[R-Dot-13Participant]

Does anybody think that it is possible that since Yao will be out for the season, and not on the all star ballot, that China will vote for Yi Jianlian to start in the all star game? Which will snub a deserving all star.
I think that it shouldnt happen, but i think there is definetly a possibility.
What about you?

[Michael.S.Participant]

HAHAHAHA , all of China (what half the world?) votes him as a starter, im quiting

[McWinningParticipant]

i think they will vote for Devin Harris since hes his teammate and is their best player.

[R-Dot-13Participant]

Im just saying cause he finished 3rd or 4th a couple years ago.

[no1Participant]

lol book his ticket to the ASG YI will be an allstar next yr

[GoodbyeChandlerParticipant]

i think they should add a rule where gms and coaches have to approve of who gets voted in by the fans.

[McWinningParticipant]

so all i need to do to be an All-Star is make it to the nba out of China? lol thats kinda cheap he doesnt deserve it.

[R-Dot-13Participant]

Yeah, we’ll be seeing Sun Yue in the ASG in the future.

[MagikKnickParticipant]

If I was a bad team, with no glaring all-star I would sign Sun Yue, can you imagine him starting over Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant, Brandon Roy and others

[MagikKnickParticipant]

lets be thankful that there arent 24 chinese players in the league, they’d be the entire AS Team

[R-Dot-13Participant]

hahaha
thats so true MagikKnick

[McWinningParticipant]

im gonna ask my parents if i can move to China.

[CLYDE-frazier10Participant]

that the coaches should put up about 50 people and we vote on those 50 people so scrubs like YI will never make it

[Adi Joseph]

You know, this is a very american attitude. You are the fans of the NBA, but so are the Chinese people that obsessively watch Rockets and Nets games.

The All-Star Game is for the fans. The fans deserve the right to speak. And if 1.8 million fans want Yi Jianlian to start, well, there’s not 1.8 million fans voting for any other Eastern Conference power forward, now is there?

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, though, consider this: LeBron James got more votes than Yao last year, and Kevin Garnett was only about 400,000 votes shy. Sure, that seems like a lot. But Yi isn’t going to get as many votes as Yao. For one, he certainly won’t be earning much of the American vote. He’s also not nearly as popular in China.

I would guess Yi finishes with about 850,000 to 1,000,000 votes. That probably won’t be enough to put him onto the team.

But if he can garner enough votes to make it, please allow the fans – even if you have a very different view of things – to continue running a game made just for them.

After all, it probably wouldn’t be nearly as egregious as Josh Hamilton starting the MLB All-Star Game.

[Aran SmithKeymaster]

To continue Adi’s point and add a little more perspective on it:

In China people love the NBA more than their own CBA (Chinese Basketball Association) by a landslide. Tracy McGrady jerseys sold more than Yao jerseys in China at one point. Chinese fans are not only fans of Chinese players. The NBA has become HUGE in China. Not only does China have numbers, but the fans there have embraced both basketball and the NBA.

In contrast basketball is huge in Serbia as well, yet when the NBA playoffs were going on you could barely catch live games. Folks in Serbia love basketball as much as folks in China. It is part of the culture and easily one of the biggest sports in both places. But the big difference is they prefer Serbian basketball and Serbian teams to NBA basketball.

So if Yi fills in for Yao in the all star game and American fans are up in arms, keep in mind all the $ being made by the NBA with such a large NBA following in China. Not such a price to pay having an undeserving player such as Yi in an exhibition game. From an economic standpoint Yi belongs in the game the same way every MLB team gets one representative.

[McWinningParticipant]

aran you should post more? im guessing your busy though but its refreshing to see you post sometimes.

[billykParticipant]

If Yi makes the all star team thats a mockery of NBA basketball (its an all star team NOT an all popular team)….. But I geuss lately it has become political (see: Mo Williams) and about money (see: Yi comments above)…. I dont get the logic that a player would deserve to be on the all star team satisfy people from his country that love NBA basketball…. But I geuss in the end NBA basketball (like all pro sports) is a business and it would be a SAVVY BUSINESS move to have a player from China in the all star game….

[Author]

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