Vote Early and Vote Often
The NBA All Star Game ballot is out and the Lakers get a lot of love. The Clippers, not so much.
Kobe is an All Star Game shoe-in.
When you are the World Champions and are loaded with star talent, you get the respect. You get the perks. Like having five guys on the NBA All Star ballot.
When you are the Clippers, the one guy who has carried your team this year can’t get on it — but the injured rookie who has yet to play a minute you can vote for.
The NBA officially released the ballot for the massive weekend of partying in Dallas, er, we mean the NBA All Star Game this week. As one would expect, the Lakers got a lot of love.
You can basically pencil in Kobe Bryant as a starter for the West, and likely the conference’s top vote getter. And he is earning it — he leads the NBA in scoring at 33.6 points per game and is shooting at a career high percentage so far. With Pau Gasol out, Bryant has stepped up his game this season.
But if you want to vote for Gasol — who has yet to play a game and will not suit up Thursday in a showdown with the Suns — you can do that too, he is on the ballot. He is joined by Ron Artest and Lamar Odom, meaning theoretically the Lakers could have both starting forwards. If you want to bench Tim Duncan.
Then there is Andrew Bynum at the center spot — he is on the ballot and with his early play might be a favorite to start in the game. Well, except the guys who put the ballot together listed the Suns Amar'e Stoudemire — who plays power forward for them — as center. Amar’e is back and going to get a lot of votes.
The guy who really should be the starting center in the west is the Clippers Chris Kaman — he had six straight 20 points games before Monday (when he had 14 points), has played good defense and has been the best player on a struggling team. He has been the best center in the conference this season.
And he’s not even on the ballot. Clipper teammate Marcus Camby is (another forward listed as a center). Spencer Hawes is and NBA die-hards would have trouble telling you where he plays. But Kaman is not.
The Clippers, they can’t get no respect. But don’t worry, there are plenty of Lakers to vote for.
Kurt Helin lives in Los Angeles where he is runs the NBA/Lakers blog Forum Blue & Gold (which you can also follow in twitter).
