League To Eliminate Center From All-Star Ballot

[.infamous]

The NBA will formally announce Wednesday that it will no longer have fans vote for starting centers for the All-Star Game, and instead have them choose three frontcourt players from each conference, TNT's David Aldridge reports on NBA.com.The change will appear on this year's ballot, which will be released on November 13th.

The league is making the change at the recommendation of its revamped competition committee.
"It makes sense," said Stu Jackson, the NBA's vice president of basketball operations. "It made sense to our Competition Committee. Having a center is the only specific position that was singled out on the ballot. It just seemed a little outdated and didn't represent the way our game has evolved. By the same token, it also affords the same opportunity, if you have two good centers in a given year, pick 'em both. They both can be selected. Which is impossible right now."
With more teams taking a small-ball approach, traditional centers have become less of a factor in the game. The shifting dynamics have caused some ballot issues in recent years. Aldridge cites the case of Tim Duncan, who has been listed as a power forward despite playing center for the Spurs.
The selection of All-Star starters is a trivial matter in most cases, but it's one of the criteria used to determine the maximum salary for rookie-scale extensions in the new CBA. First-round picks who are voted to start the All-Star Game twice, named to two All-NBA teams, or win an MVP award in their first four seasons are eligible to receive 30% of the salary cap in their extensions, instead of 25%.

 

[bosoxlover12]

Cool, now you are going to have Lebron, Melo, and Smoove starting >_<

 

[Pugz]

yea its about time but still sucks forthe hibberts/monroes/horford fringe type allstar big men.

 

[bestkeptsecret13]

They didn't really need to eliminate the center spot, they just needed to list guys at center that actually play center, like Bosh and Duncan.

 

[CameronCrazy06]

Cool, now you are going to have Lebron, Melo, and Smoove starting >_<

Why the hell would Josh Smith start?

 

[bosoxlover12]

Why the hell would Josh Smith start?

I was trying to think of an example of someone who will make the ASG most likely and is a F but cannot play C


Since Joe's gone, Smoove is the new top scoring option, so maybe he'll have some good numbers (22/8 maybe)


I figured Smith had a better chance of starting than the likes of Pierce, Granger, Wallace, and Deng

 

[Mexi]

the new NBA. been changing the past few years, im glad the league recognizes it

positions aren't set anymore.