In October 2017, NBPA President Chris Paul and NBA President of Operations Byron Spruell announced that the league would see a revamp to the All-Star Game. Teams consisting of the top vote-getters at their position would be drafted by the player with the most fan votes from each conference. The teams would be run by the coach of the teams with the best records from the two conferences – similar to what the NFL did with the Pro Bowl from 2013 to 2015.
This was a welcome change. It was well received by players and fans alike. For the first time in NBA history, it wasn’t an East vs West All-Star Game. Instead, Team LeBron and Team Steph squared off, each selecting their roster of thirteen players. It was a fun preview of what could potentially have been King James’ last Finals appearance.
Despite this, the NBPA and NBA didn’t change the method by which players are selected. The ten starters (two guards, three forwards/centers from each conference) are voted on by fans, players, and media members, with each vote counting for 50%, 25%, and 25% respectively. This has been in place for two years and was done to prevent mediocre fan favorites earning All-Star spots. Take, for example, Zaza Pachulia. The Georgian center came within just 15,000 votes of starting the 2016 All-Star game while averaging only 8.6 PPG.
The shift from all-fan to fan-player-media voting was done to prevent an event such as Pachulia’s from occurring. Not only do non-deserving players take away both potential money and lines on a résumé for Hall of Fame candidacy from players who should earn the title of All-Star, but they also
discredit the league.
In 2016, the same year as Pachulia’s All-Star bid, the NHL faced a similar crisis. Arizona Coyotes depth defensemen John Scott was voted Captain of the Pacific Division’s 3v3 squad. However, the NHL and the owners did all they could to prevent Scott, who ended up playing only 78 minutes all season, from earning that honor. The league put an abrupt stop to their promotions for the fan voting, and a shady deal between the Coyotes and the Montreal Canadiens made him ineligible to play in the game (that decision was later redacted).
The NBA is facing a similar scandal to the Pachulia and Scott incidents right now. Dwyane Wade and Derrick Rose, neither of whom start for their respective teams, are getting more fan votes than players including, but not limited to:
- James Harden, who is the MVP favorite
- Russell Westbrook, who is averaging a triple-double
- Anthony Davis, who leads the league in Player Efficency Rating
Look, I appreciate the sentiment of it all. This is DWade’s last season, and DRose is looking like a functioning NBA player after last year’s fiasco. However, you can’t tell me that the most likely MVP of the league doesn’t deserve to be an All-Star starter.
When discussing the All-Star voting on NBA on TNT, Charles Barkley said “I don’t like the fans voting,” and implied that the fans are fools with no interest in the legitimacy of the voting.
In all honesty, he might’ve been on to something. I don’t agree that fans should have absolutely no say in who they pay to watch play an exhibition game (I’ll get to that later), but I think we need to fix the voting for the third time in four years. Here’s my plan:
THE STARTERS
I like the two guards, three forwards/centers from each conference deal. However, this needs to be a decision made by someone other than the fans and media. Here, I propose that all of the NBA coaches get to vote on the starters. Right now, coaches across the league vote for the reserves. With this plan, they can vote for any player for any of the positions except for players on their own team. Because only 30 votes will be cast (with a maximum of 29 for any one player) the probability of ties is increased immensely from the millions the starters currently receive. Luckily, Adam Silver has shown himself to be one of, if not the, greatest and fairest commissioners in all of sports history. I would feel safe should he be called upon to make a nonpartisan vote between two or more players for the All-Star nod.
As for captains, I feel the current system is fair. We have coaches voting instead of fans, of course, calling upon Silver if need be once again.
THE RESERVES, ROUND 1
For the next ten spots, the players will vote for their benches. This voting will continue the trend of two guards and three forwards/centers from each conference. As it stands, I don’t believe players should be allowed to vote for their teammates or themselves. If they were to, however, it wouldn’t be a deal breaker. You could see a Wade Baldwin Jr or a Zhou Qi gain a vote or two if players were allowed to vote for themselves and teammates, but I don’t think it will sway voting too much.
THE RESERVES, ROUND 2
After both the starters and the first round of reserves have been announced, the fans can have some say in their votes. Each conference gets two players of any position that can be named an All-Star reserve as named by the fans. This gives players like Wade and Rose opportunities without screwing over far more deserving players.
You may notice I excluded media from voting in for the All-Stars. This was intentional. The media are susceptible to using their votes as ways to promote their shows/sites. Stephen A. Smith and Colin Cowherd come to mind as two personalities who would opt for an outlandish vote to gain more views, as opposed to voting for deserving players. Not to mention, Chris Broussard left Avery Bradley off his 2017 All-Defensive Team ballot because Devin Booker dropped 70 points on the Celtics… in a game that Bradley was in the hospital for due to illness.
Overall, I think this could be the final alteration to the NBA All-Star Game for a long time. You keep deserving players in that game, but still allow fans to pick four players that they want – without past-their-prime role players tarnishing the reputation of the league. It benefits all players. Superstars get the respect they deserve, and fan favorites can still get a nod.
What do you think? Believe that the NBA has a perfect formula already? Or do you have an idea of your own? Let me know, either on Twitter (@zekepersources) or Instagram (@zekepersources)