Draymond Green. James Harden. DeMarcus Cousins. Anthony Davis. Blake Griffin. Chris Paul.
But alas, it was Kobe, yet again.
The Black Mamba rounded out the West’s All-Star starting five, announced on Wednesday. Joining Bryant are Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Kawhi Leonard, and Kevin Durant.
Look, Kobe is an all-time great for sure. Top 10, maybe even top 5 -- ever. Period. But that was then, and this is now.
“Then” saw Kobe win five rings, in 2000, ‘01, ‘02, ‘09, and 2010; “then” saw Kobe finally win his first MVP in 2008; “then” saw the Mamba drop 81 points on the Raptors in 2006.
But “now” sees Kobe as a 37 year old man; “now” sees a worn-out body who is coming off of three straight season-ending injuries; “now” is Bryant shooting 34.5% from the field.
The “now” Kobe is hardly even reminiscent of the “then” Kobe. That is both a compliment and an insult:
It is a compliment in that it emphasizes that Kobe was so much better than this, and this final season of his will not be what we remember his legacy by.
It is an insult in that Kobe is bad this season. Really bad, especially for his own gargantuan standards.
More importantly, it is an insult to the fans who keep voting for him. Which brings me back to my original point.
The league Player Efficiency Rating (PER) average is 15.0. Anthony Davis’ is 24.96, Chris Paul’s is 24.86, Harden’s is 24.35, Cousins’ is 23.89.
These players make up the 6 through 9th ranked spots in the PER list so far this season. Curry is of course on top with 32.67, and Blake Griffin checks in at number 14 with 23.55.
Now, where is Kobe, you ask? So did I, and I actually had a difficult time finding him. But there he was, finally, on Page 5 of the rankings, coming in at 202nd, with a whopping PER of 12.84:
But alas, it was Kobe, yet again.
The Black Mamba rounded out the West’s All-Star starting five, announced on Wednesday. Joining Bryant are Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Kawhi Leonard, and Kevin Durant.
Look, Kobe is an all-time great for sure. Top 10, maybe even top 5 -- ever. Period. But that was then, and this is now.
“Then” saw Kobe win five rings, in 2000, ‘01, ‘02, ‘09, and 2010; “then” saw Kobe finally win his first MVP in 2008; “then” saw the Mamba drop 81 points on the Raptors in 2006.
But “now” sees Kobe as a 37 year old man; “now” sees a worn-out body who is coming off of three straight season-ending injuries; “now” is Bryant shooting 34.5% from the field.
The “now” Kobe is hardly even reminiscent of the “then” Kobe. That is both a compliment and an insult:
It is a compliment in that it emphasizes that Kobe was so much better than this, and this final season of his will not be what we remember his legacy by.
It is an insult in that Kobe is bad this season. Really bad, especially for his own gargantuan standards.
More importantly, it is an insult to the fans who keep voting for him. Which brings me back to my original point.
The league Player Efficiency Rating (PER) average is 15.0. Anthony Davis’ is 24.96, Chris Paul’s is 24.86, Harden’s is 24.35, Cousins’ is 23.89.
These players make up the 6 through 9th ranked spots in the PER list so far this season. Curry is of course on top with 32.67, and Blake Griffin checks in at number 14 with 23.55.
Now, where is Kobe, you ask? So did I, and I actually had a difficult time finding him. But there he was, finally, on Page 5 of the rankings, coming in at 202nd, with a whopping PER of 12.84:
You thought I was joking.
The point is, and it should be quite obvious by now, is that Kobe does not deserve to be an All-Star starter. Much less does he deserve to be called a top 10 player anymore, or a top 50, or a top 100, or a top first four pages. In absolutely no way, shape, or form, does he even come close to being close to the aforementioned West superstars. He is depriving a spot from those who truly deserve it.
But Kobe didn’t vote himself into the All-Star game. So who’s really to blame?
Well, the short and obvious answer is the fans. They voted Kobe into the All-Star game. In fact, 1.9 million of them did, making Kobe the top vote-getter -- higher than Curry (1.6 million) and approximately the same as LeBron and Durant combined (total of 2.0 million). The fans also made fan-favorite Maverick center Zaza Pachulia the 6th highest vote-getter in the West. Pachulia finished with 768,000 votes, and Westbrook barely edged him out with 772,000.
It’s crazy. It really is. Curry and Westbrook are the two best players in the NBA this season according to our trustworthy PER statistic (at 32.67 and 29.04, respectively), while Pachulia is 69th with 17.83 and Kobe is, of course, 202nd with 12.84. So how can we possibly justify the voting results?
We can’t. There is no justification, only an explanation. And it’s a sad, troubling explanation too -- one that I didn’t want to have to come to, but it’s the only one that makes sense:
The All-Star voting has become a popularity, not a talent, contest.
