After last night’s announcement of the 2014 NBA All-Star Game starters, there were obviously some disappointed players. But Rockets general manager, Daryl Morey, was perhaps the only executive to voice his displeasure about the fan-voted results on Twitter. He felt his guys Dwight Howard and James Harden, should have gotten picked, but failed to realize one of his other players got more votes.
Morey believes the fans are setting up an all-offense game where the center position has become totally irrelevant. He complained about the five-spot being “gerrymandered” out of the game as part of the Association’s decision to adopt three frontcourt players, rather than two forwards and a center — like in year’s past.
The announcement of the starters had three forwards, Kevin Love, Blake Griffin and Kevin Durant, as the starters in the Western frontcourt, with Dwight finishing fourth in the voting. The East was also without a center, as Carmelo Anthony, Paul George and LeBron James took the frontcourt nods, and Pacers center Roy Hibbert finished fourth, more than 400,000 votes behind third place finisher, Carmelo Anthony.
But Morey seemed to be calling out the voting process more than his players getting gipped out of a spot.
NBA all star voting process set up well for Iowa high school girls basketball. Offense only & only guards and forwards.
— Daryl Morey (@dmorey) January 24, 2014
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It's a house election right now w/Centers gerrymandered out MT @5thQuarterMag It’s 4 fans. Would U like presidential election 4 All-Star Gm?
— Daryl Morey (@dmorey) January 24, 2014
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But then he offered up an alternative way to get one of his two stars in the starting rotation since Kobe Bryant has said he will not be participating due to injury.
If Kobe out then @JHarden13 should start or, since positions don't matter, @KDTrey5 should be SG & @DwightHoward starts w/next highest votes
— Daryl Morey (@dmorey) January 24, 2014
The All-Star vote has always been about popularity, and the Rockets stars did well, but James Harden finished fifth in the Western backcourt voting, more than 150K votes behind teammate Jeremy Lin, and Howard finished just out of starting, placing fourth, less than 10K votes behind Kevin Love.
Harden had a simple response to the supposed snub, which Morey retweeted late last night.
Motivation.
— James Harden (@JHarden13) January 24, 2014
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But if Rockets fans had been as active on social media and voted more often, Morey’s guys would have gotten in. It would be nice if All-Star game starters were selected because they deserved it the most, but it’s not a meritocracy since fan voting plays a role and the whole process can get pretty subjective when it comes down to who makes the final spot.
And Morey himself has to be a little crazy to think that D-12 deserves a starting spot over, say, LaMarcus Aldridge. Howard is averaging 18.2 points, 12.6 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in 34.1 minutes a night for a 29-15 Houston team. Aldridge is averaging 24.7 points, 11.6 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 36.9 minutes a night for the 32-11 Blazers. Just look at their season comparison.
If Morey were serious about the most deserving players getting selected, he wouldn’t have proposed Durtantula switch to shooting guard, so Dwight could get in. If Morey were really smart, he wouldn’t have selected Harden to replace Kobe at shooting guard. Harden finished fifth in Western backcourt voting, and Jeremy Lin finished fourth. Since Chris Paul finished third, and is still recovering from a separated shoulder, then Lin should get the starting nod in place of Kobe, not Harden. Obviously Lin isn’t the player Harden is, regardless of his sometimes somnambulant defense this year. But Morey lacked tact with his tweets.
Morey’s tweets were kind of a slap in the face to Jeremy Lin even if it was unintended. If Morey’s trying to unload Lin before the poison-pill third year of his contract kicks in next season, maybe he should have pushed Lin for an All-Star nod instead of Harden. It sounds better to say, “All-Star starter, Jeremy Lin” during trade negotiations.
[h/t: EOB]
What do you think of Morey’s gripes?
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