Let’s play a quick game, which of these names does not belong on this list: Kevin Durant, Zaza Pachulia, Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis, Draymond Green, DeMarcus Cousins, Karl-Anthony Towns, LaMarcus Aldridge, Blake Griffin and Marc Gasol?
If you follow the NBA in any way and are being serious and honest with yourself, Zaza Pachulia does not belong on a list with those other players. He is a guy averaging 5.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game this season and 7.1 points and 6.0 rebounds for his career.
He is clearly a fan favorite though (count me in that group) and is popular enough in the NBA popularity contest known as All-Star voting. As you can see by the order of the list above, he has more All-Star votes at this point than Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard and Draymond Green.
New All-Star fan vote returns announced by the NBA. Zaza Pachulia holding strong pic.twitter.com/QlVLSmizE5
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) January 12, 2017
Pachulia finished fourth in voting last season, one spot away from earning a starting spot in the NBA’s former All-Star voting system in which the starters for each conference were chosen completely by the fans.
The rule was changed prior to this season, more than likely because of the Pachulia conundrum last season. Now fan votes count for 50 percent, while players and media members get 25 percent each.
That means that the fans dream of seeing Georgia’s own (the European country, not the state in the southeastern United States) Zaza Pachulia will not come to fruition once again. That is at once a good and slightly disappointing thing.
At least we will always have the greatest impromptu post-playoff game speech by a player, Nothing comes easy, Game 7 baby, Game 7…
