Steve Kerr was not happy with the way some players handled having a say in the voting for this year’s NBA All-Star Game.
Among the talking points after the starters for this year’s all-star game were announced was the exclusion of Russell Westbrook from first five that will take the floor for the Western Conference. Stephen Curry and James Harden were chosen to start in the back court.
Another topic of discussion were the players who received votes that should not have. Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck posted to Twitter a partial list of the player voting results and there are certainly names you would not expect to see.
Partial PLAYER voting results for All-Star starters. (Complete results here: https://t.co/EHiIw3giy0) pic.twitter.com/o4u8Py9UPw
— Howard Beck (@HowardBeck) January 20, 2017
A quick scan of the Eastern Conference shows Ben Simmons received three votes and has not played a game yet this season. Mo Williams, who also has yet to see game action, also received a vote.
Fans and media contribute to the voting process as well. However, it was the players Steve Kerr is disappointed in.
“I am very disappointed in the players,” Kerr said, via USA Today. “They’ve asked for a vote and a lot of them just made a mockery of it. I don’t know what the point is.”
“I saw the list,” Kerr continued. “I saw all the guys who got votes. There were 50 guys on there who had no business getting votes. Although a lot of people wrote in their buddies in the presidential vote as well. So maybe that’s just their own way of making a statement. I think if you’re going to give the players a vote, I think they should take it seriously.”
The process of selecting all-stars will likely never be perfect. For years it has been called a popularity contest with actual on-court performances not always being taken into account. Kerr makes a valid point, but until a change is made this trend will continue.
H/T USA Today
