Why is the NBA afraid of China?
All-Star balloting has recently begun and there are four Bucks on the ballot. Yes, only four and one of them isn’t even a starter. Mo Williams, Michael Redd, Andrew Bogut and Charlie Villanueva are on the ballot while Yi Jianlian is mysteriously missing.
It’s quite simple why Yi isn’t on the ballot. The NBA fears a circumstance similar to Yao Ming’s rookie year. Yao was voted as the All-Star starter over a dominant Shaquille O’Neal. This was due to online voting made available by the NBA.
The system is obviously flawed and needs to be changed. Every starter should be on the ballot; if not every player. At the very worst, each team should have a representative for each position similar to Major League Baseball.
David Stern has been pushing the international scene since 1992 and the original Dream Team. It is now a global sport that the rest of the world is on par with against the United States. I would love to see the All-Star format changed and have an international squad play a US team to change things up.
Yi will undoubtedly play in the Freshman-Sophomore game, but he should at least be given the opportunity to play in the big game. The NBA should be embracing its global appeal and not be trying to hide from it. Would it be fair if Yi was voted a starter? Obviously not from a statistical or talent point, but if that’s what the fans want to see, then they should be given that right.
I have no doubt that Yi has the talent to one day make an All-Star roster. He is just the latest in a long line of great international talent to come to the NBA. This was Stern’s vision so many years ago; it’s just shameful that he’s now turning a blind eye to that vision.
This entry was posted
on Sunday, November 25th, 2007 at 3:55 pm and is filed under Milwaukee Bucks.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
THE AUTHOR
RECENT ARTICLES BY DIVISION RIVALS
ARCHIVE
SPONSORS
Online Seats
Milwaukee Brewers Tickets Milwaukee Bucks Schedule
Ticket Specialists
Buy Milwaukee Bucks tickets from a trusted source. Bucks tickets available now. Buy your Bradley Center tickets here.
10 Responses to “Why is the NBA afraid of China?”
November 25th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Maybe the voting should somehow be only limited to United states restidents. Over a billion people can vote in china and they would all vote for chinese players and they would obviously win. But, the whole world watches the game and if they cant vote the nba would lose viewers. I think stern is screwed and if i were him, i’d let everyone vote.
But i agree with you jesse, he should change the balloting format. I think all of your ideas are good. Every body would get a chance to get in. I think the international verse a us team would be fun to watch. It would also gain more veiwers.
November 25th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
I found that interesting, but can’t blame Stern from doing whatever is necessary to ensure that Yi doesn’t get voted in as a starter prematurely. They can’t be afraid of China, especially with the Magic and Cavs playing a pair of preseason games out there. However, the fans still reserve the right to vote in whoever they want. If the people want Yi, shouldn’t the league give them what they want?
November 27th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
@ Matt R
But isn’t that the concept of a democracy?
I mean, here we are trying to teach the them (communists) that democracy is a better system, but when things don’t go a certain way, then we want to restrict it?
Also, 2 other things:
1. Yao lead in paper balloting (US only votes) over Shaq in the last two All-Star games
2. Both Wang Zhizhi and Menke Bateer were never voted into the game, so I doubt that Chinese voters would simply vote for Chinese players.
***
I would love to see an International vs US players game though. That would be really fun.
November 27th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Good points, Carl. This argument generally degrades the basketball IQ of Chinese people.
December 3rd, 2007 at 3:23 pm
are we gonna get a new article anytime soon. its been 5 straight bucks losses since the last ariticle
December 5th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
where is jesse motiff???
December 10th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
r we ever going 2 get another article
December 11th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
that last article was when the bucks were 7-4…now their 8-11…thats 8 games!!!! there has gotta be an article some where in there
December 13th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
its been 18 days now?!?!?!?! is anybody even hired to write this article
April 21st, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Nice sign by the Bucks to get Skiles. He turned the Bulls into a pretty good squad before they tanked this season. He should bring Milwaukee back to the playoffs in a year or two.
Leave a comment