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Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey is one of the most active NBA executives on Twitter, if not the most active. So when the NBA All-Star starters were announced on Thursday night and Rockets center Dwight Howard was not among them, it shouldn't have been too big a surprise that Morey took to Twitter to express his feelings about it.
What may have been a surprise was just how harsh his criticisms were of the entire process:
NBA all star voting process set up well for Iowa high school girls basketball. Offense only & only guards and forwards.
— Daryl Morey (@dmorey) January 24, 2014
It's a house election right now w/Centers gerrymandered out MT @5thQuarterMag It’s 4 fans. Would U like presidential election 4 All-Star Gm?
— Daryl Morey (@dmorey) January 24, 2014
The NBA recently got rid of the center position on the All-Star ballot, making it a bit harder for players like Howard to get voted in as a starter. The voting for All-Star games is usually a popularity contest, and while Howard has had a strong first half of the year on a good Rockets team, his approval rating still isn't exactly the highest after what has gone down the last few years.
It did look like Howard was going to earn a starting nod, but he was overtaken by Minnesota Timberwolves power forward Kevin Love in the last stages of voting. Both Howard and Love were certainly worthy candidates, but Love has gaudier stats and is generally more well-liked than Howard, which makes for a good formula to get voted in.
Morey might have a legitimate gripe here, but this approach may not have been the best way to go about it. Howard is still very likely to make the All-Star Game, and while starting is a cool honor, it's not the end of the world that he won't be.
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