Should Kobe Bryant feature in the NBA All-Star Game?

Kobe Bryant in his MVP-winning 2011 All-Star game

The NBA All-Star game voting has begun and after Adam Silver's enunciation of his desire to see Kobe Bryant in the All-Star game we have our first controversy related to the event. His statement has led to people debating the implications and the credibility of an All-Star selection.

It is a common knowledge that Kobe remains one of the most popular players in the sport and despite his struggles with the Lakers, it is almost certain that he would be voted in as a starter.

The contention arises when people question whether it is fair to young players when you don’t judge an All-Star selection on the objective basis of what happened in that year but as a cumulative of the player's contribution across his career.

If you go by pure numbers alone, ESPN's analysis about Kobe being the 94th best player in the league, might actually be kind towards him. The struggles of the Lakers aren't lost on the NBA coaches and if Kobe isn't voted in as a starter, he certainly wouldn’t be the coaches’ pick for the All-Star game.

As is common knowledge, an All-Star conference team has twelve players where the starters (2 backcourt and three frontcourt players) are selected by the fans and the bench (2 backcourt + 3 frontcourt + 2 wild card players) is chosen by a panel of NBA coaches. This, as per the NBA's front office, empowers the fans to vote in their favorite players as well as reward players revered by coaches.

So, assume that the team features a maximum of 5 guards and that Kobe isn’t voted in as a starter. If Westbrook and Curry take the starting spots, we would be left with a maximum of 2 guaranteed spots and maybe 1 of the wild card entries.

The choices the league has, are between James Harden, Klay Thompson, Chris Paul, Damian Lillard, Rajon Rondo, Eric Bledsoe and Kobe Bryant. Harden and Thompson will be immediate picks and the coaches will be left with having to choose between Paul, Lillard, Kobe, Rondo and Bledsoe for the last spot. There is no certainty that Kobe would be chosen in this scenario. So yes, the only way Kobe makes it to the All-Star game is if he is voted in as a starter.

If Kobe is voted in as a starter along with Curry, we are left with a similar calculation. Kobe and Curry will start the game with Westbrook, Thompson and Harden coming off the bench. This may sound unfair considering how well the trio have played this year.

Thus, if one were to look at this game in a vacuum and just look at this year alone, all players mentioned above have greater statistical claims. But, should we be looking at this game in a vacuum?

Even the league's harshest critic has to admit that in spirit, the current selection format seems to be the most holistic way of putting together the best 12 players in the conference. The issue is not so much with the selection process as is with the need to ascribe greater value to the event than what it is intended for.

To get the significance of the All-Star game in proper perspective, let us go back in history and look at the first NBA All-Star game.

The setting then was quite forlorn by today's animated standards. The first All-Star game was conceived as a face-saving move by the league in response to the contemptuous college basketball point shaving scandal that had hit the sport in 1951.

The major culprits were from the New York region, considered by many to be the Mecca of basketball, and everyone had started to question the integrity of the game and its Associations.

It was then that NBA President Maurice Podoloff in consultation with his front office and prominent basketball franchises had decided to feature an event that could win back the fans and give them a spectacle that would surpass the disrepute suffered by the game. The game, not surprisingly, drew a huge attendance and the record crowd at Boston Garden laid down the foundations of the yearly event.

So, what exactly worked for the event? Was it the fact that the league managed to put together two teams with the best statistical achievers in the game? Was it because the league managed to get two teams that complimented and gelled perfectly that it ensured a great game of basketball?

The answer to the above questions and all questions posed in the similar vein is a resounding ‘NO’. The game worked because it allowed fans to visualize the fantasy match-ups they always concocted in their minds to play out in reality. It was an event whose USP was based on giving the fans what they always wanted. A pantheon of greats that for one game came together to give you a highlights compilation for the ages.

So, yes if the USP is to give the fans what they want, it is but obvious that they would want Kobe to give them another All-Star memory before he hangs his boots. Kobe's record in the All-Star game is testament about how he loves to put on a show for the fans. His All-Star game achievements include the most number of MVP's for any player, most games started, most points scored, most field goals scored and even the highest number of steals.

If any cynic wishes to reject these stats by claiming that in an exhibition game, the thing that matters most is the highlight plays, then jog your memory back and give me the name of one superstar who has given us more All-Star memories.

Maybe Shaq has, but the moments when Kobe faced Michael in his first All-Star game or Kobe going up against LeBron in 2014 and his MVP performance at Staples in 2011 stand-out amongst the most iconic All-Star memories of all-time.

Further justification has to be that Kobe was chosen to start in the 1998 All-Star game against Jordan and the East because people wanted to see the player christened as the next Jordan against Jordan himself. This, when Kobe was a bench player with the Lakers and averaging a meager 15 ppg.

Almost everybody cherishes the memories when Jordan and Kobe went up against each other. If the critics had their say maybe we would never have that memory. Nor would Magic Johnson play in the iconic 1992 All-Star game. The game that still remains one of the greatest sporting stories of all-time.

If people do have an issue with Kobe being rewarded because he is a fan-favourite, the same critics should also have an issue with a struggling player getting so much adulation on his farewell tour.

So, yes, maybe a more statistically dominant player might miss out. But, why should a snub in what is an exhibition game be such a big deal? Isn't the objective of the All-Star game to give the fans what they want? Is it the fans’ fault that the pundits consider the All-Star game a vital weightage criteria while adjudicating legacies of superstars?

The lack of a more comprehensive benchmark is no excuse for critics to try to find more value in an event that wasn't conceived with the objective to be a quantifying factor to decide greatness.

However, if one were to be totally objective, the All-Star game does have major implications for the players. Every professional athlete craves attention and recognition for their efforts and the All-Star game is one such unique rostrum. The reason why the players feel obliged to show-off with the outrageous dunks and gravity-defying moves.

So, while one may contest the credibility of an All-Star game as a weighting method to judge careers, its value to the players can't be underestimated. It not only reinstates the player's belief but on a purely monetary level, an All-Star is viewed differently in the league. It is vital to a player's entertainment potential and brand value, something that will define his value and monetary contracts he can demand.

So, yes the All-Star game has potential to carve superstars from stars. However, one needs to realize that the decision to raise a star to the pedestal of superstars can't be judged purely on stats.

A superstar and his entertainment value have to be judged by the fans themselves and the onus is on them to decide how they wish to be entertained. If the fans would rather watch a perennial All-Star over a new star, they have the right to exercise that choice and be unapologetic about it.

The fans realize that nobody has loved the event more than Kobe. Considering how much he has invested in the event in the past, they expect the sorcerer-wizard to still pull some tricks from his hat. If Kobe's NBA career deserves a swansong, his All-Star resume is no trifle either. Whether he should in next year's Olympics is a whole another debate, for another day.