Dwight Howard Getting All Voters In 4th Returns

Orlando’s Dwight Howard leads all players with 2,102,368 votes following the fourth returns of 2009 NBA All-Star Balloting.

Eastern Conference

Forwards: LeBron James (Clev) 1,940,162; Kevin Garnett (Bos) 1,375,814; Yi Jianlian (NJ) 1,216,348; Chris Bosh (Tor) 751,927; Paul Pierce (Bos) 486,656; Hedo Turkoglu (Orl) 366,174; Shawn Marion (Mia) 264,888; Danny Granger (Ind) 199,200; Josh Smith (Atl) 163,145; Michael Beasley (Mia) 157,286; Tayshaun Prince (Det) 144,337.

Guards: Dwyane Wade (Mia) 1,818,717; Allen Iverson (Det) 1,278,600; Vince Carter (NJ) 856,498; Ray Allen (Bos) 552,094; Devin Harris (NJ) 474,637; Gilbert Arenas (Wash) 403,577; Luke Ridnour (Mil) 379,806; Derrick Rose (Chi) 293,483; Jose Calderon (Tor) 274,509; Joe Johnson (Atl) 236,993; Jameer Nelson (Orl) 227,226.

Centers: Dwight Howard (Orl) 2,102,368; Samuel Dalembert (Phi) 257,527; Rasheed Wallace (Det) 255,950; Jermaine O’Neal (Tor) 224,583; Andrew Bogut (Mil) 198,811; Al Horford (Atl) 191,105; Brendan Haywood (Wash) 178,868; Ben Wallace (Clev) 159,132; Emeka Okafor (Char) 133,501; Zyrdrunas Ilgauskas (Cle) 122,607; Kendrick Perkins (Bos) 85,855.

Western Conference

Forwards: Tim Duncan (SA) 1,454,918; Carmelo Anthony (Den) 905,121; Amare Stoudemire (Pho) 894,690; Ron Artest (Hou) 890,992; Dirk Nowitzki (Dal) 837,482; Pau Gasol (LAL) 618,943; Bruce Bowen (SA) 509,593; Shane Battier (Hou) 482,724; Luis Scola (Hou) 281,372; Josh Howard (Dal) 255,698; LaMarcus Aldridge (Por) 212,651.

Guards: Kobe Bryant (LAL) 1,903,798; Tracy McGrady (Hou) 1,216,224; Chris Paul (NO) 1,059,161; Manu Ginobili (SA) 669,837; Tony Parker (SA) 614,939; Jamal Crawford (GS) 462,039; Steve Nash (Pho) 441,746; Jason Kidd (Dal) 381,906; Rafer Alston (Hou) 372,130; Jason Terry (Dal) 323,279; Brandon Roy (Por) 267,053.

Centers: Yao Ming (Hou) 1,758,499; Shaquille O’Neal (Pho) 1,006,383; Andrew Bynum (LAL) 356,280; Mehmet Okur (Utah) 292,845; Greg Oden (Por) 195,552; Andris Biedrins (GS) 170,732; Tyson Chandler (NO) 128,086; Al Jefferson (Minn) 121,944; Nick Collison (OKC) 105,534; Marcus Camby (LAC) 74,638; Chris Kaman (LAC) 27,112.


http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/ ... h_returns/

Not that he doesn't deserve those votes, but he definitely benefits from standing out as far and away the most deserving candidate at centre in the East. Looking at the votes Shaq has received, if he were still in the East he'd probably take a noteworthy chunk of votes from Howard as he's still obviously very popular.

Looks like Melo could start after all, if he's healed in time. KG's still hanging in there ahead of Yi and it looks like T-Mac will stay ahead of CP3.

Finally Melo is in the top 2... Hopefully he hangs onto it... I will definitely be voting everyday for him... ANd man, looks like Yi is gaining more ground on KG... It will be interesting to see if Yi can make it, I want to see how players and DAvid Stern will react to it..

The outcry against fan voting will most certainly be bigger than ever if Yi is voted in. I still like the idea so if he does get voted in I'd like to see some kind of reform but not necessarily the elimination of fan voting.

The way I would go about doing that is by cutting players off the ballots. There is no reason you should be able to vote for the 12th man on a roster who gets no playing time.

Agreed. You could also eliminate write-ins to prevent any silliness from taking place.

Western conference forwards is a tight race aint it?

It is, Duncan's spot is assured but the race between Amare and Melo could go either way.

And dont forget Artest who trail Amare by only 4000 votes. Although a major reason for that is because he is Yao's teammate and China's got their back, his votes are still legitimate. T-Mac is leading Chris Paul because of this reason as well. Credits goes to Yao.

I didn't even notice that. Artest is a fine player but he's not even putting up career numbers, let alone All-Star numbers.