MIAMI _ If the Miami Heat are to emerge with an All-Star Game starter, the early indications are it will not happen through fan voting.
In the initial release of fan balloting, Jimmy Butler stands fourth among Eastern Conference frontcourt players, behind, in order, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid and Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam.
The top three finishers in the combined fan-media-player balloting will be named starters for the Feb. 16 NBA All-Star Game at Chicago's United Center.
Heat center Bam Adebayo stands seventh among Eastern Conference frontcourt players in the fan balloting, the only other Heat player listed in the top 10 in either the frontcourt or backcourt fan-balloting results.
After all votes are tallied, players will be ranked in each conference by position (backcourt and frontcourt) within each of the three voting groups: fan votes, player votes and media votes. Each player's score will be calculated by averaging his weighted rank from the fan votes, the player votes and the media votes. The two guards and three frontcourt players with the best score in each conference will be named NBA All-Star Game starters.
Fan voting will serve as the tiebreaker for players in a position group with the same score.
Fan voting runs until Jan. 20.
Conference coaches will then select the seven reserves from each conference, required to add at least three frontcourt and backcourt players among their seven selections. That process will likely be the avenue to selection for Butler and Adebayo.
The All-Star rosters will be drafted by the two captains. They will choose from the pool of players voted as starters and reserves in each conference, making their selections regardless of conference affiliation. The captains will be the All-Star starter from each conference who receives the most fan votes in his conference. The current leaders are Antetokounmpo in the East with 1,073,358 votes, and Mavs star Luka Concic in the West with 1,073,957 votes. TNT will reveal the NBA All-Star Game starters, including the two team captains, on Jan. 23. The network will announce the reserves on Jan. 30.
