Kevin Durant and Nine Other All-Star Starters Announced

Via NBA.com:

Eastern Conference

Carmelo Anthony, New York 935,702

Paul George, Indiana 1,211,318

Kyrie Irving, Cleveland 860,221

LeBron James, Miami 1,416,419

Dwyane Wade, Miami 929,542

Head coach: Frank Vogel, Indiana

Western Conference

Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers 988,884

Stephen Curry, Golden State 1,047,281

Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City 1,396,294

Blake Griffin, L.A. Clippers 661,246

Kevin Love, Minnesota 688,466

Head coach TBA

Check out NBA.com if you want the complete vote breakdown and player history.

On the Thunder's end, beyond KD's selection, there weren't any players with a serious shot at a slot. Russell Westbrook took a serious hit to his campaign with his knee surgery, finishing a distant 6th in Western Conference Backcourt voting with only 317,338. Serge Ibaka didn't even place in Western Conference Frontcourt voting, finishing behind the inactive Omer Asik and the oft-injured Andrew Bogut.

Did the fans do a good job? Well, there's a number of glaring errors. We'll go over them one by one.

• Kobe is obviously a bad pick, but his legendary reputation and long tenure in a big market will keep him in this game for a long time. Furthermore, it's looking like he'll withdraw from the starting lineup, letting someone else (Chris Paul) in.
• Kevin Love barely squeaked by Dwight Howard in the last round of voting, and I can't say that I disagree with the fans there. Love is on a worse team, but his astounding numbers speak for themselves.
• Same goes for the talent of Carmelo Anthony. His attitude might not make him valuable, but I believe that talent should overcome your teams record when it comes to entertaining players that the fans want to see.
• The biggest outrage, in my opinion, is the inclusion of Blake Griffin over LaMarcus Aldridge. Dunking is a lot sexier than fadeaway mid-range jumpers, but we all know who the best big in the West is right now.
• Another controversy I can think of is that between Kyrie Irving and John Wall. Wall is posting similar numbers for a more successful team, and is arguably the better defensive player. But Irving is a more efficient scorer, so I suppose that's what the fans went for.
• Wade is in full-on grandpa mode. His stats are close to being worthy of the All-Star game, and his Pippen status certainly puts him there. But if he were doing the game thing on a .500 team out West, there's no way he'd even get into the All-Star game.
• George, James, Durant, and Curry are all unanimous picks, in my opinion. The only semi-plausible argument against them would be a Harden over Curry thing, but Curry's assists don't lie.

Overall, it's a really odd year. A lot of teams have big names, but are on the downslope. Additionally, a few traditional stars are entering their twilight, making some wonder about their inclusion in the voting. But as always, time and humility seem to limit the fans mistakes, and we always end up with one heck of a game.