OKC Thunder: The Rich List: Edition Four
By Rich Condon
Russell finished first in both the player and media vote. However, he inexplicably finished third in the fan vote, behind Steph Curry and former Thunder Buddy James Harden. Steph finished third in the player and media vote, and Harden finished second in all three. Since Russell and Steph tied, the tiebreaker went to the fan vote, which counted for more than the other two votes.
Now, all due respect to Steph Curry who is an amazing player, but shame on all of us. I know there are a lot of outside factors here: Golden State is a bigger market, Golden State certainly has the biggest bandwagon, etc., but come on! Russ is making history this year, and even though it’s ultimately meaningless the fact that he isn’t a starter is positively egregious.
That being said, in a roundabout way, we have succeeded. We just poured gasoline on the forest fire that is Russell Westbrook’s motivations to go Super Saiyan. I think we’re in for an even more prolific second half of the season.
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Finally, one more overall point about the All-Star voting process, which although I’m a fan of splitting the vote in three (it ensured that Zaza Pachuila didn’t earn a starting nod over Russell, which is blasphemous to even think about), is still very flawed.
The Eastern Conference backcourt selections are a prime example of this. Again, all due respect to both Kyrie Irving and DeMar DeRozan, who are both having wonderful seasons. But, DeMar DeRozan isn’t even the best guard on his team. Kyle Lowry is the most complete guard in the Eastern Conference. I’m not disagreeing that both Irving and DeRozan are All-Stars, but I don’t think they should start over Isaiah Thomas, or Kyle Lowry, or even John Wall; all three of whom contribute more to their teams’ success than DeRozan or Irving.