My Ballot
With Super Tuesday and the California primary only a little over a week away, it seems like a perfect time to discuss politics. But I’d rather discuss a different ballot, my ballot for the 2008 NBA All-Star game. (Although for the record, I'll probably vote for Clinton and "No" on all the propositions.)
I had intended to submit my vote, but when I logged onto NBA.com, I discovered that the league was requiring fans to register to vote rather than simply inputting a confirmation code to prevent overzealous fans from voting more than once a day or setting up computer programs to vote multiple times. I didn’t feel like supplying my e-mail address to yet another web-site and getting more spam or just going through the registration process so I declined to vote and instead I plan to go over who the fans chose and mention who I would have voted for.
At the guard position on the Western Conference team, the fans selected Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant. There’s no doubt that Bryant would have been on my ballot. He’s simply one of the best players in the league on a team that only a week or so ago was on top of the Western Conference standings. While a recent turn of events have shown how valuable Andrew Bynum is to the Los Angeles Lakers, there is little doubt that the team would also be struggling if Bynum were healthy and Bryant was out.
As for Iverson, he probably would have been left off my ballot. There is little doubt that he deserves to be a starter. Iverson has been a fan favorite for many years and is currently averaging 27 points, nearly 7 assists, and more than 2 steals on a team that is battling for the lead in the Northwest division. But my vote would have gone to either Chris Paul or Steve Nash considering that both of these players are leading the New Orleans and the Phoenix Suns respectively into a battle for the best record in the conference. Given that Chris Paul has led my fantasy basketball team into first place in my fantasy league, my vote would have gone to Paul.
Iverson is joined on the All-Star team by his Denver Nuggets teammate Carmelo Anthony at one of the forward positions. Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs occupies the other forward position. Like the Answer, Anthony also deserves to be named a starter after averaging 25 points and 7 rebounds for the season. However, once again a Nugget would not have been on my ballot. My pick would have been Dirk Nowitzki, Shawn Marion, or Josh Howard. Of the three, Dirk would have gotten the nod because even though he struggled earlier in the year, he is still putting up 22 points and 8 rebounds and is leading the Mavericks to a record of 30-13. As for Duncan, it’s hard to argue with the selection of a player who has consistently led the reigning NBA champions.
That leaves us with the center position. This year the fans chose Yao Ming to represent the Western Conference. Yao is averaging 22 points, 10 rebounds, and two blocks and normally that would be enough for me to vote for him to be the starting center for the west. But this year, Yao is getting those stats on team that is only 24-20 and is out of the playoffs as I type. Individual accomplishments on bad teams generally should not be recognized. So my vote would go to Amare Stoudamire who is averaging a rebound less on a team that is near the top of the conference standings. Amare barely edges out Marcus Camby who is having a tremendous year for the Denver Nuggets with 14 rebounds and almost 4 blocks a game.
Tune in tomorrow for my Eastern Conference picks.
I had intended to submit my vote, but when I logged onto NBA.com, I discovered that the league was requiring fans to register to vote rather than simply inputting a confirmation code to prevent overzealous fans from voting more than once a day or setting up computer programs to vote multiple times. I didn’t feel like supplying my e-mail address to yet another web-site and getting more spam or just going through the registration process so I declined to vote and instead I plan to go over who the fans chose and mention who I would have voted for.
At the guard position on the Western Conference team, the fans selected Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant. There’s no doubt that Bryant would have been on my ballot. He’s simply one of the best players in the league on a team that only a week or so ago was on top of the Western Conference standings. While a recent turn of events have shown how valuable Andrew Bynum is to the Los Angeles Lakers, there is little doubt that the team would also be struggling if Bynum were healthy and Bryant was out.
As for Iverson, he probably would have been left off my ballot. There is little doubt that he deserves to be a starter. Iverson has been a fan favorite for many years and is currently averaging 27 points, nearly 7 assists, and more than 2 steals on a team that is battling for the lead in the Northwest division. But my vote would have gone to either Chris Paul or Steve Nash considering that both of these players are leading the New Orleans and the Phoenix Suns respectively into a battle for the best record in the conference. Given that Chris Paul has led my fantasy basketball team into first place in my fantasy league, my vote would have gone to Paul.
Iverson is joined on the All-Star team by his Denver Nuggets teammate Carmelo Anthony at one of the forward positions. Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs occupies the other forward position. Like the Answer, Anthony also deserves to be named a starter after averaging 25 points and 7 rebounds for the season. However, once again a Nugget would not have been on my ballot. My pick would have been Dirk Nowitzki, Shawn Marion, or Josh Howard. Of the three, Dirk would have gotten the nod because even though he struggled earlier in the year, he is still putting up 22 points and 8 rebounds and is leading the Mavericks to a record of 30-13. As for Duncan, it’s hard to argue with the selection of a player who has consistently led the reigning NBA champions.
That leaves us with the center position. This year the fans chose Yao Ming to represent the Western Conference. Yao is averaging 22 points, 10 rebounds, and two blocks and normally that would be enough for me to vote for him to be the starting center for the west. But this year, Yao is getting those stats on team that is only 24-20 and is out of the playoffs as I type. Individual accomplishments on bad teams generally should not be recognized. So my vote would go to Amare Stoudamire who is averaging a rebound less on a team that is near the top of the conference standings. Amare barely edges out Marcus Camby who is having a tremendous year for the Denver Nuggets with 14 rebounds and almost 4 blocks a game.
Tune in tomorrow for my Eastern Conference picks.
posted by The Pocho at 12:30 PM
2 Comments:
No on all the propositions? What you got against Indian gaming?
I'm just confused by all the ads. Plus, I figure if Arnold's for it, I should probably be against it. But I really don't understand the issue fully to recommend a vote either way. "No" is just the way I'm going.
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