NBA All-Star Balloting Third Returns Announced

It's looks like this will be the starting line-up in the All-Star game becuase I don't see anything changing. Maybe Ray Allen can catch Kidd for theother guard spot.

NEW YORK, Jan. 3, 2008 - Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics and LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers remain the leaders in the Eastern Conference, whileKobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers and Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets lead Western Conference players after the third returns of 2008 NBAAll-Star Balloting program presented by T-Mobile.
The 57th NBA All-Star Game will be played in New Orleans on Sunday, Feb. 17. The game will air live on TNT, ESPN Radio and in more than 200 countries andterritories worldwide.

Garnett leads all players with 1,527,963 votes with Cleveland's James - the 2007 top vote recipient - following Garnett at the forward spot in the Eastwith 1,294,019 votes, the second-highest overall tally. The Orlando Magic's DwightHoward leads Eastern Conference centers (1,260,987), with the Miami Heat's DwyaneWade (1,019,582) and the New Jersey Nets' Jason Kidd (743,683) pacing theconference's guards.

Bryant leads all Western Conference players with 1,234,111 votes, with the Houston Rockets' Tracy McGrady following him at guard (809,395). San Antonio's Tim Duncan passed Denver's Carmelo Anthony (1,029,335) to claim the top spot among the conference's forwards with1,049,641 votes. Houston's Yao leads Western Conference centers (1,077,244).

The 2008 NBA All-Star Balloting program, which also includes partners 2K Sports and GameStop, allows fans worldwide to vote daily for their favorite playersas starters for the All-Star Game in a variety of ways, including: at each NBA arena; in 20 languages on NBA.com; at more than 1,500 T-Mobile-owned retaillocations with custom T-Mobile All-Star ballots and ballot boxes; and through mobile phones at t-zones on T-Mobile phones or wap.nba.com for any wirelesscarrier. For the first time, an All-Star Balloting widget is available on NBA.com. Fans can "grab" the widget and place it on their blogs, socialnetwork pages, or personal Web sites allowing others to vote directly from the widget. Select NBA arenas are also carrying a Spanish-language version of theballot. Voting will continue through Jan. 13, for paper balloting and Jan. 20, for NBA.com balloting.

NBA All-Star 2008 is a week-long celebration that enables fans to experience the thrill of the world's greatest athletes playing the game they love andfeatures a full slate of community-enhancing activities including the NBA Cares All-Star Day of Service and fan festivals such as NBA All-Star Jam Session.

One hundred twenty players - 60 each from the Eastern and Western conferences - are listed on the NBA All-Star ballot. Voters select two guards, twoforwards and one center from each conference. The 120 players on the ballot were selected by a panel of media experts who regularly cover the NBA. Thisyear's panel included Ric Bucher (ESPN the Magazine), Rick Bonnell (Charlotte Observer), David DuPree (USA Today), Ernie Johnson (TNT), Jack McCallum(Sports Illustrated), Mike Monroe (San Antonio Express-News) and Sam Smith (Chicago Tribune).

Updated results for the Eastern and Western Conferences will be issued regularly leading up to the announcement of the All-Star starters on Thursday Jan.24, prior to a TNT doubleheader. Following the completion of fan voting and the starting line-up announcement, the head coaches in each conference will vote todetermine the remaining All-Stars in their respective conference, which will be announced Thursday, Jan. 31 prior to a TNT doubleheader.

As the presenting partner of the 2008 NBA All-Star Balloting program, and in support of the NBA's season-long effort to help the on-going rebuilding ofNew Orleans, T-Mobile will donate $1 for every ballot cast in T-Mobile-owned retail locations or on t-zones to the New Orleans Recovery School District. Theweek leading up to the 57th NBA All-Star Game will feature a full slate of community-enhancing activities and fan festivals, such as NBA All-Star Jam Sessionpresented by adidas and the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam on Friday, Feb. 14.

In conjunction with All-Star Balloting, 2K Sports will give fans the chance to experience New Orleans and the best of basketball by entering the OfficialBalloting NBA 2K8 All-Star Sweepstakes for a chance to win two season tickets for the 2008-09 season to a team of their choice, a trip to NBA All-Star 2008 andto have their likeness as a digitized player incorporated in next year's game, NBA 2K9. As part of the grand prize, GameStop, the video game retailer, willoffer a shopping spree. GameStop will also promote balloting throughout its 4,800 locations by utilizing in-store point-of-purchase materials.

The leaders of both the Eastern and Western Conference players for the third returns of the 2008 NBA All-Star voting program are attached:

2008 NBA ALL-STAR BALLOTING EASTERN CONFERENCE

Forwards: Kevin Garnett (Bos) 1,527,963; LeBron James (Clev) 1,294,019; ChrisBosh (Tor) 411,313; Paul Pierce (Bos) 352,243; Yi Jianlian (Mil) 291,447; CaronButler (Was) 187,396; Hedo Turkoglu (Orl) 172,720; Tayshaun Prince (Det) 155,502; Josh Smith (Atl) 143,518; RashardLewis (Orl) 143,118.

Guards: Dwyane Wade (Mia) 1,019,582; Jason Kidd (NJ) 743,683; Ray Allen (Bos) 617,123; VinceCarter (NJ) 612,543; Gilbert Arenas (Was) 511,763; Chauncey Billups (Det) 331,872; Michael Redd (Mil) 221,777; Richard Hamilton (Det) 163,250; Joe Johnson (Atl) 149,367; AndreIguodala (Phi) 140, 292.

