"There's been some controversy over what fans do. A few years ago when voting was opened up to the internet for example, Yao Ming, the great Center for China was by far and away the leading vote-getter which was fine in years when he was playing. But as many people might remember, he had a lot of years where he was hurt with foot problems and all that. And he would still become the leading vote-getter because he was obviously very popular in China where they have a whole lot of people. 



And so over the years, there's been— as voting's been opened up to fans on the web— instances of players that become kind of cult heroes and get really close to being voted in to the All Star Game. Last year for example, it was Zaza Pachulia.... He was not a worthy player for the All Star Game. And fans, because his name is Zaza Pachulia and he's kind of fun... was very nearly voted into one of the All Star spots. 



And so what happened is, the NBA decided, in an effort to make it a little more fair and to keep people like Zaza Pachulia from earning a spot in the All Star Game , to split it up.... They give fans still half the vote and they'd give players half the vote. The idea being that players would be a little more responsible with their voting than fans would be."