You gotta enjoy All-Star balloting. Three months before the game, we already know — with 90 percent accuracy — the starters in the NBA’s annual Popularity Show.
According to the first All-Star Balloting returns (see below), we’ll likely see these lineups (pending injury):
East: LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Dwyane Wade, Vince Carter, Dwight Howard.
West: Carmelo Anthony, Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Amar’e Stoudemire.
Bosh has an outside prayer of overcoming Garnett’s early lead. Nash and Paul should surpass the injured McGrady to vie for the final West guard starting spot. I give the nod to Nash because of his past ties with the Mavericks and their fans. Last season, you’ll recall, Nash failed to make the team, despite the game being in Phoenix.
Only the Lakers have a top 5 candidate in the forward, guard and center positions; although, it looks like Kobe will be the only starter.
Tim Duncan was an All-Star starter in every All-Star Game during the past decade, so maybe coming off the bench going into the 2010s isn’t such a bad thing.
| 2010 NBA ALL-STAR BALLOTING | |
| EAST FORWARDS | |
| LeBron James | 649,327 |
| Kevin Garnett | 533,187 |
| Chris Bosh | 303,550 |
| Paul Pierce | 131,379 |
| Josh Smith | 109,404 |
| EAST GUARDS | |
| Dwyane Wade | 672,227 |
| Vince Carter | 292,002 |
| Gilbert Arenas | 212,526 |
| Ray Allen | 208,276 |
| Derrick Rose | 196,059 |
| EAST CENTERS | |
| Dwight Howard | 625,279 |
| Shaquille O’Neal | 206,657 |
| Andrea Bargnani | 67,310 |
| Al Horford | 52,747 |
| Andrew Bogut | 45,920 |
| WEST FORWARDS | |
| Carmelo Anthony | 588,958 |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 366,300 |
| Pau Gasol | 280,758 |
| Tim Duncan | 271,321 |
| Kevin Durant | 177,205 |
| WEST GUARDS | |
| Kobe Bryant | 692,518 |
| Tracy McGrady | 281,545 |
| Steve Nash | 272,135 |
| Chris Paul | 248,049 |
| Jason Kidd | 207,247 |
| WEST CENTERS | |
| Amar’e Stoudemire | 447,776 |
| Andrew Bynum | 299,484 |
| Nene | 90,439 |
| Marc Gasol | 75,765 |
| Greg Oden | 73,874 |