Centers: Dwight Howard (Orl) 1,260,987; Shaquille O'Neal (Mia) 609,597; Rasheed Wallace (Det) 162,792; Ben Wallace (Chi) 146,332; AndrewBogut (Mil) 132,469; Jermaine O'Neal (Ind) 120,690; Zydrunas Ilgauskas (Clev)77,350; Emeka Okafor (Cha) 74,269; Zaza Pachulia (Atl) 58,430; EddyCurry (NY) 53,084.

2008 NBA ALL-STAR BALLOTING WESTERN CONFERENCE

Forwards: Tim Duncan (SA) 1,049,641; Carmelo Anthony (Den) 1,029,335; Dirk Nowitzki (Dal) 830,970; Carlos Boozer (Utah) 347,899; Shane Battier (Hou) 297,672; ShawnMarion (Pho) 296,917; Josh Howard (Dal) 285,580; Luis Scola (Hou) 279,970; Kevin Durant (Sea) 242,953; Grant Hill (Pho) 209,057.

Guards: Kobe Bryant (LAL) 1,234,111; Tracy McGrady (Hou) 809,395; Allen Iverson (Den) 694,611; SteveNash (Pho) 684,813; Manu Ginobili (SA) 360,408; Tony Parker (SA) 316,541; ChrisPaul (NO) 261,169; Baron Davis (GS) 247,187; Jason Terry (Dal) 218,052; JerryStackhouse (Dal) 192,017.

Centers: Yao Ming (Hou) 1,077,244; Amaré Stoudemire (Pho) 583,249; Marcus Camby (Den) 221,527; ErickDampier (Dal) 184,689; Pau Gasol (Mem) 139,254; Mehmet Okur (Utah) 112,434; TysonChandler (NO) 98,424; LaMarcus Aldridge (Por) 93,043; Chris Kaman (LAC) 83,516; AndrisBiedrins (GS) 81,611.

Dwight 3rd among everyone

In before all the complaints.

Come on Caron fans --- Give him more votes

IBTC.

Roy's gonna need some help from the coaches . .

Caron is def gonna be an all star regardless if he's voted in by fans.

How is D-whistle going to the all-star game this year

Gilbert Arenas (Was) 511,763

Quitter McGreedy.


Dude is a bum and needs to surrender that spot to B. Roy

It's going to be a boring 1st quarter unless Nash gets in there.

Luis Scola has more votes than the likes of Chris Paul, Josh Smith, Caron Butler, Hedo Turkoglu, Baron Davis, Tyson Chandler, and Chris Kaman.

So much for Mr. Lamar Odumb making the all-star team.

still no love for RJ

Originally Posted by iceman3699

still no love for RJ

Click to expand...

It's a popularity contest, what do you expect from the fans?

Pretty sure if he was leading the league in scoring, Lebron or KG would still be the leaders.

dident t wack say he isnt gonna play at N.O becasue of security

the system is messed up but david stern would never stop fans from visiting the site and voting.

RJ and brandon roy should be all-stars.

i dont understand why fans would vote for an injured player

I think every single person listed deserves to be an All-Star more than Luis Scola actually.

They need to fix this system. I mean T-Mac and D Whistle starting? TheNBA is a joke.

Originally Posted by Kiddin Like Jason

Luis Scola has more votes than the likes of Chris Paul, Josh Smith, Caron Butler, Hedo Turkoglu, Baron Davis, Tyson Chandler, and Chris Kaman.

Click to expand...

I don't understand it either.

I've come to the analysis that Mark Cuban's rich!+++ has hired a team of people that vote for the Mavericks into the ASG, because Erick Dampier isstill fourth.

East forwards starters have been locked since Day 1. But good video CB4. Also, (No offense) but since China has been able to vote, T-Mac, Yao will always startdespite how much they play and Yi will get big votes.

why y'all complaining? the FANS have the right to speak their minds.

should presidents and politicians be voted on by their peers (senators, governors...)?

they're taking the fans' money so let the fans vote. nobody is forcing u to watch the damn game.

sure tmac, wade, kidd aren't deserving, but they're fan favorites. it's all about the fans. nobody has to like the same things as NT

Battier only 5th for West forwards

I have no idea why people make such a big deal out of fans votes for the all-star starters. If your favorite player really deserves it so much, they will bevoted in by the coaches. How can people get so miffed over whether a certain player is 4th or 10th in voting? Either way, they wouldn't get in by fanvoting anyway!

And this is on top of the often-ignored explanations that this is a game for the FANS and so it just reflects the fan's choices. Look at the entireall-star weekend extravaganza... it's all stuff geared towards the fans and towards having fun. THIS IS NOT THE ALL-NBA TEAM! Believe it or not, they pickthose at the end of the year and they tend to reflect the best in the NBA.

I constantly read stuff on here about how it should be a "different system" (for example, 1/3 fans, 1/3 coaches, 1/3 players) or something like that.Guess what? Fan voting only accounts for 10 out of 24 spots. People here act like the vote determines every spot and if their favorite player isn't pickedthat's it for them. That's what the coaches are for!