Wednesday, October 24th, 2012 at 9:00 am  |  80 responses

NBA Eliminating Center Position on All-Star Ballot


by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

The NBA’s All-Star Ballot will undergo a significant change this season. The center position will no longer appear on it.

The League, spurned on by its competition committee, elected to change the designation to “frontcourt”, which eliminates the annual glut at the center spot.

This is great news for a host of potential All-Star candidates.

Per TNT‘s David Aldridge:

The league will announce Wednesday a change to its All-Star ballot that will, for the first time, allow fans to vote for three undefined “frontcourt” players instead of having to vote for two forwards and a center. With more and more teams playing smaller than in the past, the definition of “center” was becoming increasingly difficult — not to mention finding enough quality big men for whom to vote. For years, for example, the Spurs have listed Tim Duncan as a power forward, even though everyone on earth knew he was their starting center. And so when it came to All-Star balloting, Duncan would take up a forward spot in a very crowded field of Western Conference stars instead of his logical spot in the middle. This was good for Duncan, who surely would have made his 13 All-Star teams anyway, but it often cost another forward a shot.

“It makes sense,” VP of Basketball Operations Stu Jackson. “It made sense to our Competition Committee. Having a center is the only specific position that was singled out on the ballot. It just seemed a little outdated and didn’t represent the way our game has evolved. By the same token, it also affords the same opportunity, if you have two good centers in a given year, pick ‘em both. They both can be selected. Which is impossible right now.”

Members of the media make the ballot selections. It will certainly be interesting to see which “frontcourt” players make it this season.

The new All-Star ballot will be unveiled on November 13, with the mid-season showcase set to take place on February 17 in Houston.

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  • JML-G

    bout damn time

  • spit hot fiyah

    Hold on i dont get it, did the nba just do something that makes sense?

  • biggieman

    Great! Now China can vote Jeremy Lin in at every position!

  • Max

    Josh Smith, you’re finally an allstar.

  • ByAnyMeansNecessary

    Finally a good idea from the NBA.

  • TBRK

    RIP…an era is officially dead

  • http://twitter.com/Jzakoni Verified Account

    Shaq was right last true center. Good idea tho lol

  • Pingback: Center position eliminated from NBA All-Star ballot | The NBA Report

  • Juicy 757

    aka “we lack the real, true, dominant centers that we had in the past and it’s time to stop giving these bums some shine.”

  • danpowers

    this comes far too late as we already had to suffer from jamaal magloire in the all star game

  • http://twitter.com/Jzakoni Verified Account

    Horrific.

  • K_HOLIDAY

    The NBA forgot to mention with this new rule change, you now have 90 seconds to make your selections or you will be assessed a technical foul

  • Dagger

    Will Jamaal Magloire’s all-star appearance be erased from the record, as well?

  • nhm

    thank heavens! finally!

  • http://twitter.com/Jzakoni Verified Account

    i wanna see this happen

  • http://twitter.com/Jzakoni Verified Account

    kinda sad

  • http://twitter.com/Jzakoni Verified Account

    man. thats the new nightmare lol. starting west PG

  • roscoe

    just say no to the discrimination of big ppl. I am getting t-shirts printed & starting a sign-up group.

  • Rainman

    Well…that means no more all star appearances for Mr. Roy Hibbert. It was fun while it lasted, kid.

  • MikeC.

    The East could start this lineup in the ASG. LeBron, Melo, PP, D-Will and Wade. Against Dwight, Blake, KD, Kobe and CP3. That looks kinda ill.

  • island boy

    so bynum is not gonna make it to the all star game then.. he might but not as a starter..

  • Jerome

    This isn’t good for the future of the game. Put your And1 mitxape on repeat if you feel “bigs” make the game less entertaining. I knew the summer league garbage would change he regular season. Defense is dead, long live Stern.

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    - Chris Paul – Kobe Bryant – Kevin Durant – Blake Griffin – Dwight Howard — So the West Starting Lineup won’t be affected
    - Deron Williams/Kyrie Irving/Rajon Rondo (who knows how the fans will vote) – Dwyane Wade – LeBron James – Carmelo Anthony – Kevin Garnett? Tyson Chandler? Andrew Bynum?
    .
    The East will be the side affected the most.

  • Slick Ric

    LMAO

  • Slick Ric

    The final blow to the death of the big man. R.I.P

  • danpowers

    long time. where hve u been hiding?

  • Caboose

    So you want Roy Hibbert as an All Star?

  • Caboose

    Dwight? Bynum?

  • Salty

    I wish I could vote you down more than once.

  • Drig

    Bynum to a degree yes. Dwight’s more of a PnR C rather than a back to the basket low post guy that most consider great true Cs.

  • LakeShow

    I don’t agree with this assessment. Dwight is a Center in any era…

  • Perry the PlatyPteranodon

    Considering Lebron can play all four of the positions, maybe we should try and get him to be the ENTIRE Eastern starting 5…. just for the lulz.

  • Junior Taylor

    Defense is dead? Tell that to Bos, CHI and MIA.

  • Junior Taylor

    The coaches and fans will still find a way to f*ck JSmith out of another all-star selection he deserves.

  • http://twitter.com/Jzakoni Verified Account

    I take prime shaq over prime Dwight

  • tomtom

    How could anyone ‘dislike’ this lmao..

  • LakeShow

    Umm… okay…
    Me too, and 100% of the rest of the populous…
    You say weird random things sometimes man.

  • shutup

    Roy Hibbert has made his last all-star game and Noah’s chances of ever making one have disappeared.

  • K_HOLIDAY

    Lebron, Melo, Paul Pierce, KG, Tyson Chandler, Amare, Al Horford, Chris Bosh, Andrew Bynum and Danny Granger might all tell you not to cheer for Josh Smith just yet…

  • K_HOLIDAY

    My guess is the two dislikes are David Stern and Stu Jackson

  • Slick Ric

    I’ve been posting a little.

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    Amar’e Stoudemire? hahaha good one.

  • price

    I was thin

  • K_HOLIDAY

    I was running out of options with trying to prove my point lol… If you think about it though, if the Knicks are playing anywhere close to their potential during the first half of the season and Amare is putting up 20 and 7, he’s going to get a ton of votes! New York is a big city with crazy fans and a huge media influence.

  • The Mauve Avenger

    These are dark times for basketball.

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    yeah but that’s saying he will do something he hasn’t shown the ability to do. And i doubt the city votes 3 of their frontcourt guys starters. Tyson is going to get more votes than Amar’e regardless, if he’s healthy. And LeBron probably already has the most votes out of anybody and there is no voting yet.

  • K_HOLIDAY

    He hasn’t shown the ability to do it to this point but anything can happen (cue Jeremy Lin). I do agree with you though. Amare is a bit of a longshot considering Melo and Chandler are his teammates and Lebron James is still a decent basketball player.

  • Rainman

    well considering its voting, and Dwight gets A LOT of votes cuz theres honestly noone else to vote for at center…now Dwight is going up against other 4′s in voting, and his popularity has taken a BIG hit, idk, he mayt not be such a shoe in to be voted in anymore. He’ll definitely get in regardless (coach’s pick) But who knows if his reign will last as a starter with this change

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    lol

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    Well Considering Dwight is now in LOS ANGELES he will get even MORE votes. So, uhm, no. He’s a shoe in, every year, to start at Center Forward for the West All Stars. Unless Yao Ming junior comes into the NBA sometime soon.

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