It’s true -- you may recall that in 2013-14, Kobe was voted in as an All-Star starter. Just one problem: Bryant had played all of 6 games that season, was injured during the entire voting process and could not play in the All-Star game anyways. The sad truth is that Bryant became an All-Star the past three seasons not because he was talented, but because he used to be talented, because he’s famous, because he’s Kobe Freakin’ Bryant and the fans will just vote for their favorite players, whether those players deserve it or not.
But again, Kobe didn’t vote himself into the All-Star game. So who’s really to blame?
Well, the longer and more complicated answer is the NBA. They are the ones who allow us fans to vote in the first place. How it works is that the fans vote for the 10 All-Star starters, while the NBA coaches select the remaining 20 All-Stars.
Oddly enough, I’ve rarely heard people complain about the coaches’ decisions. But every year, the fans select the wrong players, and every year, fans are upset with their own decisions.
Why can’t we just have the coaches choose the whole roster?
Well the counter-argument is that All-Star weekend is just an entertainment event, so the fans should be able to choose who they want to watch. But it’s so much more than that.
How many All-Star selections a player has is of outsized importance. There are bonuses put into contracts depending on if a player gets selected, and it’s used as one of the main measuring sticks when assessing a player’s stardom level, thus affecting how much money they get in the first place.
And it’s also used as a measuring stick for greatness:
The point is, and it should be quite obvious by now, is that Kobe does not deserve to be an All-Star starter. Much less does he deserve to be called a top 10 player anymore, or a top 50, or a top 100, or a top first four pages. In absolutely no way, shape, or form, does he even come close to being close to the aforementioned West superstars. He is depriving a spot from those who truly deserve it.
But Kobe didn’t vote himself into the All-Star game. So who’s really to blame?
Well, the short and obvious answer is the fans. They voted Kobe into the All-Star game. In fact, 1.9 million of them did, making Kobe the top vote-getter -- higher than Curry (1.6 million) and approximately the same as LeBron and Durant combined (total of 2.0 million). The fans also made fan-favorite Maverick center Zaza Pachulia the 6th highest vote-getter in the West. Pachulia finished with 768,000 votes, and Westbrook barely edged him out with 772,000.
It’s crazy. It really is. Curry and Westbrook are the two best players in the NBA this season according to our trustworthy PER statistic (at 32.67 and 29.04, respectively), while Pachulia is 69th with 17.83 and Kobe is, of course, 202nd with 12.84. So how can we possibly justify the voting results?
We can’t. There is no justification, only an explanation. And it’s a sad, troubling explanation too -- one that I didn’t want to have to come to, but it’s the only one that makes sense:
The All-Star voting has become a popularity, not a talent, contest.
It’s true -- you may recall that in 2013-14, Kobe was voted in as an All-Star starter. Just one problem: Bryant had played all of 6 games that season, was injured during the entire voting process and could not play in the All-Star game anyways. The sad truth is that Bryant became an All-Star the past three seasons not because he was talented, but because he used to be talented, because he’s famous, because he’s Kobe Freakin’ Bryant and the fans will just vote for their favorite players, whether those players deserve it or not.
But again, Kobe didn’t vote himself into the All-Star game. So who’s really to blame?
Well, the longer and more complicated answer is the NBA. They are the ones who allow us fans to vote in the first place. How it works is that the fans vote for the 10 All-Star starters, while the NBA coaches select the remaining 20 All-Stars.
Oddly enough, I’ve rarely heard people complain about the coaches’ decisions. But every year, the fans select the wrong players, and every year, fans are upset with their own decisions.
Why can’t we just have the coaches choose the whole roster?
Well the counter-argument is that All-Star weekend is just an entertainment event, so the fans should be able to choose who they want to watch. But it’s so much more than that.
How many All-Star selections a player has is of outsized importance. There are bonuses put into contracts depending on if a player gets selected, and it’s used as one of the main measuring sticks when assessing a player’s stardom level, thus affecting how much money they get in the first place.
And it’s also used as a measuring stick for greatness:
While perhaps a less perfect list than say, ranking by MVP awards, the all-time All Star list is actually a fairly comprehensive ranking of legends, albeit with flaws. Now do you see why Kobe’s last three All-Star appearances-- none of which he deserved -- matter so much?
Kobe will be retiring at season’s end, and of course the buzz over where he ranks all-time is only starting up. Kobe should have 15 All-Stars, making him tied with the likes of Duncan, Garnett, and O’Neal for 2nd all-time. But Bryant has 18 All-Stars in 20 seasons, giving off the false notion of dominance even in the twilight of his legendary career. Maybe with 18 All-Stars people will rank him sixth instead of seventh, ahead of Larry Bird instead of just behind him, as the greatest Laker ever, instead of behind Magic Johnson. Even if it makes no difference in the aforementioned comparisons, the fact of the matter is that Bryant doesn’t deserve to be right there on this list with Kareem , who dominated the game every single season for two entire decades, sans the 1978 season when Kareem was injured.
