The new system that weighs fan, media, and player input proportionally has worked like a charm.
Many of us complain about where the NBA falls short on all sorts of policy issues, like playoff seeding, conference alignment, the age minimum, and various salary cap issues. It’s worth acknowledging when the NBA gets it absolutely right.
Two years ago, the NBA implemented a new system to vote in starters for its annual All-Star Game. It had previously been determined entirely by fans using a combination of paper ballots at arenas, digital voting at the league’s website, and social media. Over the years, the fans made some odd collective choices, usually by electing injured, unavailable but popular stars (hello Yao Ming). By 2016, it was trending in a weird direction, with Zaza Pachulia knocking on the All-Star door.
So the NBA made a huge shift, reducing the fan vote to 50 percent of the algorithm that determines All-Star starters, and introducing a media vote (25 percent) and a player vote (25 percent).
Thank freaking goodness.
Had the fans still had full control, Derrick Rose would be an All-Star starter in 2019. Rose doesn’t come close to deserving the honor on his merits — fans placed him above James Harden and Damian Lillard, which is outrageous — and as Zito Madu writes, the coverage of Rose reveals the toxic nature of how we build sports redemption narratives. It’s just as troubling that Rose finished No. 4 in player voting ahead of Lillard, DeMar DeRozan, Jrue Holiday, Devin Booker and — well, everyone but Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, and Harden. The inclusion of a media vote (Rose received no media votes) saved the All-Star Game from hosting Derrick Rose as a starter.
Fans would also have made Luka Doncic a starter in the West over Paul George and Anthony Davis (who fell short to George, LeBron, and Kevin Durant anyway) and Dwyane Wade a starter over Kemba Walker. Doncic is in the All-Star conversation (though it’s unlikely he’ll earn a spot because the West race is so tough) but Wade, celebrating his farewell season, shouldn’t be close based on his play this year. An ultra-exciting rookie and a legend waving goodbye as All-Star starters wouldn’t have been awful the way Rose starting would have been, but it’s better for everyone now that reason rules on these matters.
The NBA changed the voting system just in time to prevent a Zaza Pachulia All-Star jersey from being created, and those changes really paid dividends this year. The league is far from perfect, but kudos are warranted here.
The new All-Star starters voting system works.