NBA All-Star Game voting : Kevin Durant in lead after first results

[TJL]

NBA All-Star Game 2017: LeBron James, Kevin Durant Lead First Voting Results

Voting for the 2017 NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans opened on Christmas Day, and early returns featured the usual suspects in front-running positions.

As seen in the following tweet, courtesy of the game's official Twitter account, the first voting returns were revealed Thursday:




Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James leads all vote-getters, while Cavs teammate Kyrie Irving leads the Eastern Conference backcourt. Golden State Warriors superstars Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry lead the way in the Western Conference.

It's no surprise James, who is vying for his 13th straight All-Star selection, has already seized a voting edge in the East. The 32-year-old has been on a tear to start the 2016-17 season, averaging 25.8 points, 8.5 assists and 7.8 rebounds while shooting 51 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from three.

Dating back to 1946, only Michael Jordan (1988-89), Oscar Robertson (1962-63) and James (2009-10) have maintained averages of at least 25 points, eight dimes and seven boards while shooting better than 50 percent from the floor for an entire season.

Out West, Curry is ahead of the pack at this early juncture among backcourt players, while Durant leads all Western Conference vote-getters.

While Curry may not have more impressive raw numbers than Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook or Houston's James Harden, he has continued to operate as one of the league's most lethal guards on the Western Conference's best team.

Curry is averaging 24.2 points and 5.8 assists while shooting 46.6 percent from the field and 40 percent from three.

"The way he shoots the basketball coming off of curls, off the dribble, off the catch, guys flying at him, it's amazing to see," Durant said of Curry, per the Associated Press (via USA Today). "When he shoots the ball I think every shot's going in."

As a reminder, All-Star voting will function a bit differently this year. Fan participation will account for 50 percent of the total votes, while players and a select group of media members will combine to account for the other 50 percent.

The 2017 NBA All-Star Game will tip off from the Big Easy on Feb. 19. Voting is set to close Jan. 16.

 

[WiggyRuss]

if the voting ended today the Cavs would have 3 starters....pretty cool....

i cant wait to see Kyrie play again in the All Star game.....he has a lot of fun in those situations- he won the rookie game MVP and the All star game MVP with some really really fun performances to watch.

his matchups with Knight when he was with the Pistons were just legendary...



how can you not absolutely love watching this kid play?

 

[TJL]

if the voting ended today the Cavs would have 3 starters....pretty cool....

i cant wait to see Kyrie play again in the All Star game.....he has a lot of fun in those situations- he won the rookie game MVP and the All star game MVP with some really really fun performances to watch.

his matchups with Knight when he was with the Pistons were just legendary...



how can you not absolutely love watching this kid play?

That move on Knight was one of the coolest things I've ever seen in an All-Star game.

 

[Bolts]

ZaZa 2nd in the West frontcourt voting.

 

[wildturkey]

ZaZa 2nd in the West frontcourt voting.

And that is why the NBA changed the rule to where its going to be 50% fans, 50% media/players. Thank god.

 

[msgkings322]

And that is why the NBA changed the rule to where its going to be 50% fans, 50% media/players. Thank god.

It's not a big deal to me but how exactly is that 50/50 thing supposed to work?

Let's say the fans vote Zaza to start the game at center. The pros of course say no fucking way it's Cousins. Now what happens?

 

[wildturkey]

It's not a big deal to me but how exactly is that 50/50 thing supposed to work?

Let's say the fans vote Zaza to start the game at center. The pros of course say no fucking way it's Cousins. Now what happens?

My guess is the fans get overruled. Its probably set up to where there can be no ties though even though they said 50/50.

 

[WiggyRuss]

who SHOULD actually be in the All-Star game instead of who is voted in?

This is my All-Star team in the East as of right now--- 12 guys....5 guards- 7 front court players

G- Kyrie
G- Butler
F- LeBron
F- Giannis
F- George

Bench:
G- DeRozan
G- Lowry
G- Wall or Isiah (i know its a cop-out but its tough- the guy that has done more winning and has played great or the better player)
F- Love
F- Howard
F- Drummond
F- Porzingis

honorable mention: Carmelo, Kemba, Milsap, Parker, Batum

 

[WiggyRuss]

West All Stars:

G- Westbrook
G- Curry
F- Durant
F- Leonoard
F- Gasol

Bench
G- Harden
G- Klay
G- Lillard
F- Davis
F- Towns
F- Cousins
F- Aldridge

honorable mention: Griffin, Draymond, Jordan, Gobert, Heyward,

 

[OutlawImmortal]

if the voting ended today the Cavs would have 3 starters....pretty cool....

i cant wait to see Kyrie play again in the All Star game.....he has a lot of fun in those situations- he won the rookie game MVP and the All star game MVP with some really really fun performances to watch.

his matchups with Knight when he was with the Pistons were just legendary...



how can you not absolutely love watching this kid play?

