The NBA has a fan-voting system, which is the only way to determine who gets drafted. The problem with this new incentive for fans is that it’s not rewarding them enough and they’re becoming disillusioned by their favorite team, as evidenced in Cleveland Cavs’ trade of LeBron James.
Stan Van Gundy is not wrong about fan voting, but he’s missing the point. The NBA has a lot of problems with its current system that they need to fix. One of these problems is the lack of transparency in how teams are ranked. Additionally, there needs to be more incentive for fans to vote on their favorite team. Read more in detail here: stan van gundy.
Stan Van Gundy, a former NBA coach turned commentator, slammed fans after seeing the NBA All-Star voting results in the most recent edition of Old Man Yells at Cloud. NBA players aren’t praised as much for their skill as they are for their celebrity. To put it another way, it’s the same as every year.
Van Gundy claims to be aware of the phenomena before criticizing the results. However, because anomalous vote results haven’t been a part of the All-Star process since the inception of the All-Star games, it’s helpful to have someone on the ground who can handle the complicated reporting.
First and foremost, Stan Van Gundy is correct in his assessment of NBA All-Star voting.
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Stan Van Gundy voiced his displeasure with where certain players fared in the most recent vote results for the NBA All-Star Game on Feb. 20 in Cleveland in a tweet on Jan. 16.
Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors finished fourth among Western Conference guards in NBA results published last week. Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns is one position ahead of him.
Similarly, a veteran NBA coach expressed amazement that Carmelo Anthony of the Los Angeles Lakers is polling higher than Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert in the Western Conference frontcourt. Backcourt players Kyrie Irving and Derrick Rose are leading the Eastern Conference ahead of Toronto Raptors great Fred VanVleet and rookie Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Darius Garland.
The issue is, Van Gundy isn’t entirely incorrect. It defies logic for Thompson, who has only been in four games, to be ahead of Booker, the top scorer on the NBA’s greatest team. Or that Irving, who made his fourth appearance of the season on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and the injured Rose are ahead of VanVleet and Garland, the floor leaders for two of the league’s most surprising teams.
But when has logic ever played a role in NBA All-Star voting?
Stan Van Gundy claims to understand it, yet his words betray him.
Stan Van Gundy acknowledges the peculiar nature of NBA All-Star voting outcomes. However, it didn’t stop him from denouncing them. | Getty Images/Dylan Buell
The NBA All-Star Game is a showcase event. Since 1974, fans have been voting for NBA All-Stars, and virtually every year, there have been issues about the results.
But here’s the thing: there’s a catch. The NBA isn’t well-known among fans. They aren’t former coaches who get paid a lot of money to evaluate games on TV. To put it another way, voters aren’t Stan Van Gundy.
If you put a ballot in front of them, they’ll respond in an unusual way. They’re going to vote for their favorite players regardless of how they’re playing, which is a shocking discovery.
In other news, scientists have discovered that water is moist.
It’s all about who can get the most votes. With all due respect to Towns and Gobert’s talent, Anthony has a larger fan base. It’s not at all difficult.
There are legitimate grounds for athletes’ dissatisfaction with their lack of selection. Those causes, however, are the league’s, teams’, and players’ faults. It’s not the supporters’ fault.
It was a bad idea to tie financial incentives to NBA All-Star voting.
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One of the first biographical markers utilized by most fans and media to judge a player’s relative worth is the number of All-Star games played. Players’ contracts have terms that provide benefits if they are selected for the All-Star Game.
The NBA All-Star voting fans are not to blame for this. When you say it out loud, tying a financial incentive to the whims of the fans sounds ludicrous.
Yes, I’d want tens of thousands of dollars attached to people’s voting results for who they want to see in a game that has no bearing on the standings. When was the last time that seemed like a decent idea?
The media bears some of the blame. It’s us who bring up the amount of All-Star appearances. All-NBA picks are a superior metric. In contrast to the popularity battle of NBA All-Star voting, they have (or should have) a performance foundation.
In 2017, the NBA added a player component to the All-Star voting. Last year, players voted for Quinn Cook, PJ Dozier, CJ Elleby, Solomon Hill, and Nick Richards, among others. Stan Van Gundy’s indignation over such outcomes is nowhere to be seen.
Four players voted for Thanasis Antetokounmpo last year. Tacko Fall was backed by three people.
It makes the cries of “fans have no idea what they’re doing” seem hollow.
The NBA All-Star Game is a fan-friendly event. Insiders like Stan Van Gundy don’t have to understand it. The NBA All-Star voting has always produced outcomes that defy logic, and it will continue to do so. However, a look at popular culture reveals that logic and popularity are about as diametrically opposed as two things can be.
Basketball Reference provided the statistics.
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The Phoenix Suns are first in the Western Conference, but they’re in the middle of the pack in All-Star voting.
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