Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard will not be starting the All-Star game for the first time since 2008, and many observers believe that this is an indication that Howard's popularity is on the decline after a turbulent year with the LA Lakers and all the drama surrounding his free agency last summer.
Jeff Caplan, writing for the Hang Time blog on NBA.com, notes that it has been four years since Howard became the first player in All-Star fan balloting history to receive 3 million votes, In 2009, Howard was the affable and smiling center who won the Slam Dunk contest in the previous year by donning a Superman cape and dunking from the free throw line. But now the Houston Rockets center received only 653,318 votes which leaves him out of the starting line-up for the West All-Stars.
"He is no longer the most popular player in the NBA. I'm not even sure if anybody even calls him Superman anymore," Caplan writes.
The decline in votes can be attributed to several things, Caplan notes. One is the removal of the 'center' position on the All-Star ballot. Back in the days when there was still a center position, Howard was the obvious choice. But with the league lumping centers and forwards into one frontcourt, Howard had to compete with other popular players like Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and Kevin Love, who subsequently overtook him for the last starter slot.
Caplan also suggests that Howard's popularity has been affected by the intrigues that surrounded his final year with the Orlando Magic in 2012, and his poor play with and subsequent ditching of the LA Lakers in 2013.
"Surely it's safe to assume that Howard's 2014 vote totals, the lowest of his career by far, received no help from NBA fans in Orlando and Los Angeles. He'll probably never get them back," ends Caplan.
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