I remember watching that Rook-Soph game live that year, I knew Irving was going to be great when I saw that game.

 

[wildturkey]

who SHOULD actually be in the All-Star game instead of who is voted in?

This is my All-Star team in the East as of right now--- 12 guys....5 guards- 7 front court players

G- Kyrie
G- Butler
F- LeBron
F- Giannis
F- George

Bench:
G- DeRozan
G- Lowry
G- Wall or Isiah (i know its a cop-out but its tough- the guy that has done more winning and has played great or the better player)
F- Love
F- Howard
F- Drummond
F- Porzingis

honorable mention: Carmelo, Kemba, Milsap, Parker, Batum

I'll do my team later but isn't the format 4 backcourt, 6 frontcourt and 2 wildcards (any position)? Did they change it this year?

 

[msgkings322]

My guess is the fans get overruled. Its probably set up to where there can be no ties though even though they said 50/50.

Ties of what? That's what I mean it don't make no damn sense. On one side you have millions of votes counted for players, on the other you have the pros vote, a much smaller number.

How do you create an information stream composed of 50% one and 50% the other? WTF does that even mean?

 

[Hambombs]

ZaZa 2nd in the West frontcourt voting.

Lol I wonder who pulled this joke ?

 

[WiggyRuss]

I'll do my team later but isn't the format 4 backcourt, 6 frontcourt and 2 wildcards (any position)? Did they change it this year?

well yah- thats basically what mine is except i split the 2 wild card positions between back court and front court---- 5 and 7.....

 

[WiggyRuss]

I remember watching that Rook-Soph game live that year, I knew Irving was going to be great when I saw that game.

this one was a lot of fun too- this is the Rising stars game- the year before the Brandon Knight/Kyrie cross over

in this one Kyrie goes 8/8 from 3 with 9 assists to win the MVP that year......obviously just the rookie game- but it was a helluva lot of fun to watch him bomb away as a 19 year old kid

it was evident right off the bat that this kid was going to be a star. you cant say that about too many young players in the league their rookie year.




this is when he won the ACTUAL All Star game MVP at the age of 22


the layups on Howard and Davis around the 1:25 mark are disgusting.

 

[WiggyRuss]

looks like Kyrie will make his 4th all star team by the time he is 24 years old...not bad. lol......

he needs to stay on this same trajectory....

ROY, Olymic Gold Medalist, NBA Champion, All NBA, 4 All star teams---- all at the age of 24 years old.....he keeps this up and he will def. end up in Springfield.

shooting 42.1% from 3 right now...thats pretty ridiculous.

 

[gordontrue]

It's not a big deal to me but how exactly is that 50/50 thing supposed to work?

Let's say the fans vote Zaza to start the game at center. The pros of course say no fucking way it's Cousins. Now what happens?

You have to be a certain rank on the player and media votes in order to be eligible, no matter what your fan vote is. So he has no shot. Fan vote can help improve your ranking a bit, but it can't do anything on its own.

 

[gordontrue]

Lol I wonder who pulled this joke ?

The country of Georgia

 

[wildturkey]

So here's my teams if I could pick them.

East: Irving, Lowry, Derozan, Thomas, Lebron, Love, George, Giannis, Porzingis, Embiid, Walker, Butler

-No Melo or Wade. They're numbers are down and their teams are just meh so I'm taking the better player from both teams, Porzingis and Butler

-He probably want make it but I'm campaigning HARD for Joel Embiid. I don't care if the team is trash, he is an absolute stud. His numbers are on par with many other front court all star types yet he's done it on a minutes restriction all season. He is a BEAST. In fact, let's just make the entire weekend an Embiid party. He'll play in the rookie/soph game, then let's put him in the big man skills challenge on Sat, then the ASG on Sunday. And put him in charge of the NBA's social media accounts while we're at it.



West: Curry, Westbrook, Harden, Lillard, Durant, Leonard, Hayward, Boogie, Davis, Towns, CP3, Marc Gasol

-I went back and forth on Conley and can be easily swayed either way. I chose Paul over him because when Conley missed time, the Grizz still won. When Paul missed time the Clips were shit. You could convince me on doing Conley this year as a WC over Towns since A) The Wolves aren't very good and B) Towns will get tons of AS appearances in his career and Conley has yet to get one despite being pretty darn good.

-Thompson is all star worthy but I'm mostly leaving him out to spread it out a bit among other teams. But I'd be willing to include him over Paul or Conley

 

[RobToxin]