The NBA announced the starters for the 2017 All-Star game, and another last minute surge in fan voting (the same one that got Lowry in last year) helped secure DeMar a starting spot. We say “helped” because the fan vote only accounted for 50% of the criteria to be a starter; media and current players comprised the remaining 50%.
Lowry also made a last minute surge to bump Derrick Rose out of the top five, but finished 5th behind Isiah Thomas (who has been absolutely insane, especially after hanging 52 on the Knicks the other night), and Dwyane Wade (who still has gas left in the tank, but not close to peak Wade that people still think he is). We can take solace in the fact that he placed ahead of D-Rose…yea…
Full results:
The new math weights and scores the fan vote along with votes from current players and media; the players with the highest average score are anointed starters. So while the fans voted for Wade, everyone else with a vote rightfully valued DeRozan higher, so boom, he’s in; the full math:
| Player | Fan Rank | Player Rank | Media Rank | Weighted Score |
| 1. *Kyrie Irving (Cleveland) | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1.5 |
| 2. *DeMar DeRozan (Toronto) | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2.75^ |
| 3. Isaiah Thomas (Boston) | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2.75^ |
| 4. Dwyane Wade (Chicago) | 2 | 6 | 6 | 4.0 |
| 5. Kyle Lowry (Toronto) | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4.75 |
| 6. John Wall (Washington) | 7 | 4 | 5 | 5.75 |
| 7. Derrick Rose (New York) | 6 | 9 | 8 | 7.25 |
| 8. Kemba Walker (Charlotte) | 9 | 7 | 6 | 7.75 |
| 9. Avery Bradley (Boston) | 10 | 12 | 8 | 10.0 |
| 10. Bradley Beal (Washington) | 14 | 8 | 8 | 11.0 |
*–Voted to start
^–Tiebreaker for starting spot is highest fan vote
Interesting to see how current players and media rank everyone, but more specifically our boys:
DeRozan
Players rank him the 3rd best guard in the east
Media rank him the 2nd best guard in the east
Lowry
Players rank him the 5th best guard in the east
Media rank him the 4th best guard in the east
What we can all take from this is that the only people who watch Raptor games are Raptor fans. Not taking anything away from DeMar, but Lowry is a top-two guard in the east, arguably the top, and easily the most valuable player on his team not named LeBron James.
All is not lost, though. Reserves will be chosen by those who deserve to vote on these things, and Lowry will surely be selected a reserve, since, you know, he’s the best bloody point guard in the East.
In the west:
Stephen Curry
James Harden
Kevin Durant
Kawhi Leonard
Anthony Davis
