he NBA has become a global franchise over the past decade with athletes originating from more countries than ever before. Globalization combined with free online voting has permitted nationalistic pride to become a major determinant in the starting lineup of the all-star game.
Some international selections are justifiable while others are controversial selections made almost exclusively based on nationality rather than basketball achievements.
Not to diminish the impressive rookie season he is having, but if Yi Jianlian can get 300,000 WRITE-IN votes by the Chinese (and to a much lesser extent the Milwaukee faithful) without being an all-star calibre player, how many votes will Yi get when he's on the ballot?
In order to correct for this inequity I propose that the NBA amend its voting policy such that votes be collected into one of two pools based on where the votes originate from: North America or Overseas. Players will then be ranked in each of the two pools at their respective position for a combined ranking. The top guards (2), forwards (2), and center (1) of each conference are voted in based on highest combined rankings.
Properly assorting votes into the NA or Overseas pool shouldn't be difficult as the origin of an online vote can easily be tracked based on the individual's IP address.
As an example to simply show what the rankings might look like, the expected rankings of the top 8 voted forwards in the Eastern Conference:
Kevin Garnett: #1 (NA votes), #2 (Overseas votes): Overall #1 (1.5 avg)
LeBron James: #2 (NA votes), #3 (Overseas votes): Overall #2 (2.5)
Chris Bosh: #3 (NA votes), #5 (Overseas votes): Overall #3 (4)
Paul Pierce: #4 (NA votes), #6 (Overseas votes): Overall #4 (5)
Yi Jianlian: #10 (NA votes), #1 (Overseas votes): Overall #5 (5.5)
Caron Butler: #5 (NA votes), #7 (Overseas votes): Overall #6 (6)
Hedo Turkuglo: #9 (NA votes), #4 (Overseas votes): Overall #7 (6.5)
Tayshaun Prince: #6 (NA votes), #8 (Overseas votes): Overall #8 (7)
Note that I listed Turkuglo & Yi #9 & #10 in North American votes respectively because players such as Rashard Lewis and Josh Smith have ~150,000 votes and are likely ranked higher by domestic fans.
Even if Yi had 2 million votes from Overseas - placing him #1 in overall votes - he would still not be starting as those votes have no effect on his overall ranking. He is already #1 in international ranking.
This system helps to diminish the effects of a skewed 'popular vote' by highly populated countries to that of a more balanced 50/50 'electoral vote' decided by fans spanning many nations amongst the two pools. Players who are only recognized in one region will not be voted in as a starter until their game is recognized globally (i.e. domestically and overseas).
Creating two voting pools is relatively easy to introduce and helps to return integrity to the selection of NBA all-star starters.
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