WNBA announces new all-star selection format.

[eebmg]

WNBA announces new all-star selection format generally following the revamped NBA approach

WNBA Announces New All-Star Game Format - WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA


"Under the revamped format, two captains will draft the 2018 All-Star teams from the pool of players voted as All-Stars. The captains will be the two All-Stars, regardless of conference, who receive the highest vote totals.

To complement the change from the traditional matchup between the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference that was used in the previous 14 All-Star Games, the WNBA will also implement a new voting process for selecting the 22 All-Stars. Rather than having to select an equal number of players from each conference, voters will now choose the All-Stars without regard for conference affiliation.

The selection of 2018 All-Stars will be conducted through a combination of voting by fans (40 percent of the vote), current WNBA players and head coaches (20 percent each), and a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters (20 percent).

Fans will be able to vote for their top 10 players regardless of position or conference. Players, coaches and the media panel will each vote for 22 players, selecting nine guards and 13 front court players regardless of conference. Players and coaches may not vote for members of their own team"


* Just like in the NBA allstar game, it seems that the actual choosing of the teams by the captains will not be done live which is probably a lost opportunity for intrigue and entertainment.

 

[Bigboote]

So it's like a professional gym-class game? (I had no idea the NBA had adopted anything like this; I guess that's how much attention I pay.) I'm serious about it sounding like gym class or a pickup game (which it literally is) to me. It said the top vote getter picks first, so I guess they don't shoot odds and evens for that.

* Just like in the NBA allstar game, it seems that the actual choosing of the teams by the captains will not be done live which is probably a lost opportunity for intrigue and entertainment.

Glad the kid who gets picked last isn't shamed.

Edit: It looks like the pool is just the 22 top vote getters. Does anyone know if the counting by position, or is it just the top 22 vote-getters regardless? I could see a dearth of players at one or two positions leading to some funky teams.

 

[eebmg]

So it's like a professional gym-class game? (I had no idea the NBA had adopted anything like this; I guess that's how much attention I pay.) I'm serious about it sounding like gym class or a pickup game (which it literally is) to me. It said the top vote getter picks first, so I guess they don't shoot odds and evens for that.

* Just like in the NBA allstar game, it seems that the actual choosing of the teams by the captains will not be done live which is probably a lost opportunity for intrigue and entertainment.

Glad the kid who gets picked last isn't shamed.

Edit: It looks like the pool is just the 22 top vote getters. Does anyone know if the counting by position, or is it just the top 22 vote-getters regardless? I could see a dearth of players at one or two positions leading to some funky teams.

In the material I cut and pasted from the article,

Fans will be able to vote for their top 10 players regardless of position or conference. Players, coaches and the media panel will each vote for 22 players, selecting nine guards and 13 front court players regardless of conference. Players and coaches may not vote for members of their own team

My guess is after the position-less voting by fans, and the 9 guards and 13 front court players from the other voting sources, leading to 22 players that may not be exactly 9 guards and 13 front court do to the asymmetry of the fan voting, they will divide it up entirely by what the captains want. Even if it started out as 9 guards and 13 front court, since that does not divide evenly into 2 teams, the 2 teams will not have the exact same proportions but enough guards and front court for both teams seems to be assured.

 

[Alydar]

* Just like in the NBA allstar game, it seems that the actual choosing of the teams by the captains will not be done live which is probably a lost opportunity for intrigue and entertainment.

Sounds something like the old method used for the draft lottery drawing, done behind close doors. There's only one reason to do it that way, so that the teams come out the way the W marketing dept wants it.

 

[j66kicker]

* Just like in the NBA allstar game, it seems that the actual choosing of the teams by the captains will not be done live which is probably a lost opportunity for intrigue and entertainment.

Glad the kid who gets picked last isn't shamed.

Edit: It looks like the pool is just the 22 top vote getters. Does anyone know if the counting by position, or is it just the top 22 vote-getters regardless? I could see a dearth of players at one or two positions leading to some funky teams.

This year the NBA's All-star starters were determined by fan vote. Then the starters had to be picked first by the captains. Russell Westbrook (voted an All-star, but not voted a starter) saw his name last in an alphabetical list and complained because he thought it meant had been LaBron's last pick. The order of picking was never publicized, except for Kevin Durant being LaBron's first pick and Klay Thompson being Steph Curry's first pick. But the media speculation on this took up miles of column space.

 

[Blueballer]

It all seems so bizarre.

 

[willtalk]

It also means that except for the top two, the top vote getters are not going to be assured of starting positions. It will eliminate the coaches picking the reserves. So now it will be totally a popularity contest.

 

[psconn]

It also means that except for the top two, the top vote getters are not going to be assured of starting positions. It will eliminate the coaches picking the reserves. So now it will be totally a popularity contest.

Depends how you define "popularity contest". Geno would claim that any selection not made on a game score board is a popularity contest. All-Star games that involve fan voting will always be a popularity contest to some degree. I give the W lots of credit for trying new-ish things.

They have to give the fans a significant say in the outcome for marketing reasons, but last year they started including the players in the voting. That was a really good step as no one is in a better position to judge a player's talent than her opponents. A 60% weighting is given to players, head coaches and WBB media to try to inject some actual honest evaluation into the process. I would be in favor of a 30% fan, 25% player, 25% coach, 20% media split.

Finally, the schoolyard pick just evens out the talent between the squads. Hopefully, this is done in a way that is completely anonymous.

 

[CL82]

* Just like in the NBA allstar game, it seems that the actual choosing of the teams by the captains will not be done live which is probably a lost opportunity for intrigue and entertainment.

Depending on the captains it could be pretty funny. Can you see Dee, doing running commentary on who she's choosing and why?