It's finally happening!

According to this story, the NBA is adopting a new approach toward All-Star game voting. Instead of voting for 2 guards, 2 forwards, and 2 centers, people will now vote for 2 guards and 3 "front court players." This solves the Duncan/Garnett/Nowitzki problem that plagued the voting process for somewhere between five and eight years in the '00s, where all three probably deserved to start but couldn't because they were all forwards. (Of course, they were also in the same conference as Yao and Shaq for most of those years, so there's really no telling who would've gotten in using this process in the past.) It also potentially helps a lot with the Zydrunas Ilgauskas/Brad Miller/Jamaal Magloire problem from 2003-2005, where  someone had to be the backup center. That was somewhat mitigated when they started letting coaches vote for players regardless of position, but it would still free up a spot if a guy of that caliber was the best center in a given conference.

However, we're still a long way away from reaching my dream of designating positions as "point," "wing," and "big." "Point" is obviously the point guard. "Wing" is the shooting guard and small forward. "Big" is the power forward and center.

This system wouldn't have made a difference last year. All the starters would've been the same regardless. But in 2011, instead of Bryant, Paul, Anthony, Durant, and Yao, the West starters would've been Paul, Bryant, Durant, Gasol, and Yao. And in 2009, instead of Kobe, Paul, Duncan, Stoudemire, and Yao, the West starters would've been Paul, Bryant, Bruce Bowen, Duncan, and Yao. (Yep, Bruce Bowen was the 2nd highest shooting guard or small forward that year. Weird, right?) Not a big change there, but where it really starts making a lot more sense is when two point guards get picked to start. Or when no point guards get picked to start.

Take 2007 for example. The guards that started were Bryant and McGrady. (The other three were Garnett, Duncan, and Yao.) A more accurate reflection of a basketball team would've been Iverson, Bryant, McGrady, Garnett, and Yao. And yes, Iverson's not exactly a "true" point guard, but he was moreso than either Bryant or McGrady.