Tracy McGrady will have his revenge

by Basketball John on Jan 9, 2009 8:00 AM MST

Tracy McGrady can't beat the Jazz in a playoff series, but he might make sure that none of them become an All-Star. Deron's injury this year will keep him out, but Paul Millsap has a good shot. But not if the legion of voters for McGrady have anything to do with it.

Hollinger has this bit in his second set of predictions for the NBA,

Paul Millsap makes the All-Star team - For this prediction to come true, two things will need to happen in the fan voting, both of which seem fairly likely. First, Chris Paul will need to edge past Tracy McGrady at the guard position; provided anybody in China is actually watching the games, this should happen. Second, Amare Stoudemire will need to beat out Anthony at forward; with Anthony out with a broken hand, that also seems probable.

Should both of those events take place, Millsap has a good chance of filling out the end of the West roster. If you accept that the first five spots would go to starters Stoudemire, Paul, Bryant, Tim Duncan and Yao Ming, and the next five to subs Brandon Roy, Chauncey Billups, Tony Parker, Pau Gasol and Dirk Nowitzki, that leaves two spots open.

In that scenario, the Jazz would be the only one of the top nine Western teams without a representative. And Millsap’s argument is getting stronger by the day. He’s averaging 18 points and 11 rebounds as a starter, and since Nov. 24, he’s had a double-double in every game. All 18 of them. Even the Milwaukee game, when he left in the first half with a hyperextended knee and somehow came back to finish it.

The problem is that McGrady now has about a 156,000 lead over Paul right now,

Guards
Player	Votes
Kobe Bryant (LAL)	1,903,798
Tracy McGrady (Hou)	1,216,224
Chris Paul (NO)	1,059,161

That's not insurmountable, but with a strong Chinese following, it's formidable.

McGrady is having probably the worst season of his career. He's had injuries as well. But he's averaging only 15 points a game, shooting 39%, and having career lows in other categories.

So as Jazz fans, it might be hard to swallow, but voting for Chris Paul in the All-Star game will be a vote for Millsap. I would love to see Deron get his first nod, but that's not going to happen this year. Millsap is our best shot.

So it pains me to say this, but vote for Chris Paul all you can.

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Comments

At the risk of sounding like a bigot..

Any vote originating from China should only count for 25-50 of an American vote. There is absolutely no excuse for these players to get that many votes just because they A: Have a Chinese name (see: Yi), or B: They wear a Rockets jersey (see: Battier, McGrady)

by prodigal punk on Jan 9, 2009 8:35 AM MST reply actions

Letting international fans vote is a good idea

but all they really end up doing is skewing the results and therefore, in a small way, ruining the game by not having the best players represented. I’m not saying all international fans are uninformed, which I’m sure a lot of them are, but it’s pretty obvious the influence China is having on the voting.

And voting for Chris Paul isn’t really so bad when you consider A) that he’s going to make the team anyway whether he’s a starter or not, and B) it will help Sap out. So with only 10 voting days left, I’ll try and do my part and hopefully things will fall Sap’s way.

by Vromanite on Jan 9, 2009 12:24 PM MST up reply actions