Spurs trailing in first All-Star numbers

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The first numbers for NBA All-Star voting are in and this year is really not any different from other years.

Fan voting just becomes a popularity contest. In some cases, that gets the right players voted in, but some players can get hundreds of thousands of votes without even playing in a game.

Steve Nash hasn’t played since Halloween, and yet somehow he has almost double the amount of votes as San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker. That doesn’t seem right.

Jeremy Lin averages fewer points, fewer assists and more turnovers than Parker, and yet somehow, he has more than four times the number of votes. That doesn’t seem right either.

Ricky Rubio hasn’t played a minute yet this year, and yet somehow he has more votes than Manu Ginobili. That doesn’t seem right either.

As of last Thursday, the Western Conference backcourt vote counts are as follows:

Kobe Bryant (LAL) 639,419

Chris Paul (LAC) 353,603

Jeremy Lin (Hou) 298,319

James Harden (Hou) 196,108

Russell Westbrook (OKC) 143,437

Steve Nash (LAL) 118,073

Tony Parker (SA) 69,983

Ricky Rubio (Min) 54,744

Manu Ginobili (SA) 47,800

O.J. Mayo (Dal) 36,495

The Western Conference frontcourt numbers are:

Kevin Durant (OKC) 605,965

Dwight Howard (LAL) 434,168

Blake Griffin (LAC) 307,855

Tim Duncan (SA) 189,577

Pau Gasol (LAL) 139,868

Kevin Love (Min) 112,922

Omer Asik (Hou) 88,178

Rudy Gay (Mem) 85,279

Serge Ibaka (OKC) 68,285

LaMarcus Aldridge (Por) 66,290

Dirk Nowitzki (Dal) 63,056

Marc Gasol (Mem) 61,716

Zach Randolph (Mem) 59,916

Metta World Peace (LAL) 59,167

Anthony Davis (NO) 53,779.

I think Duncan is about in the right spot. I know he’s much more talented than Blake Griffin, but it’s hard for “The Big Fundamental” to compete with “Lob City” in a popularity contest. I imagine he’ll probably get picked as a bench player.

Obviously though, Parker needs to be higher on the list. His numbers are slightly improved overall from last year when some thought he was having an MVP-caliber year. Parker is still one of the top point guards in the NBA and deserves to be recognized as such. I think he’s in too big of a hole to get enough votes to be a starter, but hopefully he’ll get picked to come off the bench.

Manu is rather iffy. He’s been more inconsistent than usual and had a few small injury problems throughout the year. I think he’ll probably miss the All-Star festivities this season.

Stay tuned. We’ll see if the public’s reaction to some of these initial numbers gets them out voting in full force for the players who should be there.