NBA to remove center designation from All-Star ballot

[alh1020]

For years the All-Star ballot has played this silly game — Tim Duncan would play the center role for the Spurs, as he has done pretty much since David Robinson retired, but he and the team would insist he be listed as a forward on the ballot. The play of big men has evolved over the years and while there are traditional centers — Dwight Howard, Andrew Bynum, Roy Hibbert — we will see Chris Bosh and Kevin Garnett at the five spot this year.

In response, the NBA is eliminating the center position from the All-Star ballot starting this year, something David Aldridge wrote on NBA.com Tuesday night, among other media reports. (If the NBA is putting it up on their own site, you can pretty much take this as fact.)

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….
“It makes sense,” (NBA VP of Basketball Operations Stu) Jackson said. “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 It just seemed a little outdated and didn’t represent the way our game has evolved.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.”

This is the right move. So now when you get the ballot you will vote for two guards and three frontcourt players for each conference.

What will that mean for the voting? Good question. One would think Dwight Howard would still be a lock to be voted in out West, but in the East will Andrew Bynum still make it? He likely started if you had to vote for a center (he would beat out Roy Hibbert or Brook Lopez) but now people could just vote Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James and Chris Bosh (all forwards before) and leave Bynum out. It will be interesting to watch.

A collection of handpicked media members are meeting starting Wednesday to pick what players will be on the ballot. Because of the logistics of printing and distributing the ballots to NBA arenas by Nov. 13 (when voting opens) the names have to be chosen before the season even starts. That inevitably leads to a few people on the ballot who shouldn’t be and somebody being overlooked who starts out hot. And trust me, we will be pointing that out when it happens here at PBT. But we’ll acknowledge that task is impossible to do that far in advance.

On the bright side, at least now they don’t have to pick out centers. And we don’t have to vote for them.

Related link: Five players that need a change of scenery | ProBasketballTalk

[Mombear]

they should just get rid of this event.

[SilverSpur]

“They had all kinds of forwards out there,” McHale said. “I think it’s a sad state when you can’t (find) enough centers in our league anymore to fill up the roster. I don’t know if it’s a position-less game. If Moses Malone was playing right now and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Robert Parish, you’d have centers. I don’t know where they went. They went the way of the dinosaur, I think".

Ultimate Rockets

[Rzarector7]

Originally Posted by Mombear

they should just get rid of this event.

NO WAY! I yearn for the day Bonner gets in the DUNK CONTEST.

[katyspursfan]

if they were to make a change, I was hoping for
PG
2 Wings
2 Bigs
Separate the ball handlers from shooters. Make the front line the two big guys you've got on the floor. Get the small forward out of a big dude category.

But, in the end, it's the silly NBA All Star Game. I haven't seen the game in years. I catch maybe 20 minutes of the night before.

[Money4Nothing]

Positions don't really matter in the all star game. Its just a glorified celebrity pickup game. But I still like watching it.

$

[b1gdon]

Originally Posted by katyspursfan

if they were to make a change, I was hoping for
PG
2 Wings
2 Bigs
Separate the ball handlers from shooters. Make the front line the two big guys you've got on the floor. Get the small forward out of a big dude category.

But, in the end, it's the silly NBA All Star Game. I haven't seen the game in years. I catch maybe 20 minutes of the night before.

You know, I'm not even sure there is as much of a designation between the Gaurds any more either. Think of the Spurs the last few years with how much Manu and Neal ran the offense and the proliferation of scoring point gaurds like Rose, Parker, and Westbrook. I think your way is probably still the best, but it isn't as close as it was even 5 years ago.

The secret to the all-star weekend is to forget Sunday and DVR Saturday and skip through the commercials/fluff and just watch the events. It is extremely enjoyable that way.

[grizzly_bexar]

Partly true that we're short on true "centers," but also more importantly the athleticism on the perimeter and the way that it's called so tightly on the inside means you've got to be ultra-mobile to play down low anymore. So I think guys like Robert Parish or Moses Malone would have a hard time in the current defensive rules.