The NBA announced the 2015-2016 All-Star starters on Thursday, and some of the results were surprising to say the least.
Final voting results for NBA All-Star East & West starters. Seven reserves from each conference named next Thursday. pic.twitter.com/HQpJzBh93h
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) January 22, 2016
The biggest surprise was the sudden rise of Zaza Pachulia, who nearly beat Kawhi Leonard for the starting forward position with 768,112 votes. Can you say travesty? Pachulia is having a career year to be fair, but for him to beat the likes of Draymond Green, Anthony Davis and even his own teammate Dirk Nowitzki shows that the current system has its flaws.
It wasn’t all bad, though, as Kyle Lowry managed to catch up to Kyrie Irving, who missed much of the first half of the season from a knee injury he suffered during the NBA Finals. The closest race, by far, was at the forward position for the East with Carmelo Anthony barely edging Pau Gasol with just 360 votes.
Kobe Bryant was listed as a forward this year despite playing shooting guard his entire career, which complicated things for the crowded list of deserving forwards in the West. Ideally, Bryant would have been listed as a guard to play alongside Stephen Curry, Leonard, Kevin Durant and Green. Interestingly (and sadly) enough, it would have been Pachulia who would have made it as a starter had Bryant been listed as a guard.
After leading the race to start at forward for a solid three weeks, Golden State Warriors’ Green was upset by Leonard in the end. Who deserved more to start between the two players was a huge debate over the past month. They both deserved to be starters this season without question, but the fans ultimately had the final say on the matter (which would have been all well and good if not for Pachulia sneaking past Green). Green only had this to say once the announcement sunk in:
Alright…. Let me go monitor @BabersGreen timeline ???????????????????? lol — Draymond Green (@Money23Green) January 22, 2016
He, of course, is referring to his mother, who always has his back on twitter. Here’s what Mama Green had to say about the votings:
Like I said…A POPULARITY CONTEST!
— Mary Babers-Green (@BabersGreen) January 22, 2016
I’m not mad..PPL voted for who they wanted to see…HE WILL ALWAYS BE MY ALL-STAR! He is living his dream, what more can you ask for! EATTT!
— Mary Babers-Green (@BabersGreen) January 22, 2016
Jim Park is a blogger and Tweet of the Night author of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.