With all of the talk of Jeremy Lin, especially the size of his fan base amongst the Asian American and Chinese communities, I thought there might be a pretty decent chance he could be voted in as an all star starter next year. This would mean, of course, bumping either Derrick Rose or Dwayne Wade. Note that I am not saying Jeremy Lin SHOULD be an All Star over either player, but that he could potentially take advantage of the system voting in the top two vote getters at guard, regardless of their level of play during the course of the season.
First, let's look at the numbers of votes that Wade and Rose have gotten in the last 2 years since both have been starters for the game:
2012
Rose:1,514,723
Wade: 1,334,223
2011
Rose: 1,225,575
Wade: 1,499,768
It looks like Lin would need somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.4 million votes to be a lock. Now let's see how voting in China, with a population of 1.3 billion, has typically inflated All Star Starter numbers.
While Yao was a fantastic player and a deserving all-star for the most part, this has not always been the case. Indeed, support from China seems to be the main reasons he was voted in 2007 as a starter with 2,451,718 votes while only playing in 27 games and again as a starter in 2011 with 1,146,426 votes after playing 0 games! He was also voted in as the All Star starter in his rookie season in which he averaged 13.5/8.2 over Shaq when Shaq was coming off 3 straight All Star MVPs.
It's clear that popularity trumps skill in the case of some of Yao's All Star appearances. Jeremy Lin probably isn't getting into the All Star game via the coach vote; Does the China effect give him a chance to possibly oust Derrick Rose or Dwayne Wade via the fan vote though in 2013?
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1 recs | 64 comments
oh my god
ThorCo - February 21, 2012
I don't really think it's a question at this point
Unless he completely fall off the face of the Earth, he’s basically guaranteed one of the two starting spots next season. And people keep saying that Wade will be the player dropped out of the SL, but I’m not so sure about that. Even though fans are told to choose two “Guards” as opposed to “Point Guard and Shooting Guard”, I do think that’s how most people think of it when placing their vote. So I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see a Lin’Wade backcourt next year, and for the foreseeable future.
As for Rose, yeah, it kinda sucks, but he’ll still be very popular. And he’s fucking horrid in these types of games anyway, so it really doesn’t matter.
Juiceboxjerry - February 21, 2012
i dunno, man
rose is like #2 in china to kobe.
Jaina - February 21, 2012
Not anymore...
Juiceboxjerry - February 21, 2012
well my point is
just that he has a much stronger following than wade there. i think most people in china would probably vote lin/rose.
Jaina - February 21, 2012
Hope that's the case
Juiceboxjerry - February 21, 2012
Not sure I buy your logic
Yeah, most people in the US filling out a ballot pick a PG and SG, but all the people in China voting for Lin aren’t going to do that. Rose’s and Wade’s vote totals should be essentially what they would be without Lin.
JeffD - February 21, 2012
What I'm saying is, assuming Lin gets all these votes next year
the votes are gonna be taken away from other people. And while, yeah, it’s very possible that Rose remains ahead of Wade, I also think there’s a good chance that Wade surpasses him due to position. I really think a lot of people vote positionally when they fill out those things, even though they don’t have to.
Juiceboxjerry - February 21, 2012
But they won't be taken away
There will just be a shitload added from China.
JeffD - February 21, 2012
you, sir
aint gettin it.
OdwallaJuicish - February 21, 2012
Oh, please explain it then
JeffD - February 22, 2012
The people from china already vote for Rose and wade
If they vote for lin instead, then naturally, votes are being taken away from rose and wade
ChiTownSportsMaster - February 22, 2012
This is not a zero sum game.
Some of the extra 1.3 billion people who don’t vote just might start.
Hawkeyes - February 22, 2012
Exactly my point.
I would guess that the vast majority of votes for Linn would come from people who wouldn’t vote otherwise, and the only reason they are voting is to vote for Linn. They aren’t going to care what position the other guard plays.
JeffD - February 23, 2012
wow, a misspelling of his name.
obviously espn isn’t giving him enough coverage, yet.
obnoxious american - February 23, 2012
I hear what you're saying
I agree with you. It’s likely that the people in China that voted for Yao and would vote for Lin don’t usually vote.
I never vote unless a player I want is “on the bubble”
I think it stands to reason the Chinese votes will be “new” votes, and they’ll go Rose/Lin.
mexkrn - February 23, 2012
Wha?
I thought that all the votes were paid for by Yao. That’s why he always won the starting spot when he couldn’t walk.
cubbybear - February 23, 2012
dude you still have to hang on as a player
its not like billions of asian fools are voting in Yi every year. Tall order for this dude to continue playing like he is, reduce the turnovers and get the national profile through sponsorships and stuff, I think. Yao was a transcendent player. Lin’s got a long way to go before he’s a basketball icon everyone would like to claim.
paddyfairview - February 21, 2012
Yi was 3rd in All Star voting in 2009 for forwards
TheHungarianJordan - February 21, 2012
yeah, but after that they realized he was not worth voting in lol
Jaina - February 21, 2012
yeah he actually looked like a prospect for a minute there
paddyfairview - February 21, 2012
i think after that he got taken off the ballot
if he were still on he’d probably still be top 10 forwards
TheHungarianJordan - February 21, 2012
i'll be honest
i actually kind of wanted him to win lol… they would have been forced to change the way the voting works if that fiasco had gone through.
Jaina - February 21, 2012
who knows how many votes Yi actually got.
The NBA probably just put up false numbers to make him come in behind other players. If we (not me cause I don’t vote) can vote an injured T-mac to start the allstar game, if Lin is halfway decent he will start from now on.
pick1out - February 21, 2012
Pretty sure he simply wasn't on the ballot after that
runningman - February 22, 2012
Let's do away with Roy Hibbert
and give the spot to somebody that, i don’t know, matters.
Dogfishhead - February 21, 2012
Absolutely Yes. Barring injury or a free Taiwan comment, it is only a matter of time.
If I were a player, I would make sure NONE of my incentive clauses are related to starting in an All-Star game, as Jeremy Lin will prove that fan voting is completely unrelated to who the best player at a position is (at least Yao was top 2 at his position).
Don’t get me wrong, Lin is a good player, but I would rank him somewhere between 6-10 for point guards in the league, with Rose, Williams, and Nash comprising the top 3.
chowder - February 21, 2012
How can you rank him 6-10 when he’s only played about 8 games? He shouldn’t even be in consideration. This is so retarded.
Do people realize that Kyle Lowry was like top 5 in PER for the first couple weeks of the season?
Juiceboxjerry - February 21, 2012
well, that was assuming he maintains his level of play, which is unknown.
chowder - February 21, 2012
If he maintains his current level of play he's better than Rose
hitlesswonder - February 21, 2012
Just in case it wasn't clear, I think that's unlikely
hitlesswonder - February 21, 2012
I wish this comment didn't exist.
He has proven nothing.
cubbybear - February 22, 2012
I think you missed his point
Which is strange because he even clarified with another comment right after just to make sure everyone understood
Juiceboxjerry - February 22, 2012
I think I got his point.
I don’t even think he’s established a level of play, but I get his correction.
cubbybear - February 23, 2012
That's...not really true...
Stacey_Is_King - February 24, 2012
edit
should be Paul not Nash
chowder - February 21, 2012
all this means...
is that Kyrie Irving and Brandon Jennings will get screwed yearly at these all-star games
ChicagoTsar - February 21, 2012
i don't think there's a doubt
I hope Rose still starts though. Fuck the Heat.
kpd - February 22, 2012
aaaand
lin goes from good underdog story to hate
lcohn89 - February 22, 2012
Doesn't take long.
See Lebron. Underdog when he was trying to will shitty squads to bring victory to his hometown, then he’s pretty much the worst thing ever.
cubbybear - February 22, 2012
VERY different situations
Lebron is one of the greatest basketball players that ever lived, and therefore deserves whatever coverage he is getting, be it positive or negative. In his case, a lot of the negative coverage was brought upon himself.
Juiceboxjerry - February 22, 2012
Yes.
While we don’t need to rehash all of it, LBJ obviously had a number of I-Love-me-some-me moments. “the decision” was only one of those. Painting Lin with that brush would be incredibly wrong until he shows something even close to that kind of behavior. Given his humble beginnings and the NBA yawning over him for so long I find that unlikely to happen anytime soon.
Sandberg's evil twin - February 22, 2012
I've hated the story from the start
Not that I wasn’t happy for the guy, because he seems cool, but because it was painfully obvious where things where headed. Still didn’t foresee him being on the cover of Sports Illustrated in consecutive weeks, though. I mean, that’s just retardation of the highest order.
Juiceboxjerry - February 22, 2012
I'm almost feeling sorry for him
Imagine having to live up to that hype.
