Bishop of the Devil

The next morning's news headlines showed that Iverson and Da Zhi were on the list again.

The league's punishments were also announced accordingly. Iverson was suspended for three games and Stockton was suspended for one game...

As for Dazhi, nothing happened.

No fines or bans...

…

As soon as this happened, all parties in the league suddenly discovered that a gangster-type team seemed to have emerged in the Eastern Conference.

Oakley, an old ghost, just joined the Philadelphia 76ers and something happened immediately.

…

The Jazz were naturally unconvinced by the league's punishment and held a press conference to vent their bitterness to the reporters.

But reporters are not fools. It is common knowledge that the Jazz have dirty butts. Now they are being punished and are now complaining...

What did you do early?

After Richard got the news, he felt secretly happy.

The hatred between him and the Jazz was completely irreconcilable. Seeing Stockton get beaten up, he was naturally very happy.

And in a week or so, they will face the Jazz at home.

Iverson and the others' prestige of killing the Jazz first was exactly what Richard wanted...

…

On December 22, the first round of All-Star voting begins.

It is worth mentioning that the voting rules for the All-Stars have not yet been reformed. It is not divided into frontcourt and backcourt like in later generations, and there is no fancy live broadcast selection of captains...

There are now three positions on the field, center, forward and defender. Fans can choose their favorite player in a certain position.

For example, for the center position in the Western Conference, if O'Neal has the highest number of votes, then he will be the starting center in the Western Conference. And the center with the second highest number of votes, even if he has more votes than the top vote-getter at the forward position, it doesn't matter. He can only play as a substitute.

This voting system lasted until 2012, when Xiao Hua made a change on the eve of taking office, canceling the center position, leaving only forward and guard positions for fans to choose from.

There are many reasons for the restructuring, including the gradual blurring of the center position and the reason why Yao Ming pushed O'Neal to the bench.

…

The Trail Blazers must have signed up their players for the All-Stars. Kobe naturally ran as a guard. As for Ben and O'Brien, after Richard's repeated requests, they ran as forwards. To run for the election, Rashid also ran as a forward.

The competition for the center position is really too great. The Western Conference has O'Neal, the confirmed starting center, as well as the Admiral and Olajuwon, and even Duncan is actually a center...

It's just that Duncan is participating in the All-Star selection as a forward, which can be said to avoid fierce competition.

Looking back at the competition for the forward position, in Richard's opinion, the intensity is definitely far less intense than that of the center position. After all, there are four spots in total, and one of the last two free agent spots is usually allocated to the forward.

In Richard's memory, there were five forwards in the 1998 All-Star West, including Karl Malone, Duncan and Garnett.

The remaining two are Vin Baker and the Lakers' Eddie Jones.

It is worth mentioning that under normal circumstances, the number of Lakers selected for the All-Stars this year is quite terrifying, with a total of four, O'Neal, Eddie Jones, Fan Fan and Kobe, all selected for the All-Stars.

What's even more terrifying is that Kobe, as a sophomore, averaged 15 points per game, has been playing as a substitute for the Lakers, and actually got the qualification to start the All-Star game...

You must know that Kobe only played one start in the entire 97-98 season with the Lakers, but he was able to get the starting qualification for the All-Stars.

This should be considered one of the weirdest things in the entire history of the NBA...

Originally, Eddie Jones was supposed to run as a guard, but if the Lakers included him, there were three guards running for the draft. The competition was too great, so he was simply assigned to the forward position to run.

Richard knew very well that with his interference, the 1998 All-Star lineup would definitely undergo major changes.

The first is that Kobe estimates that he will not be able to get the starting lineup. At present, Kobe's average data is better than in normal history, but the situation is different. Lakers players naturally enjoy more attention...

Therefore, Kobe basically has no chance to start, but there are some opportunities as a substitute.

There aren't many reliable guards in the West, but at least compared to the East, the gap is still quite huge.

…

As for the forward position, Ben, O'Neill and Rashid are all participating. As for whether they can be selected, Richard is not sure.

The only thing we know now is that it is absolutely impossible for these three to be selected as All-Stars at the same time...

There is a better chance that one of the three will squeeze out Vin Baker and then be selected as an All-Star as a substitute.

…

After the first day of voting results came out, Richard was a little surprised by the number of votes received by several Blazers players.

The number of votes Ou received was shockingly high. It was almost the same as Garnett, the leader of the Timberwolves, and slightly less than Malone.

This made Richard a little confused. Originally, he felt that Rashid should have an advantage in the competition, but Rashid's votes were pitifully small, and he was not even as high as a senior...

Even for Big Ben, the number of votes he received on the first day was only half of Xiao Ao's.

A very strange situation made Richard a little confused...

If you think about it carefully, it's actually normal. After O'ona's four outstanding games, although his rebounding data dropped a bit, his scoring data and blocking data remained very good...

After playing less than half of the games this season, O'Brien is averaging 17.2 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.9 blocks per game, which is perfect.

Garnett's current averages per game are only 18.5 points, 9.6 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.8 blocks, which is basically the same as O'Brien. Even if it is good, it is not much better...

In addition, Xiao Ou is ridiculously young, more than one year younger than high school student Garnett.

In this case, it can be explained by the large number of votes.

As for Kobe Bryant, he is not as lucky as Ou. At present, he has about the same number of votes as Kidd. The votes of the two have continued to rise, and they have been hovering in fifth place in the votes for the guard position...

If we can secure the fifth spot, and if there is a guard spot in the free agent position, we can make the All-Star list.

But now, whether it is Kidd or Kobe, neither of them can secure the fifth place. It is really hard to say who will get the guard substitute spot in the end...

Richard was a bit dumbfounded. He never expected that the first player under him to be selected as an All-Star would be Xiao Ou.

Judging from the current situation, Xiao Ao is basically guaranteed to be an All-Star.

Kobe still has a chance, but Ben and Rasheed are almost out of luck...