute. I just laugh. Explosive offense is not as intimidating as dominant defense. But it is scary when you don't know how to stop someone." - George Karl, Nuggets coach

by jamon51 on Jan 9, 2009 2:13 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

fan voting

It’s not fan voting that is the problem, it’s the unlimited computer votes. Regulate that and you fix a major loophole. Roy doesn’t deserve a starting spot over Paul and Kobe.

by oLLiE Boombayay on Jan 8, 2009 1:59 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

unlimited computer voting?

You have to register an email address, and log in with that address (or just stay logged in) for each vote, and you only get to vote once a day with each email address. Even if somebody took all the time to register all of those email addresses, and built a macro around it, the largest a macro could hold would be about a 100 addresses, and even then it would be difficult/impossible, because the confirmation code changes for each sign-in.

The Sprite dunk contest, though, is a totally different story, that is one ballot box that can be stuffed.

Jaws were hitting the floor as Greg repeatedly attempted to tear the rim off the backboard...

by TheOdenator on Jan 8, 2009 2:49 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

whats the point

in voting once a day? i’m don’t get it. is it bc of the ups and downs of a player over the course of the year? my assumption is its mostly fans voting for their teams/players and not basketball fans in general. so they will vote their player no matter what…while basketball fans might change their vote from time to time based on how that player is playing.

by Philthyanimal on Jan 8, 2009 4:40 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

The fan voting is the problem

People are homers, and they vote for their own guys. I don’t vote at all because it’s just a popularity contest and it has no relationship with how the players are playing this year.

Let’s give the voting to the players and coaches – or, let’s pick a dozen sports media people and let them hammer it out. – Elgin

It doesn't mean you should just because you can. Like Abraham and Ishmael, fighting over sand - it doesn't mean you should just because you can. That is a fact of life. - Adrian Belew

by 22baylor on Jan 8, 2009 2:14 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Right on the money!

Fan voting is stupid, makes no sense at all.

Good post!

Oden & Rudy co- Rookie Of The Year ---- Brandon for MVP!!!

by Ripped City on Jan 8, 2009 7:42 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

What a bunch of lame people

Griping about injustice. I thought you were Americans! Land of the free, and home of the whiners!

Stand up and DO SOMETHING, don’t just gripe on the Internet.

Action plan:
1. Bring over Freeland this year, and tell LMA too bad, he’s benched.
2. Make sure Rudy, Nic, and Freeland make the All-star ballot.
3. SPAM. Spend Paul Allen’s Money in Britain and Spain, explaining how important it is to millions and millions of British, Spanish, and French people that their players make the All-star team — and how they can vote EVERY SINGLE DAY. Tell them that their players will get rich, which will mean more tax revenues, which will mean better benefits for the single mothers on heroin, etc. They will VOTE, AND VOTE, AND VOTE (they already vote all the time for people who will give more money to single mothers on heroin, so they are good at this).

Since Yi is in the East, this will not create an East/West conflict — the Europeans can elect a guard and two forwards to the West team, the Chinese elect a center to the West and a forward to the East. Everyone is happy. The starters play two minutes each, and then the real teams that the coaches chose come into the game.

If you can't convince them, confuse them -- Harry Truman, U.S. President

by jscot on Jan 8, 2009 2:47 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I want what your smokin!

Oden & Rudy co- Rookie Of The Year ---- Brandon for MVP!!!

by Ripped City on Jan 8, 2009 7:41 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

You forgot Gilbert Arenas...

140,000 more votes that Roy after zero minutes played this season. Wow.

The China effect in the west: Yao Ming (1st west center), McGrady (2nd west guard), Alston (9th west guard), Artest (4th west forward), Battier (8th west forward), and Scola (9th west forward). Yao has been playing with Houston long enough in order to make China Rocket fans.

by JasonT on Jan 8, 2009 3:11 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

think about how much money

the rockets must make to have such a huge fan base like that? you’d think if we were smart we would try to tie in spain a little better. it seems like there are diehard fans of rudy in spain…but those are the hardcore ones. it’d be cool to market rudy and sergio to the casual fan out there and get the type of support yao and the rockets get. even a preseason game in barcelona would be kinda cool.

by Philthyanimal on Jan 8, 2009 4:42 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs