Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at 3:34 pm  |  110 responses

All-Star ’10: First Balloting Returns

by Ryne Nelson

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


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  • http://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jstiglitz/ DIMITRIS DIAMANTIDIS

    EUROLEAGUE BREAKING NEWS:
    Olympiakos completely destroyed Unkikaja Malaga and now leads the group(Josh had some nice moves and a follow dunk). I saw some highlights from Barcelona’s game today and (once again) Rubio has definitely some Pistol Pete in him….Yestrday Qyntel Woods led prokom to a surprise win over REAL mADRID. If Woods wasn’t a head case he would still be in olympiakos(we still love him, he is better player than Josh). Fotsis miraculus last second follow saved Panathinaikos at Russia….by the way: get ready to receive your VON WAFER back(THIS years Euroleague dissapointment). After he failed to average more than 5 minutes with Olympiakos, i expect him to be an NBA MVP canditate next year (in the steps of Brandon Jennings who was LAST years Euroleague disapointment).

  • tmw554

    @TADOne: yeah i voted for him too but hes a write in and might get overlooked

  • dankNuggs

    Shaq over Al Horford, and Tracy Mcgrady starting even though he hasn’t played a single game. once again the fans have shown their ability to make the most moronic decisions possible

  • slamfan4life

    DERRICK ROSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • http://nicekicks.com MeloMan2.0

    i always vote iguodala and rudy gay in because u kno they wud make it alot more enjoyable…. But VOTE FOR MELO!! and bosh def deserves more love

  • El Chinas.

    Man, we need to send Dacre into the gulag labor camp for poor taste in humor. Re-education needed.

  • http://gmail dirty frank

    West: Nash, Kobe, Melo, KD, Chris Kamann
    East: DWade, Joe Johnson, J Smoove, LBJ, Dwight

    Really pisses me off that Amare is listed as a center. Will they ever fix the balloting? Should just vote for 5 players regardless of position.

    Where’s the Joe Johnson love?

  • http://gmail dirty frank

    I refuse to vote for Bosh due to his inability to get his team to 500.

  • http://slam Liam

    wow mcrady is on but jennings isnt or tyreke evans man thats sad show some love for the rooks

  • http://gmail dirty frank

    Alternate West:
    Nash, Kobe, Dirk, Pau, Bynum

  • http://slamonline.com Dave

    Did Dacre really just say that?
    Seriously?
    What is the, the f&$#ing nineteen forties?

  • http://www.twitter.com/JoshElam JE

    I can’t believe Jennings didn’t make the top 5. That’s probably already been said several times, but I didn’t feel like reading the comments.

  • RV

    let me let the rest of the nation in on a little secret we have down here in Houston…WE ACTUALLY LIKE TMAC and so does the team. All this crap about feuds and freezing him out is nothing but rumors. He practices with the team, interacts with them, no issues with teammates, both aldeman and morey already set things straight. Tmac WILL play this year again with Houston….it’sa been confirmed by Morey himself.

  • http://www.realcavsfans.com Anton

    All Greg Oden all star votes are valued at $1 per vote and will be paid to Darius Miles as part of his contract.

  • http://www.euroleagueadventures.com Nick Gibson

    No love for KD. And Ray Allen is up near the top and no Joe Johnson…right.

  • LeoneL

    Because of this return, I’m gonna go ahead and use all proxies I know to vote for Gerald Wallace…lol

  • lol

    BYNUM over anybody is ridiculous hes a fat rebounder like shaq without his likability and scoring, shq is a all time great i mean slam themselves said that shaq was GREATer by 8 spots in their top 50 bynum shouldnt be above amare no matter what

  • Hangtime Hec

    Jennings> Rose. Just saying. Again.

  • http://slamonline.com Brad Long

    I was hoping that Gilbert and Shaq would both make it just so they’d have to be on the same team for a night. AWKWARD!

  • Dice

    No Joe Johnson?

  • CoolMcFly

    you guys are forgetting Derrick Rose everyone knows Derrick Rose is in the top 5 best point guards in the east right now and yea Brandon Jennings can score but an overall point guard battle Derrick Rose is amazingly better then Jennings no doubt about it

    Derrick Rose > Brandon Jennings

  • CoolMcFly

    My all star ballot East: Derrick Rose, Dwayne Wade, Lebron James, Rashard Lewis, Dwight Howard

    West: Steve Nash, T-Mac, Durantula aka Skreech, Carmelo Anthony (do not care he should be starting), Amare Stud

  • http://Www.lkz.ch Darksaber

    On behalf of the few here who praise the man, i’d like to thank the fans for finally recognizing Dirk for the all star starter he is. Sure it’s early, and Yao or Tracy might overtake (wtf?) but i’m hoping Dirk gets his 1st vote in by the fans to necome a starter. Guess the crazy girlfriend thing brought sympathy, can’t be the performance, that’s been a given for years. And damn, Teddy RIPPED Dacre a new one earlier.

  • http://Www.lkz.ch Darksaber

    Oh and my unusual suspects for this year’s ASG: Crash (eff a Bron, check HIS stats), Drew Bogut, Chris Kaman, Youngbuck Jennings, that damn Houston lineup, Rondooooooo and Shannin (just for tge dunk-off, pretty please)

  • http://slamonline.com tealish

    The Internet is filled with surprises. First a long-time, usually respectable poster in Dacre, posts some ignorant sh!t, then DIMITRIS comes out with some Zhong Wen. Good stuff.

  • http://slamonline.com tealish

    Also, Dirk getting starting love is long overdue. Great for him.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    Nice Dimitris, ni hui jiang zhong wen? Nice man!
    Co-sign RV and Darksaber.

  • matt

    if i told you someone was averaging 19, 4 and 2 and shooting 41%, would you say “all-star”?

  • http://www.slamonline.com Pardeep

    AI’s All-star streak is over. When he was waived by Memphis he was off the ballot. Still is 6th in voting but you could not vote for him for 32 days. He would have started but the waiving messed him up. He will probably do much better after all-star break but right now for another month AI is still going to be adjusting and everything and there is no way he is going to be able to put up the stats that are going to get him in to Dallas by February.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    The sad part is, I think that b!tch ablie1kenobi is Asian too–that’s just flat out shameful. Show some f*cking dignity, dumb@ss.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    I’m done with these two idiots, I’m going to cast my votes. Peace.

  • matt

    hey teddy you know you replied to the racism with racism right? nice dignity.

  • http://Www.lkz.ch Darksaber

    Cosign Anyone surprised at Spanny speaking Mandarin. Now that’s deep, not an easy language to master… You go, Fotsis. (i am now more than convinced that Spanny let’s it rip here to get a rise out of the commenters, too much b-ball knowledge/love and real world chops to be some dumb hick. Then again, maybe he’s got multiple personality disorder)

  • http://Www.lkz.ch Darksaber

    Teddy, oooooh saaaaaaa.. Ooooooo saahhhhhhhh. Let it go, man. Pretty sure Dacre feels a bit sorry for his post, usually a cool fellow to converse with, don’t you think?

  • MikeC.

    Does anybody remember when the ‘fans’ voted Grant Hill and Alonzo Mourning as East starters when Grant was missing his second straight season with ankle injuries, and Zo was missing the season while getting used to having a new kidney? One more reason why people can’t be trusted to do anything that requires a tiny amount of intelligence.

  • MikeC.

    McGrady gets my vote for “most valuable expiring contract”. Many GMs will be burning up all their anytime minutes trying to talk to Morey and Adelman at the trade deadline for sure.

  • http://dsfjkl.com Jukai

    Matt: I’m pretty sure southerners don’t constitute as a ‘race’ but yeah, Teddy could have gone the high route instead of resorting to lowering himself like that. In fairness, if I remember correctly, I believe Teddy is chinese (if I’m wrong, I apologize) so that hit him a little close to home. If someone insulted Australians (I think Dacre’s Australian if I remember correctly… once again, apologies if I’m wrong) then Dacre would have been just as harsh.
    Darksaber: Spanny is a relatively intelligent fellow, which is why I’m always against having him banned (although I am guilty of breaking the rules to purposefully rile him up). Spanny would be a great, intelligent fellow to chat with if it wasn’t for his OBVIOUS bias for some players (Kukoc) and his blind hatred for others (Iverson).

  • http://slamonline.com Ben Osborne

    The offensive comment from earlier has been removed, but not every comment that references it. Apologies.

  • http://dsfjkl.com Jukai

    Thanks Ben. Much appreciated.

  • J

    tmac 2nd on west guards. that’s a perfect example of why the league should reconsider the voting system. i think, imo, the fan voting should only be 50% of the criteria of who will make it to the ASG.

  • http://www.hibachi20.blogspot.com Hursty

    Bogut and Gerald Wallace should both make it for the East. You can’t really put B. Lopez or Harris on because of their records.
    T-Mac can’t be there either.
    Ron Artest shouldn’t be there, but Ariza deserves consideration.

  • J

    ^agree. but damn, Brook Lopez plays arguably as the best center on east right now.

  • http://dsfjkl.com Jukai

    Hursty: I’d rather have Brook Lopez on the team than Bogut, record be damned.

  • http://hoopistani.blogspot.com The Hoopistani

    if T-Mac gets healthy for the All-Star break and starts, I’m never voting for the All-Star game again.

  • Randy Brown

    I would rather lose my chance to vote and have it done by Americans only. It’s embarrassing to the sport that T-Mac might be in

  • http://www.gmail.com rushmelo

    as far as the west goes its pretty flawless expect for t.mac being second on the guards list.but that’s not so shocking
    considering he has been a fan favorite many years in the past it’s okay to see some of his ol’ fans show him love.even though it may not be realistic and practical.
    the thing is its pretty sad to see such great talents never see the daylight of their maximum abilities.
    Greg Oden
    i really wish he gets back soon and healthy
    T-MAC
    Yao
    many many more of them.
    it takes so much to reach there and you come up short for no fault of yours.

  • http://www.gmail.com rushmelo

    as far as the final starters go it will be

    WEST EAST
    Amare Stoudemire Dwight howard
    dirk nowitzki kevin garnett
    carmelo anthony lebron james
    kobe bryant vince carter
    steve nash dwyane wade

    the reserves fo’ da west will be
    Billups,andrew bynum,,tim duncan,deron williams,kevin durant,brandon roy,Gasol or boozer

    EAST-paul pierce,mo williams,chris bosh,ray allen,joe johnson,gilbert arenas,gerald wallace

  • http://www.lkz.ch Darksaber

    @Jukai: and by “Iverson”, you ment KOURNIKOVA OF B-BALL, right? :-)

  • sunsnroses

    Nash failed to make the team last year in Phoenix because he had a minor back injury during All-Star weekend.

  • don

    uh oh, i still don’t see deron’s name.

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