In Yao Ming’s election as a starter for the Western Conference All-Stars, there’s no heart-warming consolation to be had; Yao Ming’s season is gone, and his inclusion in this event -- which will give him the eighth All-Star berth of his career -- is really just a reminder of why using a popular vote as the sole mechanism to decide the All-Star starters is just a bit wonky.
I’ll save the cries of injustice for another writer, though. Regardless of the problems with the All-Star system as a whole, this is what N.B.A. fans are stuck with at present. Yao will add another minor accolade to his N.B.A. résumé, and we can all give him a golf clap when his name is announced at the big game.
It’s time to star talking replacements though, and luckily, Tom Ziller has the league protocol for the replacement for an All-Star starter outlined for a post on SB Nation:
So replacing Yao is actually a bit of a tag-team; David Stern tabs the player who will take Yao’s place on the playoff roster, while Gregg Popovich hand-picks the player from the full roster who will step into the starting lineup. As Ziller mentioned, Gasol and Duncan are the obvious candidates, and it seems unlikely that Pop would step out of the box here. He may not have much respect for the event at large, but choosing an unlikely candidate to replace Yao only leads to more bothersome interviews and questions, while going with the expected will get him through the weekend with minimal conversation on the topic. When Gasol or Duncan are picked as anticipated, that will be that. Just conjecturing here, but I’d think Pop would find some solace in that, especially in an event that will otherwise shower him with required media events around the clock.
