Dallas Mavericks: Zaza A Near All-Star?

Zaza Pachulia was nearly voted into the All-Star game this year, coming up just a few thousand votes short of starting for the Western Conference. Does this fact present a problem with the voting system set in place for All-Star weekend?

For those who have not heard the news by now, Zaza Pachulia came up less than 15,000 votes short of a starting spot in the NBA All-Star game next month. Kawhi Leonard outlasted the Pachulia push in the long run but the gap between Leonard (a budding superstar) and Zaza (a 13-year veteran and fringe starter) was far closer than anyone could have imagined.

The Georgian native took 4th place in the voting for western conference frontcourt players, easily the highest finish in his career. The list of players that received less votes than Zaza include many bonafide All-Stars, excellent young players, and aging legends. After Zaza Pachulia, the remaining players in the top 10 were as follows: Draymond Green (-41,496), Blake Griffin (-116,252), Enes Kanter (-233,613), Tim Duncan (-337,025), Anthony Davis (-367,424), and DeMarcus Cousins (-403,842).

Zaza Pachulia also received far more votes than teammate and regular All-Star representative, Dirk Nowitzki. Dirk of course deserves more love than he got in this year’s voting, but the fact that Pachulia received nearly 600,000 fewer votes than Zaza speaks volumes of the fanbase that he has gained since coming to Dallas.

I myself voted for Zaza multiple times during this very concerted effort to get him to the All-Star game, but I must clear something up…I do not believe Zaza Pachulia is an All-Star level player. Pretty shocking coming from the guy who has a total of 5 centers in the league over Zaza in my personal rankings, right?

Pachulia is not nearly on the level of many of these other players that came up short in the voting process. He is averaging a double-double on the season for the first time in his career and could fall out of that range any day. Although it is an impressive task, 10.5 ppg and 10.8 rpg should not be receiving over 400,000 more votes than 26.1 ppg and 11.4 rpg.

Even scarier than that is the fact that Pachulia missed the All-Star game for the simple fact that Kobe Bryant, for the first time in his career, is listed as a frontcourt player instead of his natural position of shooting guard. Had Kobe been listed where he is supposed to, we would be watching a starting lineup in the All-Star game of Steph Curry, Kobe Bryant, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, and Zaza Pachulia.

One of these things is not like the others.

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Despite all the craziness surrounding the All-Star voting, the truth is the big game and the future of All-Star weekend would have been better off if Zaza Pachulia would have outlasted someone like Kawhi Leonard or Kevin Durant.

If Zaza had taken the last spot in the starting lineup, some serious questions about the voting and its effectiveness would have to be brought up. Zaza has been a starter for less than half of his career games and has only averaged double-digit points in 3 total seasons of his career. Someone like that is neither star caliber nor even entertaining to the average basketball fan.

With that in mind, the impact Pachulia could’ve had on the voting system really may have been impactful. I personally have never been a fan of the voting system and think the All-Stars should all be chosen by the coach for each respective conference. While the voting can give the nation and NBA fans around the world a voice in the game designed to entertain its audience, the impact of the voting clouds the importance and impact of making an All-Star team for the players. As long as analysts and reporters continue to use All-Star nominations as criteria for putting a player in a certain ranking, the voting needs to be more focused or taken away altogether.

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Zaza Pachulia may have come within 15,000 votes of changing the All-Star game for the better, but for those who err on the side of caution with the voting system like myself, next year could be our year. All the voting issues aside, Zaza Pachulia is a great player and a great person and whether or not you agree with the votes he received, the guy has been nothing short of a blessing for the Dallas Mavericks so far this year and has earned the love and respect that the fans have given him.