The NBA All-Star Game Takes a Sad Turn

The NBA All-Star Game Has Slowly Evolved Into One of the Biggest Popularity Contests

If you haven't seen it, here is the starting lineups and the reserves for the NBA All-Star game:
West:
Starters: PG Steve Nash (Phoenix Suns)
SG Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers)
SF Carmelo Anthony (Denver Nuggets)
PF Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas Mavericks)
C Tim Duncan (San Antonio Spurs)


East:
Starters: PG Rajon Rondo (Boston Celtics)
SG Dwayne Wade (Miami Heat)
SF Lebron James (Cleveland Cavaliers)
PF Chris Bosh (Toronto Raptors)
C Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic)
G Allen Iverson (Philadelhia 76ers)


and here is a list of the players with the leading votes behind them:

Guards	Team	Votes
Vince Carter	Orlando Magic	1,048,977
Ray Allen	Boston Celtics	710,045
Derrick Rose	Chicago Bulls	571,911
Gilbert Arenas	Washington Wizards	545,860
Joe Johnson	Atlanta Hawks	496,255
Forwards	Team	Votes
Chris Bosh	Toronto Raptors	1,164,007
Paul Pierce	Boston Celtics	525,677
Josh Smith	Atlanta Hawks	475,671
Andre Iguodala	Philadelphia 76ers	313,827
Danny Granger	Indiana Pacers	309,808
Centers	Team	Votes
Shaquille O'Neal	Cleveland Cavaliers	856,056
Al Horford	Atlanta Hawks	270,532
Andrea Bargnani	Toronto Raptors	265,024

Other Players Receiving Votes (West)

Guards	Team	Votes
Chris Paul	New Orleans Hornets	1,055,789
Tracy McGrady	Houston Rockets	1,022,492
Aaron Brooks	Houston Rockets	591,930
Jason Kidd	Dallas Mavericks	523,708
Manu Ginobili	San Antonio Spurs	465,211
Forwards	Team	Votes
Dirk Nowitzki	Dallas Mavericks	1,093,005
Pau Gasol	Los Angeles Lakers	1,051,784
Kevin Durant	Oklahoma City Thunder	870,567
Trevor Ariza	Houston Rockets	645,937
Luis Scola	Houston Rockets	580,243
Centers	Team	Votes
Andrew Bynum	Los Angeles Lakers	981,355
Nene	Denver Nuggets	364,543
Marc Gasol	Memphis Grizzlies	353,155

Okay, so now does my title make sense? Obviously for media, tickets, and television purposes, this makes some sense in that the people choose who they want to see. However, it is also pretty stupid.  


Here is the definition of Athlete: consisting of athletes chosen as the best at their positions from all teams in a league or region.


So how is a player like Iverson starting? I like Iverson a lot, he is by far one of the best Point Guards in history, but not this year.  How can he be the starting PG with stats like this: 14.4 PPG, 4.4 APG, only 19 total games played, and his team has a record of 14-28.  Yes he is good, but there is no way he deserves to start. 


Still not convinced this is a popularity contest, look at T-Mac's votes.  He is my favorite player in the NBA, but there it would be a terrible joke to sawhe deserves to even be on the roster. To make things worse, T-Mac was beating Nash in the votes up until the final week.  T-Mac has played in 6 whole games this year, averaging only 7.7 min in each of those games, with 3.2 PPG and only 1.0 APG. 


And there are other examples of players who are also up there because they are more popular than others. So ask yourself- is it fair for these players who were great a couple years ago be pushed ahead of the players who have earned it this year.  After all- isn't it a game to reward the players who have played the best this year- otherwise, I think next year I might vote for Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, and Charles Barkley up there.