Have NBA Fans Lost Their Minds?
Fri, 2008-01-25 16:47 — Berger
Well the final votes have been counted for the 2008 NBA All-Star game next month in New Orleans and I have only one question to ask..............have NBA fans lost their minds? After reviewing the final selections, several things stunned me:
- How in the world is Trail Blazers guard and reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy not in the Top-10 in voting amongst Western Conference guards? You mean to tell me this MVP candidate who has led the resurgence of the surprising Trail Blazers couldn't get more than 270,000 votes to even crack the Top-10? Mavericks players Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse accumulated more votes than Roy. Trail Blazers fans and knowledgeable NBA fans should be ashamed of themselves for not voting for Roy. I know he's buried in the Pacific Northwest, but the Trail Blazers have received their fair share of national ink this year and after winning the league's Rookie of the Year award last year, Roy and his tremendous game shouldn't be a secret to anyone. I'm not expecting Roy to get more votes than Kobe, T-Mac and Iverson, but the fact that he didn't even get 270,000 votes to crack the Top-10 is ludicrous. Heck, the Trail Blazers Marketing staff has had to resort to campaigns like this one just to try to get Roy the recognition he deserves.
- How does Two-Time NBA MVP Steve Nash not get enough votes to crack the starting lineup for the Western Conference? I understand Kobe will always tally enough votes to get one of the starting guard nods, but Steve Nash warrants enough support for the other starting guard spot. I am especially surprised that the Chinese didn't make it their mission to vote for Nash given the fact that Nash visited the country with Yao Ming this past September and helped raise $2.5M for several Chinese children's charities. (By the way, it looks as though Nuggets F Carmelo Anthony may have benefitted the most from that trip to China - he lead all Western Conference forwards in votes with 1.7M). Yao is always amongst the top vote getters for the All-Star game because of the strong online voting from the Chinese. Where is the love for Nash in China though? And Nash's game speaks for itself. He has led the Suns to one of the top records in the NBA thus far and is the maestro of their high-octane offense. He's had a streak of 8 games in a row with 14 assists or more, he's notched a 20 assist game and he torched the Bucks for 37 points earlier this week. What else does this guy need to do to get voted to the starting lineup? He's even doing more commercials and interviews and allowing fans to get to know him off the court like never before. Come on fans!
- We know that Kobe and AI have locked up the two starting guard spots in the West. Then three spots remain. I'd give those spots to Nash, Chris Paul and Brandon Roy. Sorry Baron Davis, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.
- I like the Eastern Conference's starting lineup better than the Western Conference starting lineup. KG's move East could help shift the balance of power for these All-Star games.
NBA fans need to pay better attention though and fans in markets like Portland, Phoenix and New Orleans need to vote for their players and offer better support. Its ridiculous that guys like Roy, Nash and Paul didn't get more votes than they did.
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I think Jason Kidd is the
I think Jason Kidd is the best point guard to run the All-Star team based on how played for team USA. But based on his stat's this year and team play i'm not sure he deserves to be there. Other then rebounds Jose Calderon is having a much better year as a starter. Assists are almost the same yet Jose has less turnovers and shoots a way better percentage from every spot on the floor. I would have had Billups the starter and Calderon the back up.
nash in china
i think chinese fans actually love iverson and were the reason he got voted in as a starter. i have family over there, and the kids' favorite players are mcgrady and iverson.
b-roy
there aren't many real nba fans. i mean fans that have league pass and watch two or three games a night and try to watch every team at least once a month. people just don't have the time and don't care enough. i feel like i'm weird for being compelled to do just that. i can't hold that against the casual fan. 8 minutes of espn highlights per night is the way most "fans" follow the nba, and espn highlights of games are so bare-boned and focused on "superstars" that they rarely accurately represent the game or the key contributors, players, and situiations that truely affect the game. it's no wonder then that the "fans" votes are also just as hollow and ill-informed. as a blazer fan i too am disappointed that portland, with a population of over 500,000, and oregon as a whole, with a population of over 3.5 million, couldn't muster a measly 300,000 votes. I voted 5 times for brandon roy. not a lot. but hey i did my part.
I think that many people
I think that many people don't get one thing..the great majority of NBA fans vote for their favorite players and/or for the players who play on their favorite team/s....it's not like they aren't paying attention, it's just that they want to support their favorite players. I mean, I am a Pistons fan and I voted only for Pistons players in the eastern conference balloting..I don't care if they deserved it or not, I voted for them because they play on my favorite team. But since I didn't vote for Garnett or LeBron or Howard it doesn't mean I am not paying attention to what's going on in the NBA..it just means, like I said, that I'm supporting my fav players who play on my fav team....it's not that hard to understand...you only need to check out a few NBA message boards and you'll see what fans are saying..a few weeks ago I read the Gilbert Arenas blog on NBA.com and many fans said "even though you are injured I am going to vote for you anyway because you are my favorite player" or something like that...see what am I trying to say? those fans KNOW that Arenas is injured, but despite this they kept voting him.
It's not like us NBA fans aren't paying attention, we ARE paying attention. It's just that we vote for our fav players and/or for the players who play on our fav team. I can't believe national pundits still have to understand it.
Also, players like Kobe, Garnett, LeBron got more votes than Roy, Paul etc. not because people in Portland or New Orleans etc don't care..but just because Kobe, Garnett, LeBron, the Lakers, Celtics, Cavs have more fans (both in the US and outside the States)..so this means they got more votes and you can't do anything about it...not to mention that many international fans can vote as well and those fans are more likely to vote for Kobe, LeBron, Garnett etc since those players are shown more than Roy, Paul etc.and the Lakers, Celtics are some of the most popular teams in the world.
Also, you can vote for all-star players on NBA.com, the official NBA site...most of the people who use NBA.com are true NBA fans like myself..I HIGHLY doubt that people who use NBA.com are people who don't care much about the NBA or follow it only watching ESPN highlights. Those people would never go on NBA.com since they don't care much about the league..or not? Think about that! Why people who follow the NBA only watching ESPN highlights should waste their time voting for the NBA all-stars, since they won't even care to watch the all-star game to begin with?
Again, it's not that hard to understand.
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