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NBA: Positions Should Not Matter When It Comes To All-Star, All-NBA Selections

By Ti Windisch

February 15, 2015; New York, NY, USA; Western Conference guard Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers (3) high-fives Eastern Conference guard Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers (2) during the second half of the 2015 NBA All-Star Game at Madison Square Garden. The West defeated the East 163-158. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
February 15, 2015; New York, NY, USA; Western Conference guard Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers (3) high-fives Eastern Conference guard Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers (2) during the second half of the 2015 NBA All-Star Game at Madison Square Garden. The West defeated the East 163-158. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /
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It doesn’t matter who gets to vote for the NBA All-Star Game if players will miss out because of arbitrary position restrictions anyway.

The NBA All-Star Game is far more complicated than it should be this season. Aside from the fact that the game was moved to New Orleans from Charlotte due to a bathroom bill the state passed that the NBA wasn’t fond of, the voting is now different.

In addition to the fan vote that takes over Twitter for two-thirds of January, now the media and players get votes. There does need to be a change made in All-Star (and All-NBA) voting, one even more important than who exactly decides the teams.

This feels like a secondary issue, if one at all. The All-Star Game doesn’t decide anything in the NBA, it’s just a fun exhibition game for the fans to enjoy and to show recognition to the game’s best players (and Zaza Pachulia).

The premise is inherently flawed anyway. Since All-Star Weekend is in February and voting ends in mid-January, only about half of the season can be considered. A player could be red-hot for the first 41 or so games, then play like garbage for the last half of the season and still be an All-Star.

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It’s weird. All-Star Weekend is still fun though, even if it doesn’t mean much. Considering the game itself is only for fun, why are players sorted into frontcourt and backcourt spots? Shouldn’t the best five players make it, regardless of their positions?

That’s the rule change that would make the most sense with regard to the All-Star Game.

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    • It would be amazing to watch the game next year if the All-Star starters for the East were LeBron James, Paul George, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kristaps Porzingis and Joel Embiid–especially if they faced off against a guard-heavy West consisting of Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant.

    These teams don’t have to make sense–they don’t play very hard, and most of the big guys in the NBA can shoot these days anyway. Let’s get crazy with this game. Besides, the main argument for the “All-Star games matter!” people is that the game matters for player legacy purposes.

    If that’s true, and it probably is, then wouldn’t it make sense for the best players to get this honor? In addition to whatever voting changes people want to see, let’s get rid of position requirements and make sure that only actually deserving players get in.

    Getting rid of positional requirements in the All-Star game would be fun, in addition to making the game honor the right players. Getting rid of them when it comes to the All-NBA teams is actually pretty important.

    Thanks to the new collective bargaining agreement, All-NBA teams have serious contractual ramifications for players looking to get super-max deals.

    Last season, DeAndre Jordan, DeMarcus Cousins and Andre Drummond all got All-NBA honors thanks to the existence of the center position on the ballot. Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler, Paul Millsap and most notably James Harden all missed out.

    It’s really tough to argue that many voters take all or even any of those centers over Harden, if the voting was open to them both.

    It was a joke that he didn’t get a guard spot, but some of the guards that got votes over him also likely deserved the honor more than the centers who had to make it.

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    There’s even less reason not to abolish All-NBA position requirements–these “teams” never play together! If the best five players in the NBA are guards, why shouldn’t they be the All-NBA First Team?

    The focus right now seems to be about getting the best–and therefore most deserving–players to these All-Star and All-NBA spots. If that’s true, positions shouldn’t be taken into account. After all, James Harden plays point guard for the Houston Rockets this season, but he defended Jabari Parker when the Rockets played the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday.

    Was he a point guard or a power forward, or both, in that game? The better question has to be, does it even matter? Almost all players move around and play multiple positions on offense and defense these days.

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    Let’s make the award voting reflect that. It’s only fair to award the very best players, not the very best two guards, two forwards and one center.