That is some stress to perform against…
And if he fails at some point, the media would basically say, “yeah, I told you so”, or “it was just a matter of time”, or a hundred articles about how D’Antoni’s system inflates stats and all that….
BCs71 - February 22, 2012
I've definitely grown to hate the story
“Oh my god, an asian guy is good at basketball!” I really didn’t think that aspect would last as long as it did. Now ESPN is following him around like he is the Beatles and writing stories about every comment he makes or comment made about him. The last two lin stories I read – one about how he doesn’t feel the booing of Kris Humphries is right (because we care about his opinion… why?) and another about dana white calling floyd mayweather a racist for criticizing Linsanity (which is basically the equivalent of two jerks in a bar arguing). Stop beating me over the head with it!
I think one reason it pisses me off is b/c, in comparison to the NFL, ;you can’t find mainstream sources talking seriously about basketball (not just trade talk or about the Heat, but the X and Os of basketball) but you can find endless supply of people willing to opine about what Jeremy Lin’s rise “reveals” about the NBA, fans, New York, America, yadda, yadda, yadda. Can I have my sports w/o the soap opera?
Basketball Smurf - February 22, 2012
Yep.
Completely out of his control in my mind so far but it’s really irritating. You hear so many times sportswriters seeing all the attention and trying to bring a racial angle to it, or just ramble on an on about “what a great story it is”. There’s almost no effort or thought behind the coverage. It’s amazing how lazy many to most of these so called sportswriters are with it. “How can I capitalize on all the attention he’s been generating…hmm I’ll just talk about where he played and that he’s asian. Plus he helped start a streak of 6 games won or whatever without Melo and Stoudamire” That’s literally all it seems to be. Add in a Lin-tastic pun and it’s a column or radio spot folks.
Sandberg's evil twin - February 23, 2012
Just like the Detroit Lions
But Lin isn’t a dirty douchebag, and it won’t be his fault if people hate him, I’ll be the media’s
T.Moore - February 22, 2012
I really don't care.
As long as he keeps making the team that’s all that matters. Getting voted in is nice, but it’s not everything.
Dr. Handsome, D.D.S. - February 22, 2012
China's two votes will go to Lin and Rose
1.4 billion votes later you will find that Wade is no longer a starter
straylan - February 22, 2012
If Lin stays good, he may just lead all vote-getters next year.
In addition to the Chinese market, let’s not forget he’s in the biggest media market in the U.S.
ColonelFatheart - February 22, 2012
If there was any doubt of that we will be reminded of it constantly with all the coverage.
Look on NBA.com tonight. New York is the lead story beating the Hawks. Not LAL/ Dallas, or Boston/OKC which in my mind were much better games. To me it’s much like the Heatles were last year…even if fans wanted to forget them or did, the mass media will keep feeding it to them so even the casual fan believes that’s what I should be reading about.
Sandberg's evil twin - February 23, 2012
...
Brigade17 - February 22, 2012
Jeremy LIn is American, born and raised in California.
China will not go crazy for him like they did with Yao Ming. No way he surpasses Derrick Rose or Dwyane Wade in All-Star Voting.
dolemitejr - February 23, 2012
Way off, dude.
China is already going crazy for him. My wife even knows who he is and she knows nothing about basketball.
Dr. Handsome, D.D.S. - February 23, 2012
So there's a Mrs. Handsome? That must be awkward at the grocery store....
cubbybear - February 23, 2012
That's Mrs Dr Handsome to you
tuluse - February 23, 2012
Mrs. Dr. Handsome D.D.S.?
Brigade17 - February 23, 2012
Chinese people don't take their husband's names.
;)
Dr. Handsome, D.D.S. - February 24, 2012
does your wife live in China or America?
because America is certainly going crazy for him.
dolemitejr - February 23, 2012
We both live in China.
And she’s Chinese. I, of course, am a big black man… well, not that big.
Dr. Handsome, D.D.S. - February 24, 2012
haha, well then.
I would like to continue arguing my point, but seeing as I know little-to-nothing about China and you live there, that would be a bit ridiculous, even for me.
dolemitejr - February 28, 2012
and this is why bristol needs a nuclear strike.
obnoxious american - February 23, 2012
something less radioactive, please.
but yeah, burn it to the ground
Brigade17 - February 23, 2012
disagree, nuke from orbit
it’s the only way to be sure
SidM - February 24, 2012
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