NBA All-Star voting, and fun with numbers

The NBA All-Star game is the most entertaining weekend of the three major sports in my opinion. The Pro Bowl is a joke, and baseball has tried to make their's more entertaining with the "this time it counts" slogan. However I completely disagree with giving home field advantage to the league that wins, also when undeserving players make it simply because each team must be represented it unnerves me a bit. The NBA All-Star game puts on a show, and gives us great moments by some of the best athletes in the world. Like Glen Rice's just can't miss 41 point outpouring, to Jordan coming back and winning the MVP as a Wizard. Also, although I've never done research into it the voting seems to mesh with who the best players are a lot better. Maybe basketball is more transparent, or maybe the stats are easier to understand. I'm not sure. I think it is easier to get closer to the best 30 players than 50 or 75 which helps the NBA as well. Elite players are easier to pick out. There are egrigous errors like Shaq being voted in while not playing more than 10 games once, but there are always stars who get in because they were good at one point, in any sport.

This brings me to my currrent problem. Tracy McGrady is leading Chis Paul (and every other west guard except Kobe) so far for the All-Star starting spot. Here is a brief comparison of the two so far this season:

Points: Paul 20.1, McGrady 15.9
Assists: Paul 11.4, McGrady 4.7
Rebounds: Paul 5.2, McGrady 4.8
Steals: Paul 3, McGrady 1.13
FG%: Paul .497, McGrady .400
FT%: Paul .884, McGrady .826
Player Effeciency Rating: Paul 30.48, McGrady 18.15

I won't even mention that Paul leads the league in assists, and steals, or that 5 rebounds from a 6 foot PG is ridiculous, oh wait I guess I will.

As you can see Paul does every single thing basketball related better than Tracy McGrady. So you ask why is T-Mac still leading. Because NBA voting has become wildly flawed by the global voting. We know that Yao Ming is going to be the starting center every year because the Chinese vote for him. That is not a problem because he is, you know, the best center in the West. However as the game gets more popular the Chinese vote even more, and they vote for Yao's teammates as well. For illustration, Rafer Alston has more votes than Brandon Roy or Chauncey Billups. Yep that Rafer Alston. Skip to my Lou. More. Than. Brandon. Roy.

Oh and how about Yi Jianlian over in the East. The guy averaging 10 and 6, with a PER that is below league average. Yeah he is third behind only LeBron and Garnett. Ahead of CHRIS BOSH, Paul Pierce, Josh Smith, Danny Granger and Hedo Turkoglu.

David Stern needs to intervene, or figure out a cap of votes, or weight votes, or something. This is absurd and it makes me angry.