Chris Bosh is getting no love from voters, but there's a chance he'll still end up an all-star.
We’re quickly approaching the halfway point of the season and there is plenty to talk about surrounding the upcoming all-star game in Los Angeles.
The NBA PR machine is hyping the slam dunk contest, and for my money I think it needs go away for a while. This year’s contestants: Blake Griffin (LA Clippers), Serge Ibaka (Oklahoma City Thunder), Brandon Jennings (Milwaukee Bucks), and JaVale McGee (Washington Wizards) were recently announced.
The popularity contest that is all-star voting by the fans continues to make a mockery of placing players in the game. But hey, the game really doesn’t matter since it’s not like baseball where it decides the location of the seventh game of the World Series, and it is the fans’ game.
The coaches, who select the NBA reserves, make up for the fan voting which is done by some who have no clue.
Exhibit A: Yao Ming. He has played all of five games this season yet is the leading vote getter amongst centres. Enough said.
But what about the reserve selections?
I maintain it may be more of an honour to be selected by the coaches than to be voted in by the fans. The coaches know who they set the game plans to stop every night, they watch the hours of video and know who the true all-stars are.
Which brings us to Chris Bosh.
It’s a name Toronto fans used to push for but now some of Raptor Nation may have different feelings. Bosh’s total vote count from the fans this year is down significantly from last season which only proves it is a popularity contest, so take that all you Toronto haters around the NBA.
Bosh is no longer the star in a major market and his overall numbers are not as impressive as last year. That being said, he is playing with two other guys that are more popular and will be given more of the credit for his team’s success. Regardless, he is not being voted into the game by the fans.
So is Chris Bosh an all-star? It sure didn’t look like it early in the season. The entire Miami Heat free-agent heist looked like a flop through the first 17 games when they held a 9-8 record, but as it has been often noted, the NBA season is a marathon, not a sprint and the Heat have definitely picked up the pace.
Miami has won 19 of its last 20 games including 12 in a row and Bosh has been a large part of it. In the win streak he is playing like an all-star with averages of 19.3 points-per-game and 9.3 rebounds per contest while shooting 54%.
Now numbers during a streak don’t make for an all-star selection but winning goes a long way. In fact, winning is the ultimate trump card.
There were past seasons in Toronto when Bosh had better overall numbers but was not selected to the all-star team. Why? Because the Raptors were not winning. It’s different now. Bosh is on a winning team and making a valuable contribution and for that, I think the coaches may select him as a reserve. Would he would get my vote? I’m not sure. Winning helps, as does the fact that Chicago’s Joakim Noah is out and his teammate, Carlos Boozer, was hurt and missed the first chunk of the season.
But there are others that will be thrown into the debate as Al Horford is playing well in Atlanta and his teammate Josh Smith should have been selected a year ago in the minds of many. I’ll wait and reserve judgement for a couple of weeks as the voting ends Jan. 23 and reserves will be announced on Feb. 3.
But right now, sorry Raptors fans, but Bosh looks like he could be an all-star again.
And don’t forget about the politics folks.
Would it look good on the NBA to have Miami’s Big Three in the game?
For those fans that say Miami shouldn’t have three all-stars, check the history books. At one point in their championship years, the Detroit Pistons had four players make an Eastern Conference all-star squad.
So let the debate rage about who should be included.
We’ll find out the answers in about a month.
