Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey expressed disgust over the new balloting process after his superstars failed to land a starting spot in the Western Conference roster for the 2014 All-Star Game.
In a recent post on his Twitter account, Morey voiced out his disappointment after James Harden and Dwight Howard were not named to the All-Star Game 2014 starting lineups.
According to Morey, his two superstars failed to land a spot because of the unreasonable new balloting rule, which allowed NBA fans to vote for two backcourt players and three frontcourt players regardless of their position. Previous balloting asked fans to select two guards, two forwards, and one center before it was changed last year.
Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers took the two guard spots, while Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers, Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Kevin Love of the Minnesota Timberwolves took the three frontcourt spots. Had the NBA applied the old ruling, Howard could have been named as starter at center spot.
"NBA all star voting process set up well for Iowa high school girls basketball. Offense only & only guards and forwards," Morey lamented. "It's a house election right now w/Centers gerrymandered out MT @5thQuarterMag It's 4 fans. Would U like presidential election 4 All-Star Gm?"
Morey also added that either Harden or Howard should start in the annual festivities if Bryant can't make it due to his knee injury. Previous reports suggested that the Lakers superstar guard could skip this year's ASG.
"If Kobe out then @JHarden13 should start or, since positions don't matter, @KDTrey5 should be SG & @DwightHoward starts w/next highest votes," Morey tweeted.
Curiously, Morey did not mention his other popular player - Jeremy Lin.
Lin, who is one of the popular figures in the Rockets roster mainly because of his famous "Linsanity" moment in New York and his Chinese fan base, actually did well in the balloting than Harden.
The 25-year-old point guard got 628,818 votes - more than 150,000 higher than Harden's total votes and was just less than 15,000 votes behind Howard's total.
Dime Mag noted that Morey's comment was a slap in the face of Lin, while also creating speculations about the future of Lin, who is reportedly on trading block.
"Morey's tweets were kind of a slap in the face to Jeremy Lin even if it was unintended. If Morey's trying to unload Lin before the poison-pill third year of his contract kicks in next season, maybe he should have pushed Lin for an All-Star nod instead of Harden. It sounds better to say, "All-Star starter, Jeremy Lin" during trade negotiations," Dime Mag noted.
The Western Conference All-Star reserves, composed of seven players voted by NBA coaches, will be announced on January 30, Thursday.
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