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Joel Embiid got enough fan votes to be a starter in the All-Star Game under old rules

Stinkin' new rules!

Kenny Ducey and Extra Mustard

Joel Embiid got enough fan votes to be a starter in the All-Star Game under old rules
Joel Embiid got enough fan votes to be a starter in the All-Star Game under old rules /

Sixers rookie center Joel Embiid ran a brilliant All-Star Game campaign, combining original, fire tweets with celebrity support to grow his vote total on Twitter among fans. Just how successful was the effort? Well, it would have landed him a spot in the Eastern Conference’s starting lineup, had the league not changed the rules.

Embiid received 922,174 votes, the fourth-highest total of any player in the conference. This should have made him a starter, but the league has a new rule in place this season which also takes into account player and media votes. Without a heavy showing among those two groups, he was left out of the starting lineup.

This was truly a remarkable movement, and one that Embiid and his fans around the globe should be very proud of.

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Kenny Ducey and Extra Mustard
KENNY DUCEY AND EXTRA MUSTARD

Kenny Ducey writes baseball, basketball and off-beat stories for SI.com. He is a member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, and an editor at Baseball Prospectus. Where Culture Meets Sports: Your dose of Hot Clicks, viral videos, bizarre and hilarious stories and more from the intersection of pop culture and sports.

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