It used to be that the fans who attended the games got to select the all stars, but now it has moved to an internet vote. It is strange that now that I have the opportunity to vote and have availed myself of the privilege in the past, I would speak out against the process, but I feel compelled to do so. When the voting was confined to ticket holders, it reduced the number of votes and it helped spread the votes out. Now that anyone can vote online it gives the large markets a distinct advantage, especially if people vote for the hometown man versus another who really deserves to be there. That is one advantage that Bryant has. Another is the fact he is a legend one of the all time greats and has name recognition.
The cold, hard fact is if he was not voted onto the starters' roster by the fans, he would have never made the team. The coaches choose the reservists, and Kobe just is not good enough to make the team. I think there are two important factors to keep in mind when choosing all stars. First is individual stats in this Kobe Bryant is unremarkable in this season. He is just getting to old. He has been in the league for a very long time and has lost a step or two. He is averaging less than 17 points a game, around 4 rebounds, and three assists. Not terrible, even pretty impressive considering his age, but not all star caliber. There is a second metric that we have to look at. Some people won't have great individual stats, but their team play will have been really impressive. They will have raised the play of everyone else on the team and as such the team will have out played expectations. So how does he fare by using this metric? Well, not good. The Lakers are playing terribly. They are sitting at about 200, which is terrible. My general rule is that if your team is team is under 200, you have no business starting on an all star team no matter what your personal stats are.
The fault is ours. We as fans need not to treat the all star voting as a popularity contest, or a lifetime achievement award. We need to put the person who has earned a position on the team, not the great player who has no real argument for this year's team. Kobe will be a basketball hall of famer absolutely and rightfully so. He just should not have started on this all star team.
You may just think that I am upset because I have a favorite player that should have made the team, but did not. That is actually true, and in a future post I might elaborate, but everything I said is absolutely true.