| 10 February 2010
Don't worry - this isn't another article complaining about the debauchery that is NBA All-Star voting. I, along with the rest of the civilized world, have said my piece on that. No, this is a more positive piece. This is an idea that - if implemented - hopefully would breathe some life into the All-Star Game. Change the game's format to Team U.S.A. vs. Team World.
This is actually an idea that the NHL used a few years back (not that borrowing an idea from the NHL is really a smart business idea). My main problems with the way the All-Star Game is currently played is that it is boring to me. It is a glorified streetball game with players not playing defense and too many uncontested dunks. Changing the format to a U.S. vs the World setup would alleviate that - guys would be playing for national pride. The Americans would be out to prove that they still are the bullies on the block and the World team would be trying to show that they can't be picked on anymore by the U.S.
Plus, check out the starting rosters for this year's game if it was set up this way (based on fan voting totals):
U.S.
Dwyane Wade
Kobe Byant
LeBron James
Carmelo Anthony
Dwight Howard
Kobe and LeBron on the same team - what more could you ask for?! Plus, notice no Allen Iverson or Kevin Garnett voted in as starters, which is another benefit of this format - less chance that undeserving players will be voted in by the fans (at least on Team U.S.A.).
The World team would shape up like this:
World
Steve Nash
Manu Ginobili
Dirk Nowitzki
Tim Duncan
Nene
A solid team, but obviously not as good as Team U.S.A. - at least on paper. Which is the one problem of this format - the lack of All-Star level international guards. Big men there is no problem - you'd have Al Horford, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bogut, etc. coming off the bench. But currently the guard level would be a little low. But these things are cyclical and that would probably change in the future. And if it appears that the World Team would be low on talent, start loosening the guidelines on what constitutes an "international" player (like FIBA already does - Chris Kaman is German in their eyes!).
Not only would this format make the game mean more to the players, which would hopefully lead to more effort and passion in the game, but it would also help David Stern in his effort to continue to grow the game internationally. International fans already love voting in Yao Ming to the All-Star Game - they would really love being able to vote for a whole team of international players. You could even only allow Americans to vote on the American team and the rest of the world to vote on the World team. And, while we're at it, why not play the game every other year on foreign soil? You might need to extend the All-Star break a couple of more days to account for extended travel time, but it would be worth it for the goodwill and branding opportunities it would afford the League.
It's not as if this new format would cheapen the All-Star Game - the fans have already done that with their voting habits (sorry - I promised I wasn't going to mention that again!) This just might be the recipe to add some spice to the stale All-Star Game.
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