On the flip side, what happens if a Karl Anthony-Towns or a Damian Lillard (21st and 26th in PER, respectively) misses out on the All-Star game because Kobe took their spot? It’s actually not even “what if”, it’s a “when”, because naturally there is now one less spot for a deserving player in the West. It changes everything, and it's extremely unfortunate for the younger stars, as it has been for the past few years.
Perhaps there is a solution, however -- one that allows both the fans to get their entertainment value, and for the true All-Stars to be All-Stars:
The fans select the entire rosters. All 30 guys. And they get to see all of their fan favorites play. But the NBA makes a “Coach’s All-Stars, allowing the coaches to make a separate list of two 15-man rosters. Overlap between the “Fans’ All-Stars” and the “Coaches’ All-Stars” is bound to occur and is absolutely fine.
Here, we can use the “Coach’s All-Stars” list when measuring how good a player actually is, and the fans can vote for as many Zaza Pachulia’s as they want, because none of it will actually matter.
Likely the biggest objection to this would be that some of the true stars, who will be selected by the coaches, won’t get the “honor” of participating in the game, but we all know that it’s just a game. Nobody even tries in it anyways -- there is never any defense played, and the whole thing is one giant dunk contest. Excellent entertainment value for sure, and that’s what the NBA is going for.
So if what the NBA wants is to appease the fans (in order to acquire maximum $$), then let them choose the entire rosters. Just don’t allow any of it to actually matter: leave the important decisions up to only the most intelligent voters: the coaches. Everybody wins.
Look, I get that you (1.9 million of you) want to see Kobe in his last All-Star game, for one reason or another. Sentimental factors and stuff like that. That’s fine -- I’d like for The Mamba to receive a proper goodbye as well. But the next time you vote, just think about what you’re doing first, think of the impact it will have on those who deserve it, and think: “Am I only voting for this person because they’re famous?”
That applies to basketball, as well as politics.
Kobe will be retiring at season’s end, and of course the buzz over where he ranks all-time is only starting up. Kobe should have 15 All-Stars, making him tied with the likes of Duncan, Garnett, and O’Neal for 2nd all-time. But Bryant has 18 All-Stars in 20 seasons, giving off the false notion of dominance even in the twilight of his legendary career. Maybe with 18 All-Stars people will rank him sixth instead of seventh, ahead of Larry Bird instead of just behind him, as the greatest Laker ever, instead of behind Magic Johnson. Even if it makes no difference in the aforementioned comparisons, the fact of the matter is that Bryant doesn’t deserve to be right there on this list with Kareem , who dominated the game every single season for two entire decades, sans the 1978 season when Kareem was injured.
On the flip side, what happens if a Karl Anthony-Towns or a Damian Lillard (21st and 26th in PER, respectively) misses out on the All-Star game because Kobe took their spot? It’s actually not even “what if”, it’s a “when”, because naturally there is now one less spot for a deserving player in the West. It changes everything, and it's extremely unfortunate for the younger stars, as it has been for the past few years.
Perhaps there is a solution, however -- one that allows both the fans to get their entertainment value, and for the true All-Stars to be All-Stars:
The fans select the entire rosters. All 30 guys. And they get to see all of their fan favorites play. But the NBA makes a “Coach’s All-Stars, allowing the coaches to make a separate list of two 15-man rosters. Overlap between the “Fans’ All-Stars” and the “Coaches’ All-Stars” is bound to occur and is absolutely fine.
Here, we can use the “Coach’s All-Stars” list when measuring how good a player actually is, and the fans can vote for as many Zaza Pachulia’s as they want, because none of it will actually matter.
Likely the biggest objection to this would be that some of the true stars, who will be selected by the coaches, won’t get the “honor” of participating in the game, but we all know that it’s just a game. Nobody even tries in it anyways -- there is never any defense played, and the whole thing is one giant dunk contest. Excellent entertainment value for sure, and that’s what the NBA is going for.
So if what the NBA wants is to appease the fans (in order to acquire maximum $$), then let them choose the entire rosters. Just don’t allow any of it to actually matter: leave the important decisions up to only the most intelligent voters: the coaches. Everybody wins.
Look, I get that you (1.9 million of you) want to see Kobe in his last All-Star game, for one reason or another. Sentimental factors and stuff like that. That’s fine -- I’d like for The Mamba to receive a proper goodbye as well. But the next time you vote, just think about what you’re doing first, think of the impact it will have on those who deserve it, and think: “Am I only voting for this person because they’re famous?”
That applies to basketball, as well as politics.
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