Snubs Abound As All-Stars Announced

It’s that time of year again. On February 17th, basketball studs from across the country will pack their bags and head to Houston for the NBA’s annual popularity contest, also known as the All-Star Game. Plenty of stars, though, will not be making the trip. These individuals are what we like to call the “snubs.”

Snubs (in most cases) are absolutely deserving of an All-Star bid, but are slighted because either they did not garner enough fan votes, or were passed up by the coaches’ selection. In the current format, the starters are selected by the fans, and the reserves by the coaches and managers, respectively. This idea is baffling to me, as it seems far more rational to just use one method or the other. Why vote some of the players in based on popularity, while less popular players have to depend on coaches to vote for them?

Personally, I think that fan voting should be scrapped in general. I know that the NBA is big on “fan interaction” and whatnot, but some fans are simply going to vote for familiar and well-liked faces, rather than players who are actually deserving of an All-Star distinction. Unfortunately, when it comes down to it, most professional sports organizations are looking to placate their fans, the primary source of their revenue. As a result, they are hesitant to remove fan voting in fear that they will alienate their loyal customers.

Here are a few things the NBA may want to think about when considering how to select their All-Stars each season:

First of all, fan voting is incredibly unfair to less popular players that are putting up incredible statistical seasons. Take Warriors guard Stephen Curry for example. He leads his team in points and assists this year (20.9 PPG, 6.6 APG) and is one of the most dynamic guards in the league. Yet, when the official All-Star rosters were published, Curry’s name was nowhere to be found. Which brings me back to my main point; fan voting turns the All-Star game into a popularity contest. Savvy veteran Kevin Garnett is making his 15th All-Star appearance, despite only averaging around fourteen points per game on a struggling Boston Celtics team. To add, Garnett was selected to start over players such as Tyson Chandler, Brook Lopez and Deron Williams. Some may scratch their head at this, as all three of those players mentioned are currently putting up better statistics and playing on winning teams. Garnett, however, is a far more popular player and in turn notched a starting spot ahead of them. Additionally, fan voting ultimately punishes players that play on smaller market teams. To no one’s surprise, the entire Eastern Conference starting lineup is comprised of two players from Miami, two from Boston and one from New York. (All big market cities). That was of course before Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo suffered his season-ending injury. Now David Stern gets to select the fifth starter. I’m almost positive that somewhere a Milwaukee fan is crying on the inside.

A quote from Shaquille O’Neal sums up the entire idea of fan voting pretty well: “It’s a political system. Yao Ming was never better than me, but he was always voted a starter.” While some may find this arrogant on Shaq’s part, he’s absolutely right. Yao was a solid player, but his league wide fame accounted for much of his success.

Look, I get it. Fans want to see the stars come out on All-Star weekend and television stations want good ratings. But should other players be robbed of the opportunity to start or compete in All-Star weekend simply because they don’t garner the same notoriety as some players do? The All-Star game may be just a publicity stunt to hype people up about the league, but people take the title of All-Star very seriously. Being an All-Star means that you’re performing at the top of your game, that you are surpassing all expectations and carrying your team to new limits. Let the coaches and the experts pick all of the team, not just part of it. That way, it will be a measure of talent, not celebrity status. All-Stars should be measured on the valiance of their play, not how many jerseys they sell each year.

NBA All Star Starting Lineups:

EAST:                                                               WEST:
Carmelo Anthony (NY)                                 Kevin Durant (OKC)
LeBron James (MIA)                                    Blake Griffin (LAC)
Dwyane Wade (MIA)                                    Chris Paul (LAC)
Kevin Garnett (BOS)                                     Kobe Bryant (LAL)
David Stern’s Pick (TBA)                             Dwight Howard (